On this day in history, July 13, 1937, the well-known doughnut chain Krispy Kreme was founded in North Carolina. Company founder Vernon Rudolph purchased a secret yeast-raised doughnut recipe from a New Orleans French chef. Rudolph then set up a doughnut factory in present-day Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he began selling doughnuts to area grocery stores. The delicious scents of cooking doughnuts wafted into the streets, attracting passersby who stopped to ask if they could buy hot doughnuts.
Rudolph’s innovative idea to create the first Krispy Kreme storefront by cutting a hole in the wall of his building allowed customers to purchase a glazed doughnut right on the sidewalk. Since then, Krispy Kreme has become one of the most beloved and well-known sweet treat brands in the world. The company’s iconic Original Glazed doughnut is universally recognized for its hot-off-the-line, melt-in-your-mouth experience.
From its humble beginnings as a literal hole in the wall in North Carolina, Krispy Kreme now operates in more than 30 countries. In the 1940s and 1950s, the company expanded throughout North Carolina and South Carolina, refining its doughnut-making procedures. While each store used the same recipe, variations in scratch-made doughnuts led to inconsistencies between locations. The solution was automation.
Krispy Kreme built a mix plant and developed a distribution system to deliver the perfect dry doughnut mix to each store. Rudolph and his equipment engineers invented and built Krispy Kreme’s own doughnut-making equipment, focusing on improving and automating the process. The company was sold to Beatrice Foods Company in 1976, but was bought back by a group of early franchisees in 1982 following Rudolph’s death.
With a renewed emphasis on the hot doughnut experience, Krispy Kreme expanded its operations outside its southeastern U.S. roots. The company opened its first store in New York City in 1996 and launched its flagship store selling the exclusive Big Apple Doughnut with apple cream filling. Expansion continued with the first California store opening in 1999, followed by an IPO in April 2000.
Krispy Kreme’s international presence began with the opening of its first store in Ontario, Canada in December 2001. In 2003, the company expanded further, opening locations in Sydney, Australia, and London, England, marking its first ventures outside of North America. Krispy Kreme’s success and popularity have solidified its position as a global sweet treat favorite.
