Winchell’s Tries New Recipes for Success

Winchell’s introduced two “flavored-dough” doughnuts on Tuesday in what the company’s top executive said is an attempt to “create a little bit of excitement” in a fairly staid industry.

The 50-year-old company, which is based in Santa Ana, is trying different tacks to reposition itself and jazz up its image. It’s repainting aging stores and dabbling in dual-branding--selling doughnuts under the same roof with another brand name product.

On Tuesday, the company unveiled its new Very Berry Blueberry Burst and Cocoa Cabana Banana Nut doughnuts, which have fruit and nuts folded into the mix. The ingredients are similar to those in Winchell’s blueberry and banana nut muffins.

The company has been developing the new doughnuts for the last six months and began testing them in stores a week ago. Chief Executive Tom Dowling said he plans to test a new product each month.

But Dowling admitted that customers tend to buy the same doughnuts repeatedly, even though they like to see new products in the display case.

“They just want to see you’re on the cutting edge,” he said. “They don’t want to be on the edge, they just want to see it.”

The company also is pushing forward with plans to begin selling its products in more outlets, including colleges and airports.

And it continues to search for ways to ring up sales in the hours past noon. About 70% of the company’s sales are in the morning. In June, the company began selling Blimpie’s sandwiches and salads at one of its outlets in La Mirada.

Winchell’s has tried a variety of attention-grabbing gimmicks this year, offering heart-shaped doughnuts for Valentine’s and Mother’s days, star-shaped doughnuts for the Fourth of July and oversized Big Daddy doughnuts for Father’s Day.

Winchell’s doughnuts are sold at 300 locations in 13 states, including convenience stores and gas stations. The company hopes to be selling doughnuts at 500 locations by 2000.

The privately held company, which is owned by Shato Holdings Ltd. in British Columbia, said it intends to open six new stores in Orange and Los Angeles counties over the next 12 months. Sales in stores that have been open a year or more--a key measure of performance in retailing--are up 9%, the company said.