 |
 |
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
| |
In 1933, Vernon Rudolph, the founder
of Krispy Kreme, bought a doughnut shop in Paducah, Kentucky from
a French chef from New Orleans. He received the company's assets,
good will, and the rights to a secret yeast-raised doughnut recipe.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
It wasn't long before Rudolph and his
partner decided to look for a larger market. They moved their operations
to Nashville, Tennessee, where other members of the Rudolph family
joined the business and opened shops in Charleston, West Virginia,
and Atlanta, Georgia. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
At first, the business was primarily
delivery-selling doughnuts to local grocery stores. Then, during the
early summer of 1937, Rudolph decided to leave Nashville to open his
own doughnut shop. He took with him two other young men, a 1936 Pontiac,
$200 in cash, doughnut-making equipment, the secret recipe and, most
importantly, the name Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
After some disappointments searching
for a new location, Rudolph settled in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
During the late 1930s the city was developing into an economic hub
in the Southeast with diversified industries such as tobacco and textiles.
"Why not doughnuts, too," said Rudolph. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
The three partners used their last
$25 to rent a building across from Salem College and Academy in what
is now called historic Old Salem. With too little money left to buy
ingredients, Rudolph convinced a local grocer to lend them what they
needed in return for payment once the first doughnuts were sold. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Next, Rudolph needed a way to deliver
the doughnuts so he took out the back seat of the Pontiac and installed
a delivery rack. On July 13, 1937, the first Krispy Kreme doughnuts
were made and sold at the new Winston-Salem shop. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Soon afterward, people began stopping
by the shop to ask if they could buy hot doughnuts. The demand was
so great that Rudolph opened the shop for retail business by cutting
a hole in the shop's wall so he could sell the doughnuts. This innovation
was the beginning of Krispy Kreme's modern-day window service. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Krispy Kreme is best known for its
fresh, glazed, yeast-raised doughnuts, "Krispy Kreme Original Glazed,"
which stores announce to their customers with the unique glowing red
"Hot Doughnuts Now" sign. Krispy Kreme also makes more than a dozen
other varieties of yeast-raised and cake doughnuts, real fruit pies,
cinnamon buns and several varieties of snack foods. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
icon_logo.gif){kind=logo}
