Mississauga’s Krispy Kreme makes more doughnuts than any location on Earth and the brand is expanding

The busiest Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, pumping out the most doughnuts in the world, is in Mississauga, the company declared while announcing a renewed Canadian expansion.

The news comes courtesy of Retail Insider, which featured Krispy Kreme in a recent issue. In an interview with the magazine, Chief Growth Officer Levi Hetrick confirmed that Mississauga was the busiest location in the world.

Now, doughnut lovers can expect to see the brand popping up in more Canadian locations. According to Retail Insider, new locations are in the works for Canada, joining Calgary, Scarborough, Greenfield Park (a Montreal suburb) and Quebec City which feature “theatre-style” restaurants where customers can see the baking process. Hetrick also told the magazine that locations will soon open in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Additionally, Hetrick later confirmed to Insauga, plans for Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax and further expansion in the GTA and Montreal areas are in the works, but the company has “nothing concrete to share at the moment.”

Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph using a specific yeast-based doughnut recipe gleaned from New Orleans chefs. Rudolph and his uncle Ishmael Armstrong opened the first Krispy Kreme bakery in 1934 in Nashville, Tennessee, where he largely sold to convenience stores.

Rudolph soon took off on his own, setting up another shop in Winston-Salem, South Carolina. The chain continued to grow, first leaving the South in 1939 with a location in Akron, Ohio. By the 1960s, Krispy Kreme was known throughout the American Southeast.

The doughnut shop settled for a few years before another rapid expansion push in the 1990s, including beyond American borders for the first time. This push resulted in the Mississauga location, the first store abroad, in 2001. The company went public in 2000 and reported 400 locations worldwide by 2004.

However, the company hit its first hurdle in May of that year. It missed its quarterly earning expectations for the first time, which CEO Scott Livengood attributed to the rise of low-carbohydrate diets. Competitors such as Dunkin Donuts did not suffer the same impact and industry pundits decried the excuse as “desperation.”

By 2005, the company shares had lost 75 to 80 per cent of their value. As the company approached bankruptcy, it halted its expansion plans and shuttered unprofitable stores. Many blamed the rapid expansion, arguing it cannibalized its sales by opening too many outlets.

Krispy Kreme had planned to open another 31 stores after the 2001 premiere in Mississauga. However, they only made it to 18. Following the mid-2000s crisis, that number shrank back down to 11.

Now, however, the tide seems to be turning.

Hetrick told Retail Insider that about 20 theatre hub-style locations are planned for Canada, as well as 40 or more smaller, cafe-style locations.

“Krispy Kreme never actually left Canada. It just drastically reduced operations. What you probably recall is that in the early 2000s it was quite a run-up not just in Canada but across the globe to open as many Krispy Kreme’s as possible,” he told the news outlet, pointing to the success of the Mississauga location as proof that Canadians have an appetite for Krispy Kreme.

“Mississauga was literally the first international Krispy Kreme for the brand and it is still open and one of the most successful shops on the planet today. It produces and sells more doughnuts than any other shop, basically in the world.”