Kreme de la Doughnuts Goes West to La Habra

A famous deep-fried Southern sin has come West.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts--a Deep South staple for 61 years--opened its first California shop in La Habra on Tuesday and a line was waiting out the door at 5:30 a.m.

Some might believe Krispy Kreme is a strange culinary interloper in a land fabled for granola, sprouts and holistic health. But truth be told, Krispy Kreme is venturing into the doughnut capital of the country: Southern California’s 1,600 doughnut stores give it more per capita than any region.

Still, for a cult of pastry fanatics, Krispy Kremes are a cross between recaptured youth and a transferred religious experience.

There’s even a Krispy Kreme Web site and an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution, where Chief Archivist John Fleckner once said, the “story of Krispy Kreme is a blend of nostalgic memories and revealing business and social history.”

And, by the looks of those inside America’s newest Krispy Kreme shop, there may be a legion of devoted followers in Southern California.

“My father got up on Sunday morning and before we went to church, he’d come home with a dozen or two,” waxed Ed Tillman, 34, an Atlantan living in Los Angeles.

In another crowded corner, George and Rosemary Rootes of Huntington Beach were filling their nearly quivering mouths. True, at 170 calories and 10 grams of fat apiece, Krispy Kreme doughnuts probably aren’t nature’s gift to nutrition, but the Rootes were devil-may-care.

“You gotta die of something,” George said bravely. “Might as well be something you like.” His wife, nodding toward him, quipped, “He just came from having a cardiac stress test. Is this a sick man, or what?”

There may be more to Krispy Kreme than nostalgia and great inner cravings.

“People are feeling free to [enjoy] heavier foods,” said Anna Graves, a Los Angeles attorney and restaurant industry expert. “It’s also just indulgence. You see cigars, martinis making a comeback.”

Krispy Kreme “very much has a retro feel,” said Graves. “They have a cult following.”

Krispy Kreme, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., was mostly a regional secret for nearly six decades, but began breaching the Mason-Dixon Line about four years ago.

In 1997, it opened in New York City, where it entered into battle with the bagel, and began forging west to Chicago, Houston, Omaha and other cities.

Today, there are 140 stores in 25 states.

Great Circle Family Foods of Los Angeles, the exclusive franchisee, plans to open 42 shops between San Luis Obispo and San Diego. The La Habra location is the first one that was ready to open. The hallmark “Hot Doughnuts Now” neon sign beckons the faithful around the clock.

The Krispy Kreme may be a simple, unpretentious doughnut, but it gets more than its share of respect.

Men’s Journal last year ranked the Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut, the company’s signature nosh, No. 3 on a list of the 100 best things to eat.

Krispy Kreme has made cameo appearances in such films and television shows as “Primary Colors,” “NYPD Blue” and “ER”

Writing in the New York Times Magazine, author Roy Blount Jr. rhapsodized, “they’re not crispy-creamy so much as right on the cusp between chewy and molten. Kind of like fried nectar puffed up with yeast.”

Of course, one of the most influential endorsements came from Elvis Presley, who used to scarf Krispy Kreme jelly doughnuts by the box.

In that tradition of reverence came the adoring throng Tuesday.

Children ducked and weaved among the adults to watch the doughnut machine behind the long glass wall pump out chewy circles, fry them in vegetable oil, then anoint them under a viscous waterfall of sugar glaze.

Angelina Fratzke’s four children, aged 3 1/2 to 10, watched mesmerized until the doughnuts finally came. “I’m not a big doughnut eater, but they are,” she said. “We try to give them doughnuts every other morning.”

Son Michael, aged 10 and seemingly possessed of a sophisticated palate, tendered his analysis of Krispy Kreme as opposed to other brands. “Much more warmer, softer, and straight from the thing,” (a.k.a. doughnut machine), he said, looking up from his sticky little fist.

Beamed Roger Glickman, president of Great Circle Family Foods, “This is what it’s all about. These kids are forming an indelible impression. Day in and day out, you’re going to see nose prints on this glass.”

Also watching the opening day in serene contentment was Mac McAleer, who has made Krispy Kreme his life’s work, including 12 years as company CEO.

“It’s part of the Southern culture,” he explained. “Growing up in the South, we had Coca-Cola and Krispy Kreme. We were around before McDonald’s. This is not a doughnut, I’d like you to know. It’s not like anything you’ve ever had.”

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From Dough to Doughnut

An East Coast doughnut institution since 1937, Krispy Kreme opened its first Southern California store Tuesday in La Habra. The elaborate Rube Goldberg-like doughnut-making process, on display for customers to watch, contributes to the company’s cult-like following. A look at the 55-minute journey of a glazed doughnut from the mixing bowl to your mouth:

1) Prepare: Blender mixes up to 40 pounds of dough

2) Cut: Using compressed air, extruder squeezes dough rings onto conveyor shelf

3) Bake: Rings travel up and down in 125-degree hot box, dough rises

4) Fry: Dough floats across 360-degree vegetable oil, flips at halfway point

5) Cool: Doughnut temperature drops 25 degrees

6) Glaze: Icing waterfall coats doughnut top

7) Dry: Glaze shell forms

8) Coounter: Clerks box and serve up to 3,000 hot doughnuts per hour

9) Load: Remaining doughnuts automatically drop onto storage screens

Source: Roger Glickman, Krispy Kreme doughnuts

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times