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JIMMY STRICKLAND: My first real Krispy Kreme
experience is Little League baseball.
The first, I mean, official Little League uniform that the
that, you know, the company printed the name
and they printed the number on it.
Our team bought the uniforms by doing Krispy Kreme
fund-raising. And--and I went door to door to,
you know, aunts and uncles and people
that went to church with us and just people that lived in
the little small community.
And that's how all the players on the team,
that's how we got our first uniform.
Mr. SAM FOWLER: When we look at the history of our company
and how we began a close-knit family
type of company for many years,
I think that that's where our spirit of community really began.
I'm Sam Fowler. I am the community partners director for
Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation.
When we opened our first stores in communities,
that many people took a chance on us and gave us a try.
And we've got to find ways to give back.
Our fund-raising and our community outreach is--again,
a part of the idea that wherever we are,
wherever Krispy Kreme is located,
we want it to have the feel that it is the local store.
Not that it's this national brand, this corporate entity.
It belongs to that town, that city.
Mr. STRICKLAND: What did we bring to the good people of
Kansas, we brought a hot Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut.
I mean, we really did. And then secondly, you know,
we brought the opportunity for people here in Kansas and in
Missouri to raise a lot of money for non-profit groups.
You know, we are so involved with our
community through our fund-raising programs.
You know, to hear the stories and to get
the letters of kids going on field trips to Washington--we
had a group this past year from Springfield that planned
a trip to Australia. A group last year in Wichita were able
to have a computer library. Bought nine new computers,
put their because of selling Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.
So, you know, we've done a lot.
We've brought the doughnut, but we've also brought some
good, good fortune for people to be
able to do some great things with it.
Mr. FOWLER: Historically, Krispy Kreme is one of the
original product fund-raising companies.
In the South years ago, if a group organization wanted
to raise funds, they generally had to have a car wash or
a bake sale or a spaghetti dinner or something like that.
There just wasn't a product that people could sell and
make enough money on it to make it worthwhile, except
for Krispy Kreme. We have a product that truly is a good
fund-raising product. It's easy to sell, people like it, it's
enjoyable, it's a treat, people know what they're getting.
So it works well for groups to use it for fund-raising.
And really it's helped to build our brand throughout the South
...where we began because this was the
only way that many people could get a fresh
Krispy Kreme doughnut was through a fund-raising group
that had come to the store early in the morning and picked up
100 dozen and gone back to the school and given it out to the
students and they go to their neighbors and get it to them
knock on their door and say úWould you like to
buy a box of Krispy Kremes? And they were just getting
ready for breakfast and it's just been a great treat.
So it has a rich tradition for us in helping to build
a brand as well. But for Krispy Kreme, it's always
been about community. It's always been about what other
kinds of things that we can do to be a part
of that community. And our fund-raising programs have
certainly helped us to build a lot of relationships.
We have groups, in addition to schools, that use our product
to raise funds for March of Dimes, United Way,
many of the the local charities. Krispy Kreme's been involved
with that for many years. Last year we actually helped schools
and groups and organizations make over $27 million through
fund-raising with Krispy Kreme. So we're really proud
of that, and we're hoping to keep that going as we grow our
business and expand our territories. We also introduced
our fund-raising and our community programs and we're
hoping to in the future to be able to help even more people.
Mr. STEVE MARTIN: We think that it takes, really, three traits
to be successful at Krispy Kreme.
And the first is just innate ability.
My name is Steve Martin and I am dean of the
Learning Initiative at Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation.
You have to be ambitious in Krispy Kreme.
You don't have to want to be president,
but you have to desire to be successful.
And then the third thing is integrity.
Which we would say is and I know that's a mathematical term.
It means a whole number. It means a whole person.
It means that there's a congruency between what you
think, what you feel and what you do. We do all we can not
just to teach that but to role model that. The idea is
to give the message úYou have a future here and
we're glad you're here.'
Mr. STRICKLAND: There was a guy last year when we opened up the
store in Wichita, Kansas, Don L.
Just in a conversation I asked Don L.,
I said, úWhat do you enjoy best about working here?
And he looked at me and he goes úCan I be honest with you?
And I said, úAbsolutely.' And then the whole process out
úOh my goodness. What is he going to say?
He said, úThe thing I like working here the best is that
this Christmas I'll be able to buy Christmas presents for
my two girls.' And you know, that really hit home
with me, is that, you know, here in our small company and
we employ close to 400 people that's 400 people that have
jobs, that provide, you know, Christmas presents
for the kids, probably put food on the table, have insurance
for their families. I mean, there's just a whole
multitude of things. And if their goal is to own
their own business, if their goal is to buy
their first house, whatever the case may be, whatever finding
out what that element is of that person that makes
them say, úThis is what makes me happy.'
SHERRY LUPER: The work ethic at Krispy Kreme is incredible.
People want to do the right things the right way
all the time.
And they work very hard and take a lot of pride in
their work. I've worked for many years, and I'm not sure I've
seen anything quite like it.
I'm Sherry Luper, and I am senior vice president of
Human Resources for Krispy Kreme.
At Krispy Kreme we expect our employees to maintain high
standards of conduct. And when I say that, I mean that
we expect them to maintain high standards of conduct
for honesty, respect for co-workers, for their job
responsibilities and for safety. And we take that very
seriously, in that when a new employee comes on board
with Krispy Kreme, we communicate through our
training programs, we communicate with the manager
who's bringing that person on board, and we make sure
that they understand what is it expected of them as it relates
to maintaining those ethics and standard of conduct
that help us to deliver the magic moment to our customer.
Well, in our quest for diversity in the organization in trying
to attract minorities and women and folks with disabilities,
we do a number of different things and have a number of
different programs. We believe that having that
diversity within that group and creating
franchise opportunities, ownership opportunities
for minorities, will broaden our experience as an
organization by having those folks as partners.
And we have on our Web site an area where folks can come into
Krispy Kreme, look at franchise opportunities and as a part of
that Web site, state our commitment to seeking out and
searching for minorities who are interested in
franchise opportunities. Most recently we have been working
very closely with CEC in North Carolina and have been very,
very successful in entering into a minority partnership with
a group called Project Homestead.
And we're very excited about them coming into the family
and joining us as of just the past several months.
Mr. STRICKLAND: One of the greatest thrills for me,
having now done this Krispy Kreme project and having to
open five stores, is that it also has allowed me now the
opportunity to do some things for some people and really
change their lives. I've got managers that work for me
right now that for the first time in their lives own a home.
They're not renting. I mean, they have bought a home.
And when they come to me and tell me úThe reason that I'm
able to buy this house and to have this for my family is
because you have provided an opportunity to me opportunity
for me to succeed and to be a part of your company.'
And I'm telling you what, that there's no greater
thrill. There's nothing that turns my clock any more than
for that process to happen.
Mr.PHIL WAUGH: Why go global?
That's a good question. About 10 years ago we
started looking at franchising in the United States.
And we have successfully franchised all of the major
markets in the United States and have development agreements.
And obviously the next step is to go international.
And I think it's a great opportunity for us to take the
product and the brand and the culture to many different
cultures across the world, actually.
I'm Phil Waugh.
I'm executive vice president of worldwide development.
I mean, the whole concept is driven by a franchise
agreement, which is basically a licensing agreement.
It's written very one-sided to the franchisor's favor.
It's a lot like your driver's license. When you go in to get
your driver's license, you don't ask the state úHey, by the way,
can I drive 65 instead of 55 in this area? Is that OK?
and start negotiating. It's written so that you follow the
rules and so forth. Well, we have franchise agreements
and that are licensing agreements that allow people to
use the brand and the trademark. And as long as they stay as
long as they drive 55, it's OK. But if they start doing
70 in a 55, we have rights to remedy that and take
the marks back. Well, the best way to meet those
marks is to pick the right people. And if you find the
right partner in those areas, it makes all the difference
in the world. Most of the folks that we're talking to,
the groups who we're talking to have substantial multi-unit
food service experience. And that's really our number one
priority is who is our who can we find as our partner?
If we have a country that we're thinking about entering
or we find a partner that we think is just the best and
will work really well with us, then we'd probably
entertain going to that country sooner. Basically our strategy
is to look at the existing markets, what other franchises
have been successful in certain markets. Obviously, the
political turmoil in Indonesia and in Afghanistan and
other countries, we're not targeting them at this moment.
But we targeted Canada earlier and had our most
successful openings. This is kind of an extension
of the United States. It's still here in North America.
From a delivery system, it makes it easy. We make
our own mix. We make our own equipment, so it's easy
to ship. We're looking at Mexico, the UK, Australia,
Japan and Spain to start with. We think they fit very
well with our product. The greatest barriers that
we've had but we've been able to overcome are the
trade issues with our mix. For instance, in the UK, they're
big on GMO, genetically modified. and so if you have
soybean in--that's in our mix that's genetically modified,
you're not supposed to sell it in the UK, and so we've had
to work through those issues. Japan has been a
challenge as well. The Asian real estate is
much different than the real estate in the United States.
As we look at sites here in the United States,
we typically look for free-standing units, where we
can put a drive-thru in. Our buildings are 4,000 square feet
or so. In Asia we're going to have to modify
our concept somewhat to go into downtown Tokyo or into
Seoul or Taipei where we may have to have a smaller concept
without a drive-thru. It would be more walk up traffic.
But what we're planning to do is carry the same theme of the
American concept, the American Krispy Kreme over there.
But most importantly, the same product.
Certainly we're sensitive to the local market.
And in Spain we may have our product we'll offer a variety
of doughnut products that will fit to their market.
For instance, in Spain a lot of the doughnut, instead of
the glaze, will be a powdered sugar on top.
And we may offer that. We currently offer it
in Southern California in several of our stores located
in the Hispanic areas. And Australia has a lot
of slang terms, and we've got to be careful not use
some of those within our marketing. But other than
that, we pretty much are trying to stick to our core,
do what we do best. Go into the countries, open it up under
our proven business model, and then, if for some reason
we run into some issues, we make changes.
We're not going in day one being defeated and
thinking we have to make changes.