Andrew F. Smith

Krispy Kreme

Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About

“When Krispy Kremes are hot, they are to other doughnuts what angels are to people,” quipped southern humorist Roy Blount Jr. in The New York Times Magazine. Krispy Kreme doughnuts are marketed at retail shops with the familiar green roof and red-glazed brick exterior and the distinctive sign, “Hot Doughnuts Now.” When the sign is lit, freshly made doughnuts can be seen moving along an overhead conveyor belt.

Joe LeBeau, a French chef in New Orleans, is credited with developing this yeast-raised doughnut sometime before the Great Depression. He sold the business in 1935 to Vernon Rudolph who took the business to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For a short time in the 1970s, the Beatrice Foods Company operated Krispy Kreme without success. Krispy Kreme was purchased from Beatrice in the 1980s by one of Krispy Kreme’s largest franchisees. Krispy Kreme also sells doughnuts through grocery stores. In 2005, they were the largest selling doughnut in this category.