Yeah well you know how compeditive Australians are… they hate to come 2nd in anything.
The morons, half-wits and absolute idiots who are protesting the store a) existing or b) getting involved in school fundraisers are doing their best to show that we aren’t running second in the brain stakes - although we may be near first in the lack-of-brain championships. Considering people have been flogging oversized Freddo Frogs and Caramello Bears for years to raise money for their schools, the Krispy Kreme fundraiser backlash seems selective and hypocritical. Can’t you buy a doughnut to help your kid’s school and at the same time teach them that healthy eating is good and treats are ok on occasion? I find it so frustrating that everytime I read the news someone is trying to get the thing they don’t like banned instead of just not using it themselves! Between Krispy Kreme protesters, Big Brother Adults Only being axed because people are worried their kids might be watching it at 9:40pm on a weeknight, the renewed talk of Internet filtering laws (won’t somebody think of the childrens!!!1!!), our Prime Minister trying to shoot down the ACT gay marriage laws, Tony Abbott - Health Minister to God - trying to block the RU486 “abortion” pill because he’s a Catholic and in fact the whole renewed abortion debate… I feel like this country is going backwards instead of forwards. Let’s just ban everything with a sharp edge so no one can get hurt and then we’ll all live in peace and prosperity forever!
…and I hope to try these mythical doughnuts on Wednesday even though I’m informed by some that they are seriously overrated. If there is a three MINUTE queue, I won’t be stopping.
They opened here in Ontario (Mississauga, to be exact) about 4-1/2 years ago. Their store was across from a power center at Mavis and Britannia, so there was lots of traffic to attract. Opening day there were 2+ hour lineups and police were directing traffic – in the parking lot. Madness.
Now, I like KK. Their donuts are of a softer, slightly more doughy – I daresay “pillowy” – consistency than your average Tim Horton’s or Country Style, and quite tasty. Not 2-hour-wait tasty, but good enough that if I’m in the vicinity, a side-trip wouldn’t be out of line if I were in the market for it. Of course, they also have about as many calories per donut as your average healthy meal, so given that I’m trying to lose weight right now they’re completely off the menu.
I think that their initial appeal was the scarcity due to geography. People travelling south would be begged to bring back KK do(ugh)nuts. They opened their first franchise in Massachusetts a few years ago, and traffic slowed to a standstill. More shops followed. And have been quietly closing their doors ever since.
I am reminded of the scarcity of Coors in the '70s. People would carry back cans from West of the Rockies as though they were pieces of the True Cross. Those who managed to keep them refrigerated were venerated as saints. Then Coors became available everywhere and people wondered how they ever confused it with beer.
Hmm, Aussies queing up for three hours for Krispy Kremes, and Americans milling about outside Outback Steakhouses every Friday & Saturday night… well, I can at least understand Outback’s popularity. [Ooh gawd, those bloomin’ onions!] I think it’s basically a real-life illustration of the Quantity Theory of Insanity (Will Self would be proud). Our quantity of insanity balanced, ever so delicately, by theirs. Both cultures and countries equally nuts, and all is equally unwell with the world…
A company in Houston ran all of the local franchises and eventually sued Kripsy Kreme for one reason or another and end the end Krispy Kreme pulled out of the market and the local company took over all the stores under their own brand.
Yippers, that the deal. You have to be able to feel the liquid sugars melting into the roof of your mouth to fully appreciate the KKK* experience.
I’ve been on large jobsites where a donut making machine in a truck was making the rounds most mornings. But they made the kind of donuts I prefer. Krunchy Kake donuts. No icing, glaze, or whatever you want to call it. Just pure, hot fresh, donutty goodness. For an 8:30am break (6:00am start time) with a large muggo joe, that was heaven. Esp on those cold, west/panhandle Texas winter mornings. (Level Land, Muleshoe, Earth, Hereford, etc…)
I’m not a huge fan of Krispy Kreme…
Krispy Kreme also offers a frosty, frozen beverage (I imagine similar to the 7-11 Slurpee, Dunkin Donuts Coolatta, Starbucks Frappucino, etc) that is glazed donut-flavored! I’ll try anything once, but I still can’t bring myself to drink a tall, cold glass of donut smoothie.
I work not far from there. Not long after it opened, people would bring boxes of KK donuts in to work like they’d just made a profit on a gold-mining trip to the Klondike. But then the hysteria dissipated and business volumes dropped and now several KK stores have closed, such as the one outside the Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill.
It’s a conveyor belt - in many locations you can sit and watch it happen. I do not really reccommend watching the glazing process, personally. They’re great fresh off the belt (gotta go when the sign is lit up) but I never eat more than two. I’ll have one maybe every six months or something - when you’re really in the mood there’s nothing better. I love the smell when you drive by, too. Then again, I’m a Southerner born and bred and am currently having a screaming match via e-mail at Mr. Coffee, because their iced tea maker pretends like you can make sweet tea in it and that is a total lie.
I don’t much care for Timmy’s donuts. They’re quite average, as far as I’m concerned, and rarely buy them. Their coffee is what keeps them going and is just about the only reason I go there – they do have the best coffee of any chain.
I don’t get the hype- a KK doughnut is the same as a glazed, raised doughnut…and unless you get them hot, they are just another doughnut. The mistake they made was in selling them off-site; a stale KK doughnut is no good, and turned people off them.
> Hmm, Aussies queing up for three hours for Krispy Kremes, and Americans
> milling about outside Outback Steakhouses every Friday & Saturday night…
> well, I can at least understand Outback’s popularity. [Ooh gawd, those bloomin’
> onions!] I think it’s basically a real-life illustration of the Quantity Theory of
> Insanity (Will Self would be proud). Our quantity of insanity balanced, ever so
> delicately, by theirs. Both cultures and countries equally nuts, and all is equally
> unwell with the world…
Outback Steakhouse is an American chain, and the food has essentially nothing to do with Australian cuisine. Yes, barbecuing is popular in Australia, but other than that the restaurant has no connection with that country except for the decorations on the walls and the fake Australian names of the food items. In particular, blooming onions aren’t something served in Australia.
You know, the exact same thing happened in Boston. They opened a Krispy Kreme in Medford (which is rather difficult to get to from downtown), and yeah, at first the lines were pretty long. Mrs. Fresh and I braved them a couple of times when our niece and nephew came to visit and wanted to try it. The donuts themselves were OK, but they weren’t worth the hour-long wait. The shop closed up last year for lack of business.
On that note, I have to question the marketing genius of a company that tries to open up a donut shop on the outskirts of the city which actually started the Dunkin Donuts franchise. :smack:
Their menu items are a little scary. I’ve looked at their website. Notably, Boomerang Shrimp frighten me because of that whole “coming back” thing with its connotations of vomiting (and that’s without getting into the whole "what you call shrimp we call prawns deal). I’d have no more desire to tuck into the Prime Minister’s Ribs than you would to dine on the President’s Ribs (soooo cannibalesque), and Buffalo Wings might be called Spicy Chicken Wings or something like that over here, but calling them Kookaburra Wings is just wrong! I don’t think kookaburras would make good eating, they are too small and… it’s just wrong.
The Outback Steakhouse has opened in Sydney. I note that Kookaburra Wings have been renamed Chookaburra Wings (chook = chicken so that’s a good change) and it doesn’t look like anyone’s eating the Prime Minister over here. The kid’s menu has a Boomerang Cheese Burger, but the Boomerang Shrimp is missing.
They’re great fresh off the belt (gotta go when the sign is lit up) but I never eat more than two. I’ll have one maybe every six months or something - when you’re really in the mood there’s nothing better. I love the smell when you drive by, too. Then again, I’m a Southerner born and bred and am currently having a screaming match via e-mail at Mr. Coffee, because their iced tea maker pretends like you can make sweet tea in it and that is a total lie.