McDonald’s tie-up with Krispy Kreme expands to Chicago
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Dive Brief:
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McDonald’s will start serving Krispy Kreme doughnuts at its restaurants in the Chicago area on Oct. 15, according to a press release from Krispy Kreme.
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Krispy Kreme is promoting the rollout by giving a free glazed doughnut to “anyone who shows a McDonald’s paper or digital receipt dated between Oct. 10 and 14 at participating U.S. Krispy Kreme shops nationwide.”
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Krispy Kreme said its doughnuts will be available from up to 1,000 McDonald’s locations by the end of 2024 and from 12,000 McDonald’s stores at the end of the two brands’ phased rollout in 2026.
Dive Insight:
Krispy Kreme is putting some promotional muscle behind its McDonald’s rollout as the soon-to-be nationwide partnership rolls into the fast-food chain’s hometown.
While the promo only applies to glazed doughnuts, the rollout to stores includes three of Krispy Kremes most popular varieties — Original Glazed Doughnut, Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles Doughnut and Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled Doughnut — following market testing that began in Kentucky in late 2022. In March, the companies announced they were expanding their integration across the country.
The addition of Krispy Kreme doughnuts adds a well-known name to McDonald’s menu and fills a hole left by the end of its McCafe bakery lineup last year.
The doughnut maker is undertaking significant measures to support its growth with McDonald’s, which will more than double Krispy Kreme’s touchpoints compared to its base at the start of market testing.
Speaking on Krispy Kreme’s most recent earnings call, CEO Josh Charlesworth said “we are hiring and training experts in manufacturing operations, upgrading our doughnut production lines, continuously improving the manufacturing process and optimizing our delivery logistics network with improved routing and upgrades to our fleet.”
In Chicago, for example, Krispy Kreme expects to deliver to 450 more locations, Charlesworth said, without specifying if all of those are McDonald’s. The doughnut maker has three production and distribution hubs in the region already, making it a natural fit for a large expansion.
Krispy Kreme is adding 30 production and distribution hubs in the next few years, which will enable it to undertake yet more partnerships, according to the earnings call.
“The McDonald's nationwide expansion is a bit of a catalyst for us. It enables us to really expand our [Delivered Fresh Daily] business faster than we would have been able to otherwise,” Charlesworth said, adding that the company will start supplying its doughnuts to a large number of Target, Kroger and Walmart locations in coming years.