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IRVINE, CALIF. - The Craze for warm, glazed doughnuts showed little sign of waning in Southern California as Local Krispy Kreme franchisee Great Circle Family Foods recently rolled out its fourth traffic-jam-inducing shop in 15 months, in Long Beach.
Observers of the local foodservice scene have marveled that Krispy Kreme fans, ranging from soccer moms to ambitious junior executives, can recite by rote the opening dates and proposed locations of future branches as well as nutritional facts about the snacks.
Executives at Los Angelesbased Great Circle Family Foods also are bowled over by the local response to their doughnut product, GCFF president Roger Glickman told attendees of a recent foodservice seminar in Irvine.
"We've had 200 million media impressions since opening in La Habra, [Calif.,] in 1999," he said, adding that Krispy Kreme's Southern California debut site was chosen despite its being a "B" location five miles off the nearest major highway. Though that presumably would have yielded a soft opening, it instead resulted in long lines of customers nearly around the clock since opening day.
Glickman was one of four restaurant executives who shared their viewpoints on the local industry at the Orange County chapter of the California Restaurant Association's third annual President's Panel. Joining...