It’s been fucking vile for decades, though, and it’s only now that they’re losing sales.
Krispy Kremes have been available for sale in gas stations and grocery stores for decades, in the South.
I was surprised at the fad, and I have continued to be surprised that it has taken this long to reach a crisis. I’ve been telling people ever since the fad started that there is a bitch of a diminishing returns curve on Krispy Kremes. Yes, they’re delicious. The first time you have them, they’re heavenly, if you’re getting them hot right from the store. They’re available at all hours of the night (at least in Huntsville, AL) and you can eat a dozen before you realize it. Then comes the crash, and you can’t stand to even look at another one for six months. After that, you eat them moderately in cycles, sometimes being sick of them, sometimes craving them. When you’re with a group of friends and somebody suggests Krispy Kremes, you may notice that each individual is at a different stage in this cycle. That, I contend, is how they stayed in business in their established markets – everybody was at different stages in the love/hate cycle, and the result was a fairly steady demand.
But then they started expanding rapidly all over the country, and I was looking to see that whole house of cards collapse. They expanded on the strength of the initial gluttony that Krispy Kremes inspire, without a plan to weather the massive burnout that was sure to follow before a more moderate but steady demand could be established. It took a great deal longer than the six months I predicted, but I still hold to the theory that this is what happened.
I think this and the Fad aspect says a lot. When the first KK store opened in the Chicago area the place was swamped for weeks. I tried to drive by one night two weeks after the opening and there was still cops directing traffic and a long line of cars and people.
Here a few years later there are KK stores all over, and you can get them at pretty much every grocery store and some mini-marts. They’re not “special” anymore.
Saturation…
Throw me in this camp. I work for a relatively young company that saw explosive growth for many years, head honchos of course claimed that their superior management skills were the reason demanding huge bonuses and getting them, and as long as the 10%-12% increases kept rolling in, corporate was happy, area managers were happy, life was good. When things sudeenly slowed down, the scramble was on…blame shift like crazy until the only thing left to change is the next guy up the totem pole. Facilities closed, territories consolidated and many lost jobs often just because the boss needed another fall guy.
Over the last few years probably 30-40% of our upper management have been replaced and new departments started being formed to not just tally the dollars but figure out the hows and why of where we make our money. Its like a new company. Profit margin is more of a driving force now than “just get the order”. Its fascinating to be able to watch companies go through these kinds of growing pains.
Looking at a luxury item like KKD you HAVE TO keep it scarce or it has no value (ask DeBeers). I always felt part of the novelty of their product was the fresh hot donuts. Its easy to crank out 10,000 donuts a day, its difficult to put a fresh hot donut in the hands of 10,000 people and people will pay a premium price for different. Once I saw KKD on store shelves. I just kinda siged and thought they had killed what I thought was so nifty. I don’t think KKD will crash and burn quite yet, they just need to bunker down and cut loose some of their lower performing and or redundant stores.
Not that I doubt the affect of the Atkins dieters, or the popularity of that diet…
But it strikes me as absurd that one could blame a specific diet for low donut sales. As opposed to all those other diets that approve of Krispy Kremes?
Must be a dark day in Winston-Salem. People there were so proud of their local success story, not to mention heavily invested in it.
Marry me?
I hate you!!! Mail me Timbits. 
I love Tim Horton’s. They make good donut/pastries that don’t have the texture and taste of pure Crisco covered in melted sugar, plus their coffee and other stuff is pretty good too. The last time I was in Canada was around the time they started introducing stuff like soups in bread bowls and sandwiches. BOO!
Dunken Donut’s is alright down here, but locally I always go to the mom & pop places. Down the street from where my parents live there is one run by some Hispanic people where you can also get kolaches and breakfast tacos and stuff. Yum!
I missed (sausage) kolaches when I was in Canada. No one knew what they were. In Chinatown in Toronto I could get a little pastry with a hot dog in it that was similar enough, especially for a $1 from a nice Chinese lady. 
Was there ever a better last name for a rich guy?
I agree it was just an excuse to blame Atkin’s. There’ve been fad diets before and there will again, and they’ve never been sufficient to bring down KKD, KO, PZZA or the makers of any other fattening products.
When Krispy Kreme changes management, that will be a good time to jump back on board as an investor. And I intend to, even though my investment club just unloaded its shares after taking a 66% bath on them.