At a factory in the Bronx, making a Krispy Kreme doughnut involves precision timing.
First, flour, yeast, water and other ingredients are mixed for 14 minutes. After the dough is pushed through a machine that forms doughnut rings, the rings rise for 35 minutes. Then it’s 110 seconds in an oil fryer and a trip through a 55-degree cooling tunnel.
But because no one wants a stale doughnut, time is also the enemy. Last week’s limited-edition “Harry Potter”-themed sweets, which were decorated by hand as they rolled off the conveyor belt at 2 p.m., were packed in boxes and picked up within 12 hours for early-morning deliveries to retailers like Costco and Walmart. This is the pace the company needs to keep so the doughnuts don’t go stale. Everything is a race.
The clock is also ticking for Krispy Kreme executives. They’re under pressure to convince Wall Street analysts and investors that their latest plan will turn the company’s fortunes around. It’s a tall order.
The company is making a concentrated push to get its doughnuts into even more big-box retailers, as well as convenience and grocery stores, around the country. “In the U.S., just to give an example, we’re in less than a third of the footprint of Walmart, and so, you know, there are thousands of locations for us to go after,” said the chief executive of Krispy Kreme, Josh Charlesworth.
The past three decades have been a roller-coaster ride for the Charlotte, N.C., company, aiming to keep investors on a sugar high as it works out how to expand while remaining true to its heritage of serving fresh doughnuts.
Yet its shares have plunged 66 percent in the past year and currently trade around $3.60, a little more than the cost of a chocolate-iced, cream-filled doughnut in New York City. The company’s stock is one of the largest shorts in the market, meaning many investors are betting it could fall even farther.
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The post Krispy Kreme Bets on Big-Box Stores to Stay Fresh appeared first on New York Times.
