Waiting for Good Dough

Seminary student Justin Erickson shivered for two hours in the chilly darkness to get inside the first Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Los Angeles County.

He was so moved by the time he reached the front counter and stood eye-to-eye with a rack of doughnuts slathered in glaze, he let loose with Scripture.

“As it says in Romans,” Erickson said, staring at hundreds of freshly baked doughnuts, “God has revealed himself to man.”

It’s hard to imagine how a doughnut shop could inspire such devotional zeal, but Krispy Kreme is apparently no ordinary doughnut joint. The opening Tuesday of the store in Van Nuys, the second one in Southern California, became a pilgrimage of sorts as hundreds of people, many of whom had never even tried a Krispy Kreme doughnut before, made the two-hour journey from the back of the line to the front counter on faith alone.

They hailed from Burbank, Beverly Hills, Santa Clarita, even Mojave, 100 miles away. And in their quest for the perfect doughnut, the Krispy Kreme devotees tied up traffic along Van Nuys Boulevard, packed the store for hours straight and shouted out in ecstasy when they finally got their hands on a piece of sugary, molten dough. The phenomenon that seems to follow this Southern doughnut chain whenever it opens a new branch is indeed alive and well in the San Fernando Valley.

But what’s driving the hype?

Krispy Kreme’s signature glazed doughnut, made from a 63-year-old recipe kept in a vault at the company’s headquarters in North Carolina, is prized for its texture and taste--especially when enjoyed hot. But can that alone explain the lines, the boxes of greasy pastries inhaled along the curb, or why Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan declared Tuesday the official Krispy Kreme Doughnut Day?

“There’s no way at all of explaining all this,” said Morris Tawil, a retired salesman who was discouraged by a two-hour wait at Krispy Kreme and left to go around the corner to Peter’s Donuts. “A doughnut’s just a doughnut. I don’t get it.”

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Neither do Krispy Kreme’s rivals. In this land of commuter culture, where nearly 2,000 doughnut shops dot the mini-malls and street corners--more per capita than any other area--the competition in fried dough is fierce. Executives at Winchell’s, the area’s home-grown chain, say Krispy Kreme has pulled off a first in the low-frills doughnut world: creating a mystique.

“It’s true, our stores don’t have the same kind of ambience as they do,” said Lou Franson, vice president of brand management at Santa Ana-based Winchell’s.

But Franson says he thinks Krispy Kreme’s arrival will only create more doughnut lovers in Southern California--helping Winchell’s in the long run.

Like the way they guard their dough recipe, Krispy Kreme officials won’t discuss the secret of their brand’s aura. Sure, they’ll explain all the ins and outs of the patented air extrusion process that cuts doughnut dough without rolling it, thus making the end product noticeably lighter and airier than the competition’s. And company executives will wax poetic about the down-home, almost retro charm of the 150-store chain, which, like venerable In-N-Out Burgers, hasn’t sold out to the low-cal craze or other marketing gimmicks.

The menu at Krispy Kreme is 15 varieties of doughnut. That’s it. Don’t come looking for muffins, croissants, bagels or biscotti.

The minimalist approach has so far been a gold mine in La Habra, where Krispy Kreme opened its first California franchise in January. The franchise has already sold a staggering 12 million doughnuts, the best performance of any Krispy Kreme store in the nation. It’s owned by Great Circle of Family Foods, a Los Angeles-based family partnership that also owns the Van Nuys store. Roger Glickman, president of the company, said he plans to open another 40 stores in Southern California, with the next ones coming soon to Huntington Park, Ontario and Orange.

As a corporation, Winston-Salem-based Krispy Kreme is also thinking big: It plans to go public in February, with some investment analysts already comparing its brand strength to that of high-performing Starbucks Coffee.

The brand’s promise was evident as early as 3:45 a.m. Tuesday. That’s when David Daniel, an Encino TV producer, became the first one in line at the Van Nuys store.

“I dream of these doughnuts,” he said.

By the time the store opened at 6 a.m., Daniel was at the head of a line of people that wrapped around the store. A motorcade of cars clogged the drive-thru lane. Some drivers sat in their seats for two hours.

Inside, an army of doughnut makers snatched warm pastries off a conveyor belt. People in line stared hungrily, mesmerized by a waterfall of glaze that laid a sugary coat as thick as motor oil on the doughnuts as they rumbled down the line.

Boxes were snapped open and filled at a pace that could be maintained only on opening day. Customers left the store grinning, many with four to five boxes (at $4.99 a dozen) stacked under their chins.

“There are few things in life that are perfect, that live up to all the hype and expectation,” explained actor Scott Smith as he polished off a half box of Krispy Kreme’s best. “These doughnuts are one of them.”

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Krispy Kreme

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

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Doughnut Sugar Fat Calories Glazed 7g 10g 170 Cinnamon apple-filled 11g 9g 210 Chocolate glazed 19g 10g 220 Glazed creme- filled 19g 14g 270 Chocolate glazed creme-filled 19g 14g 270

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DOUGHNUT FACTS

1. An uncooked Krispy Kreme doughnut weighs 1.17 ounces

2. The secret recipe is kept in a vault in North Carolina

3. Each doughnut cooks for 220 seconds in oil heated to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. A waterfall of sugar glaze is the last step in the process

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Source: Roger Glickman, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts