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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme Has a Donut Dispensing Vending Machine

In this time of bitter partisan divide, I believe the one thing that can bring us together is donuts. Specifically, access to donuts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

So I am patriotically pleased as punch to inform you that Krispy Kreme now has a vending machine that will serve you donuts anytime you like. That is, as long as you’re near the company headquarters shop in Charlotte, NC.

It looks like the vending machine actually debuted at the end of August, but we caught word of it through a Vending Times article posted today. The machine features a giant screen to display inventory and even run video, temperature control, and credit card and mobile payment options. It also features a “no-drop” dispenser so that precious cargo — the donut — doesn’t get crushed.

From that Vending Times story:

The machine vends three different standard variety packs: “The Fan Favorites” — one Original Glazed, one raspberry-filled, and one chocolate sprinkled for $4.99; “The Classics” — one Original Glazed, one chocolate iced cream filled and one strawberry sprinkle for $4.99; and “The Original Glazed Lovers” pack — three Original Glazed for $3.99.

While it’s always fun to write about donuts because, well, donuts, the news is noteworthy because it’s another example of how vending machines are proving useful and important to restaurant brands.

By setting up more vending machines, Krispy Kreme can extend its brand into new locations in a low-cost way without requiring any major build outs. Think: inside grocery stores, at airports, on college campuses. It also achieves this expanded reach in a contactless way, something made more important by the COVID-19 pandemic. Vending machines are unattended, so there is no human to interact with, and with mobile payments, actual touching of the machine can be minimized.

We’ve seen this kind of automated brand extension with Saladworks creating branded versions of Chowbotics’ Sally robot. And Byte Technologies is built around making smart vending refrigerators for other market and restaurant brands. I go into this and more reasons why smart vending machines are a smart play in my The Great Vending Reinvention: The Spoon’s Smart Vending Machine Market Report over on our Spoon+ premium section.

Long story short: If the Charlotte pilot proves successful, you could soon see Krispy Kreme donuts popping up all over. You’ll never be that far from a donut — and that’s something I think we can all get behind.

Shake Shack’s Newest NYC Location Will Focus on Takeout, Delivery Orders

Shake Shack is set to open a new location in Midtown Manhattan, one that will focus specifically on delivery and takeout orders, according to Restaurant Dive.

The new location will have two separate entrances, one for delivery and takeout orders, including those made via the Shake Shack mobile app, and one that traditional dine-in customers can use. The latter will have very limited seating options, though there will be an outdoor patio. The store will also feature self-service kiosks, which Shake Shack has been testing for some time, with varying degrees of success.

The news makes the NYC-based burger chain the latest QSR to jump onboard the trend of opening stores either dedicated to or heavily focused on to go orders. Trend might be an understatement, though. The National Restaurant Association predicts that off-premises orders will drive the bulk of restaurant sales over the next 10 years. QSRs in particular — are responding to the demand by increasing delivery services (either their own or with a third party), building out digital order strategies, and in some cases, Shake Shack included, literally redesigning store layouts.

Locations dedicated to off-premises orders is another tactic becoming commonplace. In 2019, Starbucks opened its first express location in Beijing, China, and followed up that move with plans to launch a similar shop in NYC next year. Last week, IHOP announced a new standalone restaurant chain called Flip’d that will cater to delivery and takeout orders. The list goes on: Krispy Kreme, Sweetgreen, KFC, Chopt . . .

Spoiler alert: the rise in popularity of ghost kitchens is only going to increase the number of to-go-focused locations restaurant chains open. Some of these locations will become ghost kitchens themselves, fulfilling delivery and takeout orders for not just that location but all of a brand’s surrounding stores. This is how Starbucks’s express store in Beijing currently functions, with to-go orders from surrounding Starbucks cafes funneled to the express store, speeding up fulfillment times and allowing traditional locations to focus on in-store customers.  

Shake Shack plans to open a few of these to-go focused locations in the future.

Krispy Kreme Gets a Digital Makeover With Newly Redesigned Store

Krispy Kreme debuted its first store redesign in over a decade this week, and it’s all about digital enhancements to speed up ordering, payments, pickup, and delivery for the doughnut-centric business.

According to a press release, the first of these locations opened on Tuesday in Concord, N.C., appropriately just a stone’s throw away from the company’s Global Product & Innovation Center.

Besides an expanded menu and something called “an enhanced doughnut theater experience,” where you can watch the goods being made step by step, the new store design features a number of tech-forward initiatives. Online ordering is integrated into the overall format, as is delivery. In terms of physical layout, the store has a dedicated area for self-service mobile order pickup for customers and/or delivery drivers. Krispy Kreme has also expanded the store’s drive-thru to two lanes — much like Dunkin’ did in 2018 when it opened its next-generation concept store.

The similarities between Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ shouldn’t be taken as a doughnut to donut comparison, though. Rather, Krispy Kreme is merely following the direction most QSRs are traveling these days, which is all about becoming digital-first restaurants that can accommodate the growing number of sales channels (in-store, delivery, mobile app, drive-thru) customers want as options for ordering, as well as growing demand for better personalization. The news comes just days after KFC announced its digitally focused drive-thru of the future, Starbucks opened an express store concept in China, and, here in the U.S., Brightloom (formerly Eatsa) upped the ante on restaurant-tech in general by partnering with Starbucks to license the latter’s tech. Among many other developments.

According to the press release, the Concord, N.C. store is the first of 45 planned Krispy Kreme locations, new and existing, that will get the digital makeover throughout 2020.