American donuts soon in Paris. The Krispy Kreme brand, a great rival of Dunkin’ Donuts, will arrive in Paris at the end of summer. A first store will open “during September”, confirms Alexandre Maizoué, CEO of Krispy Kreme France, with BFM business. The Wagram Finances group, which also owns the Columbus Café chain, announced last November the creation of a joint venture with Krispy Kreme to introduce the brand in the French market.
Krispy Kreme is known for their donuts, these round, glaze-covered donuts made the same day. Born in 1937 in North Carolina, the chain has 11,000 points of sale in thirty countries and 1,500 million dollars in sales. Its international development has experienced a boost in recent years, since its acquisition by JAB Holding (which also owns Pret A Manger). In Europe, the brand is present only in the UK at present.
Within five years, Krispy Kreme France expects to open eight large stores in Paris. The donuts will be made there in front of customers, as the brand already offers elsewhere. “The objective is to dramatize the points of sale”, explains Alexandre Maizoué. Like, for example, Fred’s Aux Merveilleux stores. In addition to these big stores, Krispy Kreme also plans to set up 80 kiosks in shopping malls, train stations, airports, and metro stations in the Paris region.
in supermarkets
Without stopping there: Krispy Kreme is also committed to cabinets dedicated to its brand in supermarkets. The firm expects to install 450 cabinets in mass distribution in the next five years. By interlocking with all the places of passage, Krispy Kreme wants to consolidate itself as the “little sweet pleasure” that we offer ourselves when we pass in front of the store or that we take home on the way home from work. The donut should only sell for less than 3 euros, they tell us.
A first workshop will make 270 dozen donuts per hour on each of its two production lines. Ultimately, three workshops should guarantee production for the entire Paris region. And the rest of France? For now, Krispy Kreme prefers to focus on setting up shop in and around Paris. But the poster does not exclude the opening of stores in other French cities in the coming years, if the success is in the Paris rendezvous.
Source: BFM TV
