Krispy Kreme Pauses McDonald’s Partnership
Krispy Kreme is putting a halt to its McDonald’s rollout, just six months after its national expansion plan began.
The beloved doughnut company revealed in a May 8 quarterly earnings report that it would be pausing a “phased market rollout” of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to McDonald’s restaurants across the country. The announcement comes after the company said its net revenue declined $59.4 million (20.1%), primarily due to a $64.3 million reduction associated with the sale of a majority stake in Insomnia Cookies.
The doughnut chain said it is “reassessing the deployment schedule together with McDonald’s while it works to achieve a profitable business model for all parties.”
“I remain confident in the long-term national opportunity, but we need to work together with them to identify levers to improve sales, simplify operations,” CEO Josh Charlesworth said during Krispy Kreme’s Q1 earnings call. “And once we’re positioned for profitable growth, we’ll expand further.”
The two companies announced the partnership in March 2024, and intended to sell the doughnuts at all McDonald’s locations in the U.S. by the end of 2026.
