COVID-19 has transformed the once absurdly busy Times Square in New York City into a ghost town. Restaurants of all kinds are closing in on the city at the hands of the pandemic. Ditto large retail chains.
However, Krispy Kreme is about to open the doors on September 15 to a true donut that makes funland taste in the middle of almost empty Times Square. Some of the store’s features include the ‘world’s largest’ hot light, a glass waterfall where people could watch donuts being dipped and a 24-hour pick-up window at street level.
The 4,500-square-foot store has been in operation for three years, Krispy Kreme CEO Mike Tattersfield told Yahoo Finance’s First Trade. For Tattersfield – a veteran in the restaurant industry who was once the CEO of Caribou Coffee – opening the store despite concerns about poor city traffic and shopper health still makes a lot of sense.
‘We have been looking to invest in New York. We have had a store in Penn Station since 1997. That saw the question. It’s a very craveable market, “said Tattersfield. Krispy Kreme will not only use the store as a marketing mechanism for the market, but to sell donuts wholesale to nearby businesses. new deal) and Walmart (also a new deal).
Krispy Kreme was acquired by feed conglomerate JAB Holdings for $ 1.35 billion in 2016. The company has gone from 1,100 stores in 26 countries at the time of the deal, to 1,500 locations in 33 countries. Sales reached $ 1 billion annually, up from more than $ 500 million at the time of JAB’s acquisition. Tattersfield expects to open another 450 stores by the end of 2022.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-in-chief and co-anchor of The First Trade by Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and to LinkedIn.
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