Few fast food brands inspire as much devotion as Krispy Kreme.
Krispy Kreme has perfected its signature glazed doughnut, but from ice cream to whole-wheat
doughnuts, the popular chain has also had plenty of ideas over the years that didn't
pan out.
Doughnuts aren't anyone's number one choice for a healthy breakfast.
They're rings of deep-fried cake, and there's only so much you can do to reduce their caloric
load.
Krispy Kreme doughnuts are lighter than their direct competitors, with the original glazed
registering 70 fewer calories than equivalent products from Dunkin' and Tim Hortons.
Of course, all those calories come in the form of refined carbs, oils, and sugar, so
calling Krispy Kreme health food is a stretch.
That didn't stop former Krispy Kreme senior VP of marketing Stan Parker from declaring
that the chain's new whole-wheat doughnut was:
"An alternative for health-conscious consumers with the benefits of 100 percent whole-wheat."
Despite Parker's optimism, Krispy Kreme wasn't able to convince suspicious customers that
the whole wheat doughnut was a healthier choice.
The whole wheat doughnut's hefty doses of trans fat and sugar canceled out any potential
nutritional value.
Even worse, the whole wheat doughnut barely had fewer calories than an original glazed.
The company phased out its one gesture at healthfulness and has since embraced its identity
as a supplier of decadent indulgences.
Krispy Kreme has tried to make ice cream work a few times, but the attempt has never panned
out in the long run.
They're known as a place to get sweet treats in the morning, and the company hoped ice
cream would boost sales during the afternoon when fewer people buy doughnuts.
The 2009 ice cream launch was branded Kool Kreme and included soft-serve, doughnut sundaes,
milkshakes, and a Blizzard-like blended concoction called an Arctic Avalanche.
"There's nothing like the new Krispy Kreme sundae.
A hot fresh doughnut covered in soft serve and topped the way you like it.
Thinking ice creme?
Think Krispy Kreme."
Since ice cream doesn't require cooking, you might think it would be an easy add-on to
Krispy Kreme's existing menu.
However, as McDonald's ice cream machine struggles show, frozen treats can cause big headaches
for restaurant operators.
Early results from the Kool Kreme test markets appeared positive, but the product line didn't
stick around.
New England is synonymous with clam chowder, lobster rolls, and Dunkin'.
A survey reported in the Seattle Times found that around half of Bostonians went to Dunkin'
at least once a month.
Local celebrities wear their Dunkin' addictions with pride, with Ben Affleck and Charli d'Amelio
proclaiming their love for the chain.
Nobody can accuse Krispy Kreme of cowardice, because the chain has tried to take on Dunkin'
on its home turf two times, and is considering trying again.
The first attempt came during the company's ill-fated period of rapid expansion during
the early 2000s.
The chain opened seven out of a promised 16 stores, but none of the branches survived
into the 2010s.
Krispy Kreme unveiled more stores in the Boston area in 2016, but only managed to open two
of the four it announced before both closed.
Undeterred, the company mentioned in their initial public offering statement in 2021
that they were considering giving Boston another chance.
Perhaps the brand would be better off ceding the Northeast U.S. to Dunkin'.
Philadelphia has proved just as hostile as Boston to Krispy Kreme, with all three Philly
Krispy Kremes dying after a few years.
Krispy Kreme pizza resides in the same realm of pop culture as Bigfoot, the Jackelope,
and the Loch [LOK] Ness Monster.
It's hard to find any evidence that it ever existed aside from one mysterious photo posted
to Krispy Kreme's Facebook page.
Intrepid sleuths in the comments section of that photo say that the cars in the parking
lot appear to be late-1950s and early-1960s models, so we can infer that the store was
selling pizza sometime in the mid-60s, towards the beginning of pizza's popularity in America.
The fact that this lone photo is the only surviving record of Krispy Kreme pizza suggests
the savory experiment didn't last long.
Was the pizza made with doughnut batter?
Was it the product of a rogue franchisee?
We may never know.
Krispy Kreme is proud of its hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
That local pride has manifested in two successful crossovers with North Carolina soda brand
Cheerwine.
The success of the company's Cheerwine Kreme-filled doughnut inspired Krispy Kreme to seek out
more Winston-Salem-based collaborations.
They turned to Texas Pete hot sauce, which, despite its name, has always been made in
North Carolina.
A hot sauce creme-flavored doughnut made it to the testing phase of development but never
escaped the lab to make its way into the public's hands.
If Krispy Kreme had been a little bolder and released their creation, they might have had
a hit.
In 2018, a vendor at the North Carolina State Fair earned a legion of fans with Texas Pete-glazed
mini doughnuts.
Apparently not learning their lesson from Kool Kreme, Krispy Kreme once again tried
to introduce a line of frozen desserts in 2018.
This time ice cream was going to be just one component of a new, refreshed store design
that included digital menu boards and a doughnut customization bar.
The star of the new menu launch was the scoop sandwich, an ice cream sandwich with doughnuts
as the buns.
The menu revamp arrived in July of that year at a Krispy Kreme in Concord, North Carolina.
The brand announced in a press release that it was planning to open 45 locations with
the new menu items by 2020.
Despite all the hype surrounding the scoop sandwich when it debuted, there's no evidence
it was ever available outside of a few test locations, and it's not on the current Krispy
Kreme menu.
In the early 2000s, Krispy Kreme had seven franchises in Hong Kong.
At the time, the chain was the only American doughnut shop in the city.
The brand's abrupt and total exit from the Hong Kong market in 2008 devastated local
doughnut lovers, who were left with no other options.
Some suggested that doughnuts were too different from local Hong Kong baked goods, which tend
to be less sweet than Western desserts.
A Krispy Kreme doughnut also sold for around three times as much as an item from a local
sweet shop.
The real reason that Krispy Kreme failed in Hong Kong may be that it didn't change its
standard menu to suit the region's tastes.
The chain has had success adapting to other cultures' cuisines, including doughnut waffles
in Indonesia and matcha doughnuts in Japan.
The doughnut shops that opened in Hong Kong after Krispy Kreme closed offer flavors that
you wouldn't find in America, like J.Co's Avocado DiCaprio.
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