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You know normally I would agree with this sentiment, but we're talking about food that's being shipped in unsealed boxes. I can totally see KK's side of this p

You know normally I would agree with this sentiment, but we're talking about food that's being shipped in unsealed boxes. I can totally see KK's side of this problem. It's sad to say in the scope of modern society, but how can you trust that this kid is actually selling you legitimate (and, without getting off track, unadulterated) Krispy Kreme donuts when he pulls up in your town? What damage would this do to the brand if the person turned out to be a bad actor? If you were the CEO of Krispy Kreme, would you err on the side of caution and stop something before it gets out of hand? A good friend of mine is a restaurant owner and he has a similar gripe about GrubHub and delivery services of this ilk. They bring the food cold, late, and mangled and now the restaurant's reputation is damaged instead of blaming GrubHub for how it was treated in transit.

foxyv 7y ago
It would be cool if restaurants could take a picture of the food as it goes out and send it to the consumer. "Hey your food just went out. Look how good it is!" Then when the delivery driver crushes it with something they can take the heat.
mindcrime 7y ago
What damage would this do to the brand if the person turned out to be a bad actor? If you were the CEO of Krispy Kreme, would you err on the side of caution and stop something before it gets out of hand? Fair point, but people already trust strangers to deliver their food by using GrubHub, Postmates, Uber Eats, etc. Anyway, maybe the "right thing to do" for KK was not to just turn a blind eye and ignore the whole thing, but one can't help but suspect that they could have found a better way to deal with this, that would have been more of a "win-win". Worst case, buy the kid off behind the scenes, pay him to appear in an ad or two, and then quietly shut down his service. Surely they could have some up with something that didn't portray this "$BIGCORP uses it's army of lawyers to smash the little guy" pattern...
- joezydeco 7y ago
  To me, using the kid in any kind of publicity is basically hanging a banner that says "you too can make money cross-shipping our product!", which is probably not what KK corporate wants. In my view using the big hammer was necessary to stop it before it got out of control. Sure, it's brand-damaging as well, but we all have short memories these days when it comes to the Global TCP/IP Outrage Generator. It probably would piss off the franchisees too. They're the ones that paid big money for exclusive sales territories and (contractually) don't want those boundaries crossed by others.
  - bryanrasmussen 7y ago
    this insoluble argument is between those who see opportunity and those who see risk, we love and admire those who see opportunity and we dislike those who see risk, until that risk becomes active, in which case we punish those who did not guard against it adequately. Can't have it both ways I guess, although I am probably most often on the side of those who see opportunity that tendency has come back to bite me at times.
    - zaroth 7y ago
      Beautiful comment, insoluble barrier adds alliteration.
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    Franchisees would be happy to increase sales by having someone help them widen their territory, which seems to be what actually happened here: > He’d established a friendly relationship with Mary Paredes, the manager of the Krispy Kreme in Clive, Iowa, who admired his entrepreneurial spirit and would have the doughnuts ready when he arrived Hell yes, a guy who buys 100 boxes off you every time he shows up is a guy you want to work with. The issue is that this is obviously not controlled by KK, including when it comes to using their trademarks.
  - toast0 7y ago
    As of now, there are no franchised stores in the area. A local store would sell for a non-inflated price and have a better product (Krispy Kreme donuts are generally terrible, but if you get them fresh off the line, they're kind of okay).
scohesc 7y ago
I would be comfortable with making a statement saying "we don't condone this, we can't guarantee the quality or sanitation levels of the food." Done. How in the hell would Krispy Kreme be responsible for this guy reselling doughnuts? He's literally filling a niche market that the company chose not to fill.
- patio11 7y ago
  How in the hell would Krispy Kreme be responsible for this guy reselling doughnuts? Their agent, the franchisee, has actual knowledge of his intent for the 100 boxes of donuts he routinely buys. Now that they know that, they can't un-know that. There's a real risk that, in the event of a controversy, serious people will not describe this as "a niche Krispy Kreme chose not to full" but "the mechanism by which Krispy Kreme chose to fill the niche." Which is not totally unfair; their agent is taking active steps to facilitate this.
lmilcin 7y ago
A lot of food is shipped in unsealed boxes. Bread, meat, fruits and vegetables. Have you ever seen the horror of grains growing on OPEN field and then transported on OPEN truck and then processed UNWASHED?
somehnguy 7y ago
Is that really Krispy Kremes problem? If I buy some waffles from the (definitely not sanctioned by any corp) random waffle stand next to the local bar who do I blame with the syrup is bad? Not Aunt Jemima, I blame the guy running the waffle stand. Same if I go to Walmart and buy bananas that turn out to be rotten. I don't blame whoever grew the bananas, I blame the local Walmart. If you don't trust that the kid is selling legit donuts then don't buy from him, its pretty simple. I don't think KK should have any say in the matter, hes just buying donuts. What he does with them after that is none of their business as far as I am concerned. You can buy and resell anything you want if the market for it exists.
travisgriggs 7y ago
I get what you're saying... but it doesn't make sense in this case. Back in the early days of Krispy Kreme, this kind of thing was defacto standard way to get Krispy Kreme donuts as everyone in rural communities made runs to metropolitan areas to get boxes of donuts to sell on corners and in WalMart parking lots for fund raisers for every type of youth organization possible. I've noticed I see less of that now, as the number of stores has gone way up and novelty of importing the cool rare donut has worn off. But I still see it a little. If food safety were ever an issue, this company would have died a long time ago.
scarface74 7y ago
How can you be sure that the non profits who distribute Krispy Kreme Donuts in the same unsealed boxes that sell them as fundraisers with Krispy Kreme’s blessings aren’t selling unadulterated products? https://s3.amazonaws.com/Fundraising_KKD/2015KKCIFUNDRAISINGFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/Fundraising_KKD/2015KKCIFUNDRAISING...
- jjeaff 7y ago
  Exactly. And how can I be sure that the CEO of Krispy Kreme hasn't ordered that all doughnuts be poisoned?!?!?
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    You can never be sure. But you can estimate probabilities. I wouldn't even be worried about intentional poisoning - just pathogens introduced by improper food handling.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      And how is that different than when people do it for fundraising? They pick up the donuts from KK and sell them somewhere else?
jacobwilliamroy 7y ago
I think Krispy Kreme will be okay no matter what donut man does. It's worth hundreds of millions, it has 4300 employees, operates in multiple countries, it has been around for nearly a century. In a "rogue donut man" scenario, I think Krispy Kreme would do fine because it already has employees or contractors who talk to the press and argue with the public on corporate social media. As for your friend's opinions about grubhub, if his restaurant is a similar size to Krispy Kreme - i.e. international franchise, over $500 million revenue - then I could have an easier time imagining that his fears align perfectly with the fears of c-level execs at Krispy Kreme; right now I just don't know if your friend really reflects the conciousness of Krispy Kreme's high-muck-a-mucks because I don't know if the two companies are equally vulnerable to internet slander.
gremlinsinc 7y ago
a disgruntled pizza delivery person could put rat poison in your pizza if you're not a good tipper. There's plenty of opportunity to do so. I'm sure some bad pizzas have been delivered and have been tampered by bad employees one way or another. You can't control everything. Would've probably been better for them to create some sort of on-the-books business association, make him sign a contract or something and follow some protocols on food handling to deliver as good a product as possible.
jiofih 7y ago
It should simply not be the company’s responsibility? You have no obligation after sale. Anyone can walk into any store, buy a box of donuts, the turn around and resell them on the street.
- twblalock 7y ago
  > Anyone can walk into any store, buy a box of donuts, the turn around and resell them on the street And when something goes wrong, anyone could blame the donut shop. It doesn't matter if those people are right or wrong -- the donut shop could lose business either way.
goatinaboat 7y ago
without getting off track, unadulterated What do you mean by this? I assume you’re not into drugs - I’m not either - but no one is sneaking free cocaine into donuts, I guarantee it
- icebraining 7y ago
  How many dollars do you have behind that guarantee?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - deadmetheny 7y ago
    Do you have any idea how expensive drugs are? I assure you nobody is spiking people's food with them.
    - goatinaboat 7y ago
      Exactly, it’s the same as worrying that whey powder is spiked with steroids.

foxyv 7y ago

It would be cool if restaurants could take a picture of the food as it goes out and send it to the consumer. "Hey your food just went out. Look how good it is!" Then when the delivery driver crushes it with something they can take the heat.

mindcrime 7y ago

What damage would this do to the brand if the person turned out to be a bad actor? If you were the CEO of Krispy Kreme, would you err on the side of caution and stop something before it gets out of hand? Fair point, but people already trust strangers to deliver their food by using GrubHub, Postmates, Uber Eats, etc. Anyway, maybe the "right thing to do" for KK was not to just turn a blind eye and ignore the whole thing, but one can't help but suspect that they could have found a better way to deal with this, that would have been more of a "win-win". Worst case, buy the kid off behind the scenes, pay him to appear in an ad or two, and then quietly shut down his service. Surely they could have some up with something that didn't portray this "$BIGCORP uses it's army of lawyers to smash the little guy" pattern...

joezydeco 7y ago
To me, using the kid in any kind of publicity is basically hanging a banner that says "you too can make money cross-shipping our product!", which is probably not what KK corporate wants. In my view using the big hammer was necessary to stop it before it got out of control. Sure, it's brand-damaging as well, but we all have short memories these days when it comes to the Global TCP/IP Outrage Generator. It probably would piss off the franchisees too. They're the ones that paid big money for exclusive sales territories and (contractually) don't want those boundaries crossed by others.
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  this insoluble argument is between those who see opportunity and those who see risk, we love and admire those who see opportunity and we dislike those who see risk, until that risk becomes active, in which case we punish those who did not guard against it adequately. Can't have it both ways I guess, although I am probably most often on the side of those who see opportunity that tendency has come back to bite me at times.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    Beautiful comment, insoluble barrier adds alliteration.
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  Franchisees would be happy to increase sales by having someone help them widen their territory, which seems to be what actually happened here: > He’d established a friendly relationship with Mary Paredes, the manager of the Krispy Kreme in Clive, Iowa, who admired his entrepreneurial spirit and would have the doughnuts ready when he arrived Hell yes, a guy who buys 100 boxes off you every time he shows up is a guy you want to work with. The issue is that this is obviously not controlled by KK, including when it comes to using their trademarks.
- toast0 7y ago
  As of now, there are no franchised stores in the area. A local store would sell for a non-inflated price and have a better product (Krispy Kreme donuts are generally terrible, but if you get them fresh off the line, they're kind of okay).

scohesc 7y ago

I would be comfortable with making a statement saying "we don't condone this, we can't guarantee the quality or sanitation levels of the food." Done. How in the hell would Krispy Kreme be responsible for this guy reselling doughnuts? He's literally filling a niche market that the company chose not to fill.

patio11 7y ago
How in the hell would Krispy Kreme be responsible for this guy reselling doughnuts? Their agent, the franchisee, has actual knowledge of his intent for the 100 boxes of donuts he routinely buys. Now that they know that, they can't un-know that. There's a real risk that, in the event of a controversy, serious people will not describe this as "a niche Krispy Kreme chose not to full" but "the mechanism by which Krispy Kreme chose to fill the niche." Which is not totally unfair; their agent is taking active steps to facilitate this.

lmilcin 7y ago

A lot of food is shipped in unsealed boxes. Bread, meat, fruits and vegetables. Have you ever seen the horror of grains growing on OPEN field and then transported on OPEN truck and then processed UNWASHED?

somehnguy 7y ago

Is that really Krispy Kremes problem? If I buy some waffles from the (definitely not sanctioned by any corp) random waffle stand next to the local bar who do I blame with the syrup is bad? Not Aunt Jemima, I blame the guy running the waffle stand. Same if I go to Walmart and buy bananas that turn out to be rotten. I don't blame whoever grew the bananas, I blame the local Walmart. If you don't trust that the kid is selling legit donuts then don't buy from him, its pretty simple. I don't think KK should have any say in the matter, hes just buying donuts. What he does with them after that is none of their business as far as I am concerned. You can buy and resell anything you want if the market for it exists.

travisgriggs 7y ago

I get what you're saying... but it doesn't make sense in this case. Back in the early days of Krispy Kreme, this kind of thing was defacto standard way to get Krispy Kreme donuts as everyone in rural communities made runs to metropolitan areas to get boxes of donuts to sell on corners and in WalMart parking lots for fund raisers for every type of youth organization possible. I've noticed I see less of that now, as the number of stores has gone way up and novelty of importing the cool rare donut has worn off. But I still see it a little. If food safety were ever an issue, this company would have died a long time ago.

scarface74 7y ago

How can you be sure that the non profits who distribute Krispy Kreme Donuts in the same unsealed boxes that sell them as fundraisers with Krispy Kreme’s blessings aren’t selling unadulterated products? https://s3.amazonaws.com/Fundraising_KKD/2015KKCIFUNDRAISINGFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/Fundraising_KKD/2015KKCIFUNDRAISING...

jjeaff 7y ago
Exactly. And how can I be sure that the CEO of Krispy Kreme hasn't ordered that all doughnuts be poisoned?!?!?
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  You can never be sure. But you can estimate probabilities. I wouldn't even be worried about intentional poisoning - just pathogens introduced by improper food handling.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    And how is that different than when people do it for fundraising? They pick up the donuts from KK and sell them somewhere else?

jacobwilliamroy 7y ago

I think Krispy Kreme will be okay no matter what donut man does. It's worth hundreds of millions, it has 4300 employees, operates in multiple countries, it has been around for nearly a century. In a "rogue donut man" scenario, I think Krispy Kreme would do fine because it already has employees or contractors who talk to the press and argue with the public on corporate social media. As for your friend's opinions about grubhub, if his restaurant is a similar size to Krispy Kreme - i.e. international franchise, over $500 million revenue - then I could have an easier time imagining that his fears align perfectly with the fears of c-level execs at Krispy Kreme; right now I just don't know if your friend really reflects the conciousness of Krispy Kreme's high-muck-a-mucks because I don't know if the two companies are equally vulnerable to internet slander.

gremlinsinc 7y ago

a disgruntled pizza delivery person could put rat poison in your pizza if you're not a good tipper. There's plenty of opportunity to do so. I'm sure some bad pizzas have been delivered and have been tampered by bad employees one way or another. You can't control everything. Would've probably been better for them to create some sort of on-the-books business association, make him sign a contract or something and follow some protocols on food handling to deliver as good a product as possible.

jiofih 7y ago

It should simply not be the company’s responsibility? You have no obligation after sale. Anyone can walk into any store, buy a box of donuts, the turn around and resell them on the street.

twblalock 7y ago
> Anyone can walk into any store, buy a box of donuts, the turn around and resell them on the street And when something goes wrong, anyone could blame the donut shop. It doesn't matter if those people are right or wrong -- the donut shop could lose business either way.

goatinaboat 7y ago

without getting off track, unadulterated What do you mean by this? I assume you’re not into drugs - I’m not either - but no one is sneaking free cocaine into donuts, I guarantee it

icebraining 7y ago
How many dollars do you have behind that guarantee?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- deadmetheny 7y ago
  Do you have any idea how expensive drugs are? I assure you nobody is spiking people's food with them.
  - goatinaboat 7y ago
    Exactly, it’s the same as worrying that whey powder is spiked with steroids.