A Krispy Kreme facility located in Concord, NC has announced that it will be closing and subsequently laying off over one hundred employees after 3 years of operating as a processing plant for their retail segment. The location is responsible for manufacturing pre-packaged sweets that are sold in snack aisles (Courtesy of: WSOC TV).
The decision is to continue investing and parrying resources to more profitable arms of the franchise. A statement released that outlines the shutdown and exit, acknowledged that the shelf products have been an unprofitable sector for Krispy Kreme.
A planned expansion in Winston-Salem had been on the table but has also been scrapped in light of the pivot away from retail snacks.
It should be noted that this is no cause of alarm for consumers and fans of the brand – the focus will lie on “fresh business” going forward which includes their “fresh” hot donut offerings.
The donut connoisseurs partnered with McDonald’s in the past few months to test the market on making their donuts available through the burger franchise. It was also recently announced that the partnership would be expanding to more locations with Krispy Kreme donuts ready for purchase through the McDonald’s app for delivery.
“All employees who work at this facility will be separated. This action is expected to be permanent,” said the statement.
The franchise says that while their business is “strong, profitable and growing quickly”…they have chosen to eliminate the shelf snack aisle business because it is underperforming.
The statement continues that employees will receive pay and benefits through their “separation date.”
The jury is still out on the status of the performance with McDonald’s and how the test markets are responding to the partnership between the two fast casual restaurants. With the expansion involving over 150 more locations – it seems to be a good sign that a nationwide partnership is on the way.
