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| The new pecan and cinnamon rolls. Photo: Krispy Kreme. |
While the new menu items are currently available only at a single location in Greensboro, N.C., company officials predict folks from Tampa to Tacoma will soon be able to supplement their orders for cream-filled doughnuts and chocolate crullers with a flax-seed-and-barley-flake bagel schmeared with reduced-fat vegetable cream cheese.
"It gives the regular customer some variety," publicist Steve Baumgarner explains.
Krispy Kreme first introduced bagels in 1996, offering them in just three stores nationwide. "We were unsuccessful in finding a product the consumer could identify with," Krispy Kreme VP Jack McAleer told the Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area when the pilot project was shelved three years later. (Perhaps inadvertently reflecting the trouble the Southern chain had connecting with bagel culture, the Business Journal's story was headlined "Krispy Kreme puts the cabosh on bagels.")
Still, company insiders think the bagel has a good shot this go-around. And they're even more excited about their new gooey, sweet sticky buns.
"They're fabulous," Baumgarner says. "They're yummy, yummy rolls."
The new baked goods will remain in the Winston-Salem store's portfolio at least through spring, so franchisees from across the country can sample the products and gauge customer reaction.
But no matter how well the menu items are received, a piping hot bagel or just-baked muffin will never trigger the signature "Hot Now" signs, Baumgarner vows -- that's an honor reserved for Krispy Kreme's original glazed.
Would you be tempted by Krispy Kreme bagels? Tell us in the comments.
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