After Krispy Kreme became public again a year and a half ago after being taken private by JAB Holding Co. in 2016, the brand hopes to cut debt, improve profitability and boost revenue, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The North Carolina doughnut brand’s shares have declined by 38% since going public again. It bought out several of its franchisees, causing the company to go into debt.
While privately held, the company focused on getting fresh doughnuts to its third-party markets like convenience stores and supermarkets. The brand used its retail locations to stock fresher doughnuts to nearby locations.
Krispy Kreme has raised prices this year to offset inflation and is using automation to help cut labor costs. For instance, employees manually dip some doughnuts into icing. Automation will help cut that intensive labor.
“There’s a lot of manual intervention behind the scenes,” Josh Charlesworth, chief financial officer who also serves as global president and chief operating officer, told the news outlet.
The brand plans to automate some 18% of doughnut production.
“We’ll have to learn as we go,” Charlesworth added.
