CHARLOTTE — Krispy Kreme Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. have pulled the plug on their partnership, effective July 2.
The Charlotte-based chain has been selling its signature doughnuts in roughly 2,400 McDonald’s restaurants nationwide. Krispy Kreme said during its quarterly earnings call in May that it anticipated being in 12,000 McDonald’s locations by the end of 2026.
But the doughnut chain also said it was “reassessing” its deployment with the fast-food giant during that May call. Demand dropped below expectations after the initial marketing launch, requiring intervention, CEO Josh Charlesworth said.
“Ultimately, efforts to bring our costs in line with unit demand were unsuccessful, making the partnership unsustainable for us,” he said in a news release this month.
The company faces a class-action lawsuit tied to its relationship with McDonald’s. That suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on behalf of shareholders that purchased or acquired shares of Krispy Kreme stock between Feb. 25 and May 7 of this year.
It alleges that shareholders have suffered significant losses and damages because Krispy Kreme failed to disclose “materially adverse facts about the company’s business.” That list includes the decline in demand at McDonald’s locations after the initial launch, a sales decline at McDonald’s locations per week, the expansion pause at McDonald’s, and the unprofitability of its partnership.
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