Although most people believe Krispy Kreme has its origins in North Carolina, its story really began elsewhere. A just-out-of-college Vernon Rudolph went to help out at his uncle Ishmael Armstrong’s general store in Paducah, Kentucky in the early 1930s. But after a few years the family decided to sell up, move south and set up a doughnuts-only shop in the bigger city of Nashville in hope of finding more business.

After a few years working for his family in Nashville, young Vernon wanted to branch out on his own. In 1937 he started looking for a location to open his own doughnut shop. How did he choose where to go? He took inspiration from his go-to brand of cigarettes, Camel, which was based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He thought if Camel could be successful there, why couldn’t he?

It's believed Vernon bought the legendary Original Glazed recipe for his doughnuts from a French chef. Some sources say this chef was called Joe Le Beau and that he came from New Orleans, while others say his name was Joseph G LeBoeuf and he lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Either way, we have a lot to thank the guy for.

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They weigh next to nothing and practically dissolve when you bite into them, but what is it that gives Krispy Kreme doughnuts their signature taste and texture? No one knows for sure, as the recipe is reportedly locked in a vault at the company HQ in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. However, according to food historians, it’s possible mashed potato is the secret ingredient – and the company claims it hasn’t changed the recipe much since the early days.

When Vernon Rudolph first set himself up, Krispy Kreme was a wholesale doughnut factory that sold only to grocery stores. However, the scent of freshly-baked doughnuts wafting from the building meant the operation didn’t stay secret and the young businessman had passersby knocking on the door asking if they could buy whatever he was baking. So many people asked, in fact, that Vernon built a window so they could buy the hot treats straight off the street.

The doughnut shop expanded into a chain in the 1940s and 1950s with family-owned franchises opening across the Carolinas. By the late 1950s, there were Krispy Kreme stores in 12 states, all with the same factory-retail layout which allowed visitors to see the hot doughnuts being handmade in the back and displayed the delicious doughnuts in a glass case at the front.

Believe it or not, Krispy Kreme once sold pizza. It’s not clear why this savoury product disappeared from the menu, but these days the chain is pretty successful selling doughnuts and coffee only.

Though customers loved Krispy Kreme doughnuts, each of the mostly family-owned stores were producing slightly different doughnuts despite following the same recipe. To solve the problem of consistency, Vernon built a central plant that distributed a dry ingredients mix to all of the stores and installed identical doughnut making machines inside each store. This conveyor belt contraption was called the Ring King and an updated version of it is still used by stores today.

To make the signature Original Glazed doughnuts, the yeast dough goes through an air-pressurised machine which shapes it into perfectly-puffed rings. It’s allowed to proof for 30 minutes then it’s fried in vegetable shortening, all while moving along the conveyor belt. Once cooked, the doughnuts travel through a waterfall of warm sugar glaze to ensure an absolutely even finish. 

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From start to finish the doughnut-making process takes approximately one hour. That includes 33 minutes of preparation and frying, plus 25 minutes of icing and cooling. While the Original Glazed doughnuts are a job mostly done by machine, the jelly and iced doughnuts need to be filled and decorated by hand.

For a bake sale like no other, Krispy Kreme supplies bulk orders of doughnuts for people raising money for a worthy cause. Set up in 1955, its fundraising arm has assisted countless schools, sports teams, churches, charities and community organisations to "raise some dough". According to its website, last year alone, the brand helped raise approximately £27 million ($37m).

Ever wondered what the Krispy Kreme logo is meant to be? Designed by local architect Benny Dinkins in the shop’s green and red colours for the original store on South Main Street in Old Salem, it was trademarked in 1955. The iconic design is referred to as the bowtie and has never been changed.

Today, a Krispy Kreme shop, with its red, white and green colour scheme, is instantly recognisable from miles away, but it wasn’t always that way. The distinctive green-tile-roof stores only came into play in the 1960s as the chain continued to expand. It was at this time that the famed brand's heritage road signs also appeared.

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Though it still has a family-run feel to it, Krispy Kreme is no longer family-owned. After its founder died in the 1970s, the doughnut brand was bought by Beatrice Foods Company in 1976, who also produced the Meadow Gold, Clark Bar, Milk Duds and Dannon Yogurt brands. Not long after, however, a group of early franchisees bought it back. Nowadays, Krispy Kreme is a public company owned by German corporation JAB Holdings.

After a short blip when the brand was taken over by Beatrice Foods, Krispy Kreme steadily grew to reach its full potential. In the 1990s it integrated into American popular culture and everyone wanted a bite. It featured on Sex and the City, made regular appearances on the legal comedy Ally McBeal and had its film debut in Primary Colours starring John Travolta. The doughnut brand was even papped being delivered to the Clinton White House.

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When Krispy Kreme first opened to customers, if you wanted hot doughnuts you had to queue up at dawn – like most bakeries, everything it sold that day was baked first thing in the morning. Then in 1992, the game-changing Hot Doughnuts Now light was installed in stores, signalling to passersby when a fresh batch was coming out of the fryer. Fast forward to the 21st century and the brand's app will tell you when your local store is serving fresh from the fryer.

The first green-tiled store to open outside of the United States opened in Mississauga, Canada in the early 2000s. When the brand subsequently launched in Montreal in 2003, the Hot Doughnuts Now sign had to be translated into French. International stores in Sydney and London soon followed. Now you’ll also find Krispy Kreme stores in Asia, Mexico, the Middle East, Puerto Rico and Turkey, among other countries. 

Krispy Kreme has a lot of famous fans to its name. Former president Barack Obama famously visited a store in Tampa, Florida, in 2012, and picked up three dozen assorted doughnuts to give to local firefighters. Retired basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal bought a Krispy Kreme franchise in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2016. Madonna and Beyoncé are also known to enjoy a doughnut or two.

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The costly creation which took three days to make went on sale in Selfridges, London, in 2014, and its ingredients included vintage Dom Pérignon Champagne jelly, 24-carat gold leaf, 23-carat gold-dusted Belgian white chocolate lotus flower and edible "diamonds". It was also served above a 500-year-old Courvoisier and 2002 Dom Pérignon raspberry passion-fruit cocktail. A more affordable version of the pricey sweet treat was on sale for a limited time. 

The company states that all the ingredients supplied to its stores for its doughnuts from its mixing plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are kosher. Every store is supplied by the centra plant so, while some individual stores are not certified kosher, as all the doughnut ingredients come from the same place Krispy Kremes are suitable for Jewish people.

If intense physical activity combined with scoffing doughnuts sounds like your idea of fun this might be the challenge for you. Every year North Carolina State University hosts a contest where participants have to run five miles (8km) through the town of Raleigh and consume a dozen doughnuts in under an hour. All the donations go to the UNC Children’s Hospital. The 2021 student run was a virtual event due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Ever wondered what happens to imperfect Krispy Kreme doughnuts or any that don’t get sold before the end of the day? They certainly aren’t saved and resold the next day. The majority are sent off to be made into animal feed, specifically pig fodder.

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The king of the doughnut, Krispy Kreme, only has 1,400 retail stores across 33 countries. It’s a surprisingly small number when you think of how widely the brand is known and when compared to other fast food chains such as Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for with cult status – it sells one of the most hyped products in the world. 

At a Krispy Kreme store, the machine turns on at 4am and begins to churn out hot doughnuts. Approximately 22,000 are made every day, which is 55,000 a week and 16 million a year. Some stores make a whopping 20 million a year.

Doing its bit to fight the pandemic, Krispy Kreme is offering a free Original Glazed doughnut to customers in the US who have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Just take your COVID-19 vaccination card into your nearest participating store anytime in 2021 to claim your reward. If that isn’t an incentive, we don’t know what is.

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