Krispy Kreme To Battle Mister Donut

[Captain Japan]

When did the Harajuku one close down? I definitely went there last Fall. There's one in Hiroo close to National Azabu.

I noticed it was gone in December (maybe as early as November). Now there's a low-price Mexican food stand there. It didn't look so promising when I looked over the menu.

[Mulboyne]

Mister Donuts has just issued a press release (no link) saying that they will be opening a new "quality donut" store in Shibuya, Tokyo on the 20th April aimed at businessmen and OLs. It's also presumably aimed at grabbing the initiative away from Krispy Kreme which is still doing good business. Jun of LDK went there the other day:

I finally went to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Shinjuku. My plan was to have a cup of coffee and a doughnut, but when I got closer to the shop, I realised that it was impossible. There was a huge queue in front of the shop, even though it has been more than two months since the opening of the first Krispy Kreme in Japan. But the guard who was taking care of the queue told me that it didn't look too bad today, so I joined the queue. After queueing for a while, a shop assistant came to us and explained that sets of twelve assorted doughnuts were available immediately and that we would have to stay in the queue for another half hour if we wanted custom orders. Of course I got the twelve doughnuts! So in the end my waiting time was only fifteen minutes in total. I've heard that waiting for an hour is quite normal, so I think it was not bad!

[FG Lurker]

That is damn smart marketing! Wonder how many people end up buying 12 donuts when they only wanted 2?

[Mulboyne]

[Blah Pete]

Does quality donut mean they won't make them so greasy?

[Greji]

Does quality donut mean they won't make them so greasy?

Don't bitch Pete! Anything greasy with a hole in it has got to be good!

[keirnna]

Oooohhhh I can't wait for Krispy Creme to come to Okinawa. My wife who is Japanese loves Mr. Donut, but when we were in the states last time she admitted that the only dunuts better the Mr. Dount was Krispy Kreme!

There are at least 5 Nathan's stands here on Okinawa that I know of.

[Mulboyne]

ABC: Krispy Kreme Invades Japan

Japan's first Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop is still drawing big crowds after opening in December. It takes an hour or longer to get through the line, but 22-year-old Yoji Yahagi says it's worth it. He and his girlfriend waited to get two doughnuts each. Yahagi says a Krispy Kreme is "fluffy and sticky, unlike any other doughnut." A growing number of Japanese are developing a taste for American junk food. One Tokyo food writer says that's because many people don't feel satisfied by the traditional low fat, low calorie Japanese diet.

[kamome]

ABC: Krispy Kreme Invades Japan

God, American companies can't be satisfied that they are poisoning Americans - they have to poison the world, too??

[Mulboyne]

AP: Krispy Kreme tastes profit in Japan

...Food writer Mei Hojo says health-conscious eating remains a big trend in Japan, but it has also produced a bit of a backlash -- especially for American-style food. "People aren't satiated. That's why they are going for doughnuts and ice cream. It's a search for satiation," said Hojo, who wrote "Super Calorie Recipes." Krispy Kreme isn't the only American chain riding on Japan's latest binge. Earlier this year, McDonald's Corp. got such rave reviews for the Mega Mac, selling at a brisk 1.7 million in four days, it's bringing back the four-patty burger in April and May. Cold Stone Creamery, which arrived in Japan in 2005, has also been a hit. It promised "the ultimate indulgence" in ice cream, tossing in fruit, cookies and nuts. The chain is opening three stores in Japan in March and two more in April, bringing the total here to 13. And with enthusiasm running high for American food, Burger King Corp. plans to return this summer. It withdrew from Japan in 2001 after a price war with McDonald's....The trend is so widespread Japanese coined the phrase "in-your-face-food" to describe it, underlining an apparent desire to escape the stresses of a health-conscious regimen and let go for a change. "Perhaps behind it is the human psychology that sometimes you crave in-your-face-food to forget about counting calories," top business daily the Nikkei reported recently...more...

[Mulboyne]

Wannabe trendspotters in full flow:

Guardian: Health fears as Japan falls for fast food

Japan, the home of sushi, seaweed cuisine and the world's longest life expectancy, is rearing a generation of young sugar addicts who are destined to spend their adolescence fighting obesity and acne, according to a report that paints a devastating picture of the country's health crisis. In Tokyo, the fast food of choice is a towering concoction of four hamburger patties, with all the trimmings, crammed into a single bun and children happily line-up around the block for a calorie-laden doughnut. But while the queues outside the Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the Shinjuku area of the capital, which opened recently, point to an extraordinary Japanese success story for the fast-food industry, they also symbolise a health disaster in the making for consumers...more...

[Doctor Stop]

The lines outside Krispy Kreme are artificial. They've purposely set things up inefficiently inside to keep the customers visible outside the store as long as possible and make it into a media event.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The lines outside Krispy Kreme are artificial. They've purposely set things up inefficiently inside to keep the customers visible outside the store as long as possible and make it into a media event.

That doesn't change the fact that assholes are still waiting in line for an hour to buy doughnuts.

[IkemenTommy]

That doesn't change the fact that assholes are still waiting in line for an hour to buy doughnuts.

Hey I was one of them!

[Mulboyne]

Just for Japan: Krispy Kreme "Cherry Kiss" cherry doughnuts. The second time the company has goosed the market by producing a limited edition product not sold overseas (see the blueberry white day doughnut earlier in this thread). Comes with a cherry syrup flavoured drink. We should start a book on how soon the yuzu/green tea/natto/ doughnuts make an appearance.

[Mulboyne]

The tanabata "sprinkle star" Krispy Kreme doughnut

[Captain Japan]

The lines outside Krispy Kreme are artificial. They've purposely set things up inefficiently inside to keep the customers visible outside the store as long as possible and make it into a media event.

All together now: Let's form a line
Japan Times

It is 11:15 on a sunny Sunday morning across the road from Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo. The Southern Terrace there is already thronged with shoppers like all the city's other retail districts. And then, as you walk past fashion stores and coffee shops, a long line of men and women of all ages materializes before you.

What you are beholding is one of the latest and most famous queues in Tokyo ―]more[/url]...

[omae mona]

As it turns out, probably at exactly the same time the Cap'n posted that article, Mrs. Omae Mona was patiently standing in line there and brought me home a nice box of donuts. Nice surprise. Mmmmmmmmmm. She reports Wednesday afternoon wait time at a little over 30 minutes.

[halfnip]

I'm dying for an orignal glazed donut. I heard the line is only ridiculously long if you want one of the other special donuts like the jelly's, etc. If you just want a glazed, the line isn't so bad. Is this true? I find it ridiculous to stand in line for an hour for a cotton pickin' donut!

[Doctor Stop]

The lines are to buy the boxes of donuts, most of which are pre-boxed, probably before the store opens in the morning. If KK really wanted to sell donuts, they'd sell the pre-boxed ones from a table outside just like bentos. When I was there shortly after they opened there were only around five people eating in, upstairs. Outside there was a two hour line. Of the five or six cash registers, only one was actually in operation at one time. The cash handlers spent most of their time not handling cash, but moving between the donut ordering area and the cash register.

If KK really was in the business of selling donuts, they'd take the orders while people are waiting outside in the lines, have someone fill the orders, and then someone else take their cash.

But that would kill whatever buzz they're trying to get.

[kurohinge1]

Another FG (dough)nutter is seduced in Japan . . . by Krispy Kreme.

[SIZE="4"]A doughnut by any other name[/SIZE]

. . . until this summer I had never met a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

. . . I came to Japan long before the franchise boomed and longer still before America discovered the sinisterhood of trans fats and the franchise abruptly de-boomed.

. . . late this past winter as I trudged across Shinjuku. I had to worm my way through an enormous line that snaked over the JR rail bridge and into the Times Square shopping complex. Two months' time put me in Shinjuku again and I had to push my way through another very similar line, or maybe it was the exact same one, still moseying forward.

This second time, however, I looked up to see to where the line was leading.

Now, as a preamble, let me say Japanese like lining up. After all, this is a group society and what is a line but a long group? Japanese will regularly wait to slurp down their favorite noodles or to secure their lucky stool at their local pachinko parlor.

Yet this Shinjuku line does not compare. The others are measured in minutes]trans fats[/URL], you see. To them, death is much more distant than even the head of the line. When given the choice between bad cholesterol and fashion, you know which they'll choose.

And Krispy Kreme is in fashion.

Another feature of the mega-line is that it was all Japanese. The only foreigners were those who stopped by to laugh or take photos. Their subtle cross-culture message seemed to be this: Waiting two hours for a doughnut is insane.

. . . The two hours flew by. I swear it seemed like but an hour and a half.

. . . I tore open the pack and officially introduced my taste buds to Krispy Kreme . . . Oh, be still, my beating cholesterol! It was the best doughnut of my life.

The rest I rushed home to my family, who had almost called the cops, wondering where I was. But even my health-sensitive wife liked Krispy Kreme.

Yet her primary reaction was: "There's a two-hour line? Where? Can anyone join?"



more

[DrP]

I have a plan. Go to COSTCO and buy several boxes of their glazed donuts. Then, dressed as a clown (Krusty vs. Krispey) I will hand out COSTCO donuts to everyone in line. Hopefully many will over indulge to the point they will see who the real KLOWNZ are! I have some good video of harrassing the KK liners - have to post it some time.

[Mulboyne]

The new Krispy Kreme outlet in Yurakucho.

[Mulboyne]

Krispy Kreme has announced that its sixth Japan store will be in Shibuya inside the Shibuto Cine Tower on Dogenzaka. Opening is set for June 14th.

[kurohinge1]

Krispy Kreme has announced that its sixth Japan store will be in Shibuya inside the Shibuto Cine Tower on Dogenzaka. Opening is set for June 14th.

I suspect the line has already started.

[Mulboyne]

[wuchan]

Krispy kreme only has one good product, gooey sweet doughnuts. The nation wide "boom" in the US was very, very short lived. They got totally crushed by Dunkin Doughnuts in just about every market east of the rocky mountains [until very recently there were no dunkin doughnuts west of Colorado]. About five years ago KK opened four locations in the boston area but when the novelty wore off and people realized that their coffee just plain sucks and that they have very few other products to offer, all four went out of business. They only lasted about 18 months.

[Shikoku.Kichiguy]

If KK really was in the business of selling donuts, they'd take the orders while people are waiting outside in the lines, have someone fill the orders, and then someone else take their cash.

But that kind of efficiency would have been very un-Japanese.

[pheyton]

Talk about shitty coffee, Mr. Doh!nuts has the most horrible coffee I have ever tasted. They are however geniuses for this, the donut on a stick:

Taken in Hirosaki on my last trip to Japan