Word: kremes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Kreme's rise is evidence that not every sector is taking a beating. Companies like Alcoa and RJR Tobacco, which make or sell basic stuff, such as oil, aluminum, electricity--and, yes, cigarettes--are whipping the tech sector. Oh, did we mention that they earn a profit? How old-fashioned...
Just like a doughnut, right? Wrong. "We're a multisensory experience," corrects chairman and CEO Scott Livengood, referring to the tastes, smells and sights in each of Krispy Kreme's 178 outlets in 28 states. Don't confuse that with streaming video; these establishments look like 1950s coffee shops. Customers can watch the doughnuts rising, and stores flash their HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW signs when the snacks are done. That sugar-coated assault on the senses has won Krispy Kreme (fiscal 2001 revenues: $301 million) a near cult following since founder Vernon Rudolph fried up his first batch in a Winston...
...company was conceived as a wholesale business, but the cooking aroma led passersby to clamor for the doughnuts, a demand met by cutting a window through a wall to handle retail. An ugly conglomerate, Beatrice Foods, bought Krispy Kreme in 1976 only to spin it off to franchisees in a 1982 leveraged buyout. Today the family of Joseph McAleer Sr., who led the LBO, holds roughly 25% of the shares...
...Krispy Kreme become another Starbucks, or are its doughnuts, in fact, a tasty fad? "We've been successful for decades, and [our doughnuts] are a unique product," Livengood insists. Concurs David Gearty, who follows restaurants for the Dain Rauscher Wessels investment firm: "What you have here is a proven brand...
...bagel chains and brew pubs that went public, expanded too fast and fizzled. And stockholders could get indigestion next month when company insiders become free to dump 7.4 million shares that they have held since last year's ipo into a market that currently trades just 5.75 million Krispy Kreme shares. When insiders announced a previous sale in January, the stock fell 11%. But unless Krispy Kreme announces a plan to sell e-doughnuts, it stands to humble the tech stocks for the rest of the year...