WKS Restaurant Group has signed on to open a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop in Fort Collins. Located at 4624 S Mason St., according to WKS director of marketing, Brian Spongberg. While details are still being finalized with the city, Spongberg said in an email that the group plans to break ground “sometime in February or March and open for business by the end of 2023.”
Spongberg indicated that the shop’s design and square footage will follow pending permitting guidelines. What is known is that the store will (of course) feature Krispy Kreme’s classic glazed donuts and more than a dozen additional flavors in a “welcoming atmosphere” that offers dine-in, pick-up, and drive-thru dining in addition to delivery. Patrons can wash down delicious donuts with almost 30 different premium coffee and fruit drink options. The Fort Collins branch will add to the over 350 U.S. Krispy Kreme locations and over 1,400 shops across Asia, Mexico, the Middle East, Puerto Rico, and Turkey. Not bad for a retail store that began 75 years ago as a literal hole-in-the-wall.
After Vernon Rudolph brought his “secret yeast raised doughnut recipe” (per Krispy Kreme history) from a New Orleans French chef, he began by selling the fresh-baked pastries to local grocery stores in what is now historic Old Salem, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. With the scent of sweet cooking wafting onto the adjacent streets, Rudolph answered donut demands from passersby by cutting a hole in an outside wall to serve the sidewalk traffic.
WKS aims for this local connection to live on in Fort Collins. Spongberg indicated there will invite the community to a groundbreaking ceremony in late winter/early spring, bringing in free Denver Krispy Kreme donuts to celebrate the start of construction. No word yet on what the plans might be for the late 2023 opening.
