I remember being in San Diego in 2000 when the first Krispy Kreme Donut Shop opened. It was a major event, which surprised me. After all, Krispy Kreme was a well-established donut shop in Memphis and you could even buy them in the grocery stores. The first day it opened in San Diego, the wait at the drive thru was two hours. That is right, I said two hours. Now, I love Krispy Kreme donuts – they are delicious – but even for me, two hours was a bit too long of a wait. We had weekly meetings at work where the bosses would bring goodies – cookies, muffins, bagels, donuts. For weeks and weeks, we had Krispy Kreme donuts. It was like they just couldn’t get enough of them. The fact that the San Diego residents, who I thought of as much more metropolitan than us Southerners, would go gaga over a donut like this amused me to no end.
How did Krispy Kreme get so good? Back in 1937, Veronon Rudolph bought a donut recipe from a French chef in New Orleans. Rudolph took his recipe back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and began selling the donuts to local grocery stores. Soon, people wanted to buy them directly from him, so he cut a hole in the wall of his building and began selling hot donuts directly to the customers.
Over the years, Krispy Kreme became an institution in the South. You knew if you stopped by a Krispy Kreme, you were assured of delicious, hot donuts. By 1996, they opened their first store in New York City and then moved on to open the first California store in 1999. In 2001, Krispy Kreme expanded to Toronto, Canada and other country expansions are planned.
What goes better with hot donuts than coffee? Nothing and Krispy Kreme also offers great espresso, four roasted coffee flavors, and frozen blends. If you have never had a Krispy Kreme, visit the Krispy Kreme store locator to see if there is one located near you. It will be donut experience you won’t soon forget!