Groundbreaking next Tuesday for Krispy Kreme in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts will be the draw at a groundbreaking ceremony to be held three weeks after construction began on the chain’s new store in south Fort Collins.

Dohn Construction, based in Fort Collins, began work March 5 at the site at 4624 S. Mason St. and is converting a space that had been occupied until several years ago by a Fazoli’s fast-casual pasta restaurant into a 3,641-square-foot outlet for Krispy Kreme Inc. (Nasdaq: DNUT).

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and the doughnut chain will give 400 attendees free doughnuts after they sign up for Krispy Kreme’s rewards program.

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The Fort Collins location is projected to open in November, said Brian Spongberg, marketing manager for the franchise holder, Cypress, California-based WKS Restaurant Group, in a call to BizWest on Wednesday. WKS also manages the chain’s three other Colorado locations — in Colorado Springs, Lone Tree and Thornton — as well as 39 Krispy Kreme stores in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah.

“Fort Collins is about to get a whole lot sweeter,” Mait Martinson, Krispy Kreme district leader for WKS, said in a prepared statement. “We’re not just building a doughnut shop but creating a new hub for happiness, one doughnut at a time. Get ready to make delicious memories with us.”

Known for the iconic red neon “Hot” sign in its window that is illuminated when a fresh batch of doughnuts comes out of the kitchen, Krispy Kreme will serve up its familiar lineup at the new location, including original glazed doughnuts as well as a selection of coffees and other beverages.

The chain was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when founder Vernon Rudolph bought a recipe for yeast-raised doughnuts from a French chef in New Orleans. The chain spread throughout the southeastern United States in the 1960s, and was sold to Beatrice Foods Co. in 1976, three years after Rudolph’s death. In 1982, a small group of franchise holders bought Krispy Kreme back from Beatrice and began a nationwide expansion. It moved through bankruptcy, went private in a $1.4 billion buyout by Luxembourg-based JAB Holding Co. in 2016, and completed a new initial public offering in 2020.

Krispy Kreme reported in its fourth-quarter 2023 financial report that it had 299 brick-and-mortar shops in the United States as of December. Now headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, it operates in 39 countries through a network of company-owned and franchised shops, partnerships with retailers, food trucks, food carts and deliveries to convenience stores.

Besides Krispy Kreme stores in the West and Southwest, WKS also manages brands including Wendy’s, Denny’s and El Pollo Loco.