No more Kremes in Houston
It’s at this point well-known that Krispy Kreme overexpanded, saturating the market with mediocre product instead of trading on the scarcity of availability (remember the lines outside a new Kreme store back in the late 90s and early 00s?) and cachet of its brand (Krispy Kreme is not the same as Shipley’s). Other factors claimed by KKD for its troubles include Atkins, although it’s now generally agreed that this was a smokescreen to cover its shady accounting practices and franchisee bullying.
So, in other words, this is all old news. Still, I think it’s still momentous that KK is abandoning an entire top-10 metropolitan market like Houston, even temporarily:
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is exiting the Houston market after reaching an agreement with its Houston franchisee, Lone Star Doughnuts.
The five Houston-area stores will cease operations on March 8, as will the location in Beaumont.
Lone Star Doughnuts said Thursday that it will launch its own brand of doughnuts as soon as Krispy Kreme closes. And Krispy Kreme said it plans to reopen stores in Houston, but didn’t say when.
The Chron article goes on to discuss the relationship between KKD and Lone Star Doughnuts, which had devolved into litigation (the settlement of which includes this franchise pullout).
Bottom line: you’ve got less than a month to get HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW.