Front Burner: 75 years and still hot
Mark Santoroski, 8, (left) and his best friend, Thomas Lantham, 8, hang around outside Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on Melrose Avenue in Roanoke after their sugar fix on Friday afternoon. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis l The Roanoke Times.
Today’s Front Burner column in The Roanoke Times is a tribute to Krispy Kreme doughnut company on its 75th anniversary year. If you did not get a chance to read the column, click here.
To test your Krispy Kreme knowledge, take our quiz here.
And to see what happened when we popped those quiz questions on people wandering around downtown Roanoke last week, watch Ryan Loew’s video here.
Finally, here’s a list of fun facts about Krispy Kreme. Bet you didn’t know…
- Although newer shops have automatic dippers, frosted doughnuts are still hand-dipped at the Roanoke store. “And there’s a technique to it,” said manager Jeff Bacon. “If you twist it, there won’t be a tail on it.”
- The chocolate creme doughnut is the best seller behind Original Glazed and chocolate glazed.
- The creme filling is made in-house on Melrose Avenue in 100-pound batches that only last about half a day.
- While many believe doughnut holes are made with the dough cut from the center of the doughnuts, they are not. The doughnuts are shaped in a ring before they are fried. Holes are made separately.
- It takes exactly 110 seconds to cook a ring doughnut. They are flipped once during the cooking process.
- Original Glazed doughnuts are run under a “glaze waterfall,” then a pump brings the glaze back up to the waterfall again. “We can’t lose any of that right now,” Bacon said. “Those commodities, sugar and shortening, are high.”
- Anne Faries, the woman who greets customers at the Roanoke store on most mornings, has been working there for 29 years.
- Krispy Kreme employees can eat a doughnut anytime they want. Sometimes, employees create their own concoctions.
- Krispy Kreme sells doughnut varieties in other countries that are not available in the U.S. In Mexico, the most popular doughnut is coated with a grain called amaranth; in South Korea, the dark chocolate walnut doughnut is big; the chocolate meringue doughnut is a favorite in Kuwait; and in the Philippines, they like the Snickers doughnut.
- On Veterans Day (Nov. 11 this year) veterans and active military personnel get a free small coffee and doughnut at any U.S. Krispy Kreme location. They need only appear in uniform or bring valid military identification.
Source: Jeff Bacon, manager, Roanoke Krispy Kreme; Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp.
Do you have fond Krispy Kreme memories?
October 10, 2012 - 10:30 AM
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It’s nothing that virtually all of us haven’t experienced, but the simple pure joy of buying a couple of Hot Glazed and a 1/2 pint of milk on a Saturday morning, then consuming all of it in about 2 minutes. That is heaven. Two doughnuts, six bites. Six gulps of milk.
Food, in so many ways, is the most base and fundamental satisfaction that people can enjoy. The most basic of foods often can be the most enjoyable of memories. Food takes us to a level of comfort that few things in life can achieve. Krispy Kreme hot glazed doughnuts are one of those ethereal treats in life.
DC’s Last Train Home has a great song about falling in love over Krispy Kreme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YULpRjnSwPQ
starts about 40 seconds in…
“she said you’ve got that glazed look on your face…”
Well said CR and Tass, thanks for the link. I’ll pass it on to a friend who LOVES Krispy Kreme.