I didn’t realize that they gave out free samples. Maybe this has something to do with their success. You get a free doughnut that tastes alright, so you think “Wow, this is really a good doughnut considering it was FREE!”. Later on, you only remember the part about it being good, without the qualifier that it was free. So you buy more. Clever marketing, indeed!
All this talk of doughnuts and me stuck on a whole-grain, health food campus.
Mmmmm… donuts.
For those saying KK is popular only because of marketing, I say that’s incorrect. I grew up with KK donuts, and have always loved them-- this is years (sigh, decades) before they went public and got into a bigger market.
Of course, it’s a matter of taste, but most people I know who have tried them have liked them. I just got back from a meeting where there was a KK nearby, and we were devouring them, and people who had never heard or nor tasted KK donuts before liked them too.
If you don’t like them, that’s fine, but a lot of people (perhaps even most) do, and that’s why they do so well.
Few people I know like doughnuts as much as I do but I have never understood the attraction for Krispy Kreme doughnuts since I had my first one back in '86. They are made by the millions and have no character. And I don’t recommend reading the ingredients list. I always prefer doughnuts from a local bakery, a supermarket bakery or some of the other chains.
It was only a few years ago when Krispy Kremes became available in Kentucky (to my knowledge), and even now you can only get them here in Lexington at convenience stores. That means your chances of finding a hot one are slim to none.
This was my only experience with KKs until this past weekend, when I was house-hunting in my soon-to-be new home of Greensboro, NC.* Our hotel was right next to a KK, so I got up and plodded over there for a half-dozen Original Glazed while the “hot donuts” light was on.
I had been underwhelmed before, but these hot, fresh donuts were pure ambrosia. They just fell apart in your mouth, and the sweet glaze was perfect against the sourness of the yeasty dough. They weren’t filling at all–and something that unhealthy really should be–but as an occasional treat with a large black coffee, they rocked my world.
- KK is headquartered half an hour away in Winston-Salem. Between KK and the cigarettes, it has to be the Bad Health Habit Capitol of the World–which is why I’m proud to be going there to practice internal medicine. Gotta go to the source.
Admittedly I have never had a KK straight from the fryer… but every KK I have had was terrible. Grease flavored sugar, with a greasy aftertaste, leaving grease that would coat my mouth for the rest of the day reminding me of my bad judgement, like looking at an old photo from my prom night. I’d rather eat an unwrapped, plain pop-tart my kids left on the shelf last month.
Dunkin Donuts, generally speaking, are much better.
But the best were the fresh glazed donuts from the corner donut store at 6 am on a sunday after finishing my paper route. With a carton of milk. I miss that.
You blasphemer!!! I really find KK’s sub par. They’re just overly whipped air with a little flavoring thrown in. Dudo’s on the other hand, have flavor, mass and an indescribable sense of genuine quality that KKs decidedly lack.
YMMV, of course.
The best donuts always come from one of the local shops. Jin Wicked buys donuts at a place called Donut Heaven, of which there are only two stores.
They’re just right, in my opinion.
Oh, and I don’t really like donuts anyway…I get the sausage kolaches, then bring donuts for my co-workers. (I’m not buying them the $.80/each kolaches. ;))
As for Krisy Kreme… one recently opened up down the street from our store, and they buy them all the time. They are just plain nasty to me, hot or cold.
Doug Grow reveals the secret of Krispy Kreme’s success in the Star Tribune today.
To summarize: They give free doughnuts to media outlets.
Can I offer a contrarian POV?
I call the Krispy Kreme boom the “grass is greener phenomenon” – it’s “forbidden fruit” that lots of people rave about; forbidden only because of geography. When it arrives, it’s a big deal. There are similar media frenzies about Whole Foods, Hard Rock Cafes, and Powerball.
Coors – a huge deal when it was introduced into Eastern states. Now, New Yorkers crack “how is drinking Coors like having sex in a canoe?” jokes along with the rest of the country.
Krispy Kreme is nothing. Wait until the Cuban embargo ends, and the lines form in front of local cigar stores, as everyone waits for the first legal Cohibas to be sold in the States. If Wegmans goes public, the United States outside of Buffalo/Rochester will probably have a collective orgasm.
Elmwood, I think you’ve got it. I grew up in Seattle but left in 1984 - I noticed similar phenomena when everyone went gaga over Nordstrom’s and Starbucks. Neither is really that much better than its competition, but because they’d developed a local following and used media effectively, they became coveted. And now that they’re everywhere, they aren’t, at least to the same degree.
It’ll happen to KK.
Mmmmm…Waffle House. Man, I’d kill for one of them round D.C.
That wouldn’t explain my wife. She grew up in mainland China, and never ate a donut until she emigrated to the United States back in '97. She’s never been exposed to any Krispy Kreme media hype, but she definitely prefers the Kremes to Other People’s Donuts.
DoctorJ sez:
First off, early-welcome to Greensboro! I like that town a lot. I go to Guilford College there…just thought I’d share.
Did you go to the KK right off the intersection of Holden Rd and High Point Rd? That KK rocks. The hot light is almost always on and always good. God bless 'em.
I love KK. :)That’s where my vote lays.
I sit here waiting for KK to implode on itself for growing too big too fast. I wouldn’t want to invest in their company for fear it will pull a ‘boston market’.
They are ok, but then any noncake donought is good if its fresh.
DD has them on variety, if you can get there the one minute of the day they are out fresh.
KK has it over DD in all day freshness.
I wish there were ANY donut shops around here. We do have lots of great pastries here in Germany. There might even be donut shops in bigger cities. But not around here.
American bread doesn’t stand a chance to ours though. What you call bread is what we call toast.
When I was in Canada, I went to Tim Horton’s a couple times. They really were everywhere, and good, too.
Any good donuts in San Francisco? Because I’ll be going there next month.
I’ve never had one of their donuts, since they don’t have any stores up here. Even if there were, I wouldn’t eat them. The name is a complete turn off, and makes me think “fried in lard,” as well as " the person who named the place spells worse than I do." At least DD’s name doesn’t bring anything more to mind than dipping donuts into coffee.
“Krispy Kreme” makes me think that the doughnut filling has become so rancid that it began to coagulate into a scab-like consistency.
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I am amused that they are from the south and they’re a K short of one of the more infamous fraternities.
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when I lived there, I didn’t think there was any good shops in SF.
I am a fan of raised doughnuts and not cake ones. Cake ones seem to be the main thing bakeries carry there. Usually the cakes ones were nasty greasy things to add insult to injury. I am sure, though, someone will post telling me otherwise, so YMMV.
We drove to San Jose once to fulfill a doughnut urge. That was the location of the only Dunkin Donuts in the bay area.