For the first time, sweets from 83-year-old doughnut chain Krispy Kreme will be available nationwide thanks to a new partnership with Walmart.
Boxes of the brand's Doughnut Bites and Mini Crullers hit shelves today and the company will hold of a virtual "grand opening," a new, socially-distanced take on the chain's traditional celebrations.
"Every time we open a shop, we have a grand opening, and people sleep out for these things. I mean, people are really excited when we open a new shop," Dave Skena, the chief marketing officer of Krispy Kreme, told Cheddar.
"We thought, 1: How can we do that nationwide? and 2: How do we do it in a time of a national pandemic?"
Like so many other businesses, events, and venues, the pastry chain found a digital way to celebrate the launch. This Wednesday's online Zoom event, like the live openings of the past, will feature music and entertainment guests like NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, according to Skena.
The grand opening will also feature an all-night virtual "campout" contest where 40 die-hards among those staying on the Zoom conference will be selected to win a year's supply of the new doughnut products.
"We can't be everywhere, but with a CPG [consumer packaged goods] offering and Walmart, we can be everywhere," the CMO said.
The launch comes even as surging COVID-19 infections in states like Florida and Arizona are leading some retailers, like Apple, to close stores again. Skena said that Krispy Kreme is adhering to national and local guidelines for its own retail locations.
"We haven't had to close shops. In some places, we do have to restrict them to either the drive-thru or pickup," he said. "So we really follow the situation locally."
When the pandemic began to spread globally, the doughnut chain had to think about how to adjust its business plan as sales - and its marketing budget - began to take a hit, according to Skena.
"We were definitely impacted, but we thought about what can we do, not, what can't we do. We can't make respirators, we can't make surgical masks, but we can bring a lot of joy," he explained.
"How can we celebrate medical workers? How can we help people reach out to a neighbor remotely? How can we celebrate graduates? So we've given well over 20 million doughnuts away in the process of trying to celebrate and bring joy across America," Skena added. "And that has been something that has, I think, kept folks interested in us."
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