Krispy Kreme lowers quarterly loss as restructuring plan rolls on

Krispy Kreme Inc. reported Thursday a lower quarterly loss as it continues to await projected benefits from its latest restructuring program that launched in August.

The company had a $22.8 million loss in the first quarter, compared with a $27.8 million loss in the fourth quarter and a $33.3 million loss a year ago.

The quarterly losses reflect in part expenses taken as part of the abrupt ending of its McDonald's breakfast menu partnership on July 2 that affected 2,400 McDonald's locations.

Krispy Kreme previously disclosed McDonald's-related lease impairment and termination costs of $28.9 million and additional non-cash impairment charges of $22.1 million.

Krispy Kreme had a 16-cent diluted loss during the first quarter, along with a 5-cent adjusted earnings loss.

The average earnings forecast was a loss of 3 cents by three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Analysts typically do not include one-time gains and charges in their forecasts.

Sales were down 2.2% to $367 million, mostly reflecting the company closing about 1,400 underperforming U.S. shops during the third quarter.

U.S. sales fell 6.3% to $221.6 million, while international sales rose 4.7% to $125.3 million.

Krispy Kreme has said its long-term goal is having at least 100,000 global points of access - 15,000 of which would be in the U.S.

The short-term goal has been to have 33,000 by the end of 2026.

As of March 31, Krispy Kreme had 15,125 such global points of access, including 6,171 U.S. outlets, 4,142 outside the U.S. and 4,812 in the market development category that includes "fresh delivery doors, fresh shops, hot light theater shops, and carts and food trucks."

That's down from 17,982 overall on March 31, 2025.

The growth plan included reaching about 6,000 McDonald's locations by the end of 2025 and more than 12,000 by the end of 2026.

Krispy Kreme's fiscal 2026 financial guidance was updated to a range of $1.25 billion to $1.35 billion.

Krispy Kreme reaffirmed plans to open at least 100 shops globally, as well as spending between $50 million and $60 million on capital investments.

The company said it added 26 new ships during the first quarter.

"The first quarter highlighted significant progress across every pillar of our turnaround plan," chief executive Josh Charlesworth said in the news release.

"We closed two refranchising transactions, expanded access to our fresh doughnuts in the U.S. quarter-over-quarter, and accelerated the outsourcing of U.S. logistics, which is now complete."

Krispy Kreme said it was outsourcing the majority of U.S. logistical operations to third-party partners "for more predictable costs, lower risk and allows teams to focus on making fresh doughnuts."

Charlesworth said that "we expect this momentum to continue through 2026, driven by profitable growth in the U.S. with key strategic partners, higher digital sales and international expansion."

The company announced in March selling assets to reduce debt, including reducing from 55% to 20% its stake in a joint venture WKS Restaurant Group covering the western United States.

The joint venture represents about 15% of Krispy Kreme's U.S. revenues. Krispy Kreme said it will gain $90 million in the transaction, including $53 million gained when the sale closed.

In February, Krispy Kreme closed on its $70 million sale of Krispy Kreme Doughnut Japan Co., Ltd. to Unison Capital Inc. Those proceeds also will go toward paying down corporate debt.

Krispy Kreme plans to "refranchise certain markets" in Australia, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and the U.K. as part of the effort to create "greater financial stability."

The company said Thursday that during fiscal 2025, 25% of its overall sales came from franchise-operated locations. It is projecting that amount to reach nearly 50% beginning in fiscal 2027.

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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 4:15 AM.