‘Unsustainable.’ No more Krispy Kreme at McDonald’s as doughnut deal crumbles
Krispy Kreme doughnuts will no longer be available at McDonald’s restaurants, starting next month.
Krispy Kreme, based in Charlotte, and McDonald’s USA jointly decided to end their partnership, effective July 2, the doughnut giant said in a news release Tuesday.
“Ultimately, efforts to bring our costs in line with unit demand were unsuccessful, making the partnership unsustainable for us.” Krispy Kreme CEO Josh Charlesworth said in a company news release Tuesday.
The decision comes just weeks after Krispy Kreme said during its first quarter earnings call that it “continues to believe in the long-term opportunity of profitable growth through the U.S. nationwide expansion including McDonald’s.”
The fast-food burger chain and the doughnut giant partnership was just over a year old, beginning in March 2024, bringing fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts to McDonald’s restaurants nationwide. The phased rollout into all McDonald’s stores was to run through 2026.
Krispy Kreme doughnuts had been available in 2,400 McDonald’s restaurants as of March 30, according to Krispy Kreme. The company represented a small part of McDonald’s breakfast business, according to the Chicago-based fast-food burger chain.
“We had strong collaboration with Krispy Kreme, and while the partnership met our expectations, this needed to be a profitable business model for Krispy Kreme as well,” said Alyssa Buetikofer, McDonald’s USA’s chief marketing and customer experience officer in a statement.
Krispy Kreme shareholders file lawsuits
In response to the breakup, three shareholders have filed separate federal lawsuits against Krispy Kreme, its executives and board members.
The lawsuits were filed on May 16, June 13 and June 25 in the U.S. Western District of North Carolina. Krispy Kreme executives and officials allegedly breached their fiduciary duties, mismanaged the company, made misleading public statements and wasted corporate assets, according to the suits.
During the first quarter earnings call in May, Krispy Kreme announced that it was “reassessing deployment schedule together with McDonald’s” and “withdrawing prior full year outlook and not updating it” due in part to “uncertainty around the McDonald’s deployment schedule,” according to the first lawsuit filed by company securities holder David Cameron.
Cameron is seeking a class action.
The price of Krispy Kreme shares fell 24.71%, or $1.07 per share, to close at $3.26 per share on May 8.
All three lawsuits allege serious corporate misconduct by Krispy Kreme and its officials including making false and misleading statements about the financial viability of the high-profile expansion of the nationwide partnership with McDonald’s, which led to a major drop in Krispy Kreme’s revenue and stock price in May.
The shareholders also allege Charlesworth sold stock — earning about $58,000 — while the stock price was still artificially inflated.
Krispy Kreme overstated the success of its partnership with McDonald’s, failed to disclose that demand for Krispy Kreme products declined at McDonald’s locations after the initial marketing launch and misrepresented the financial outlook, according to the lawsuits. The misleading statements caused investors to suffer financial losses, the lawsuits claimed.
Krispy Kreme did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday about the partnership ending and the lawsuits.
What’s next for Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme will focus on its nationwide expansion and international franchise model, the company said.
In May, Krispy Kreme reported revenue sales of $375.2 million in the first quarter, a decline of 15.3%. The loss was primarily due to the $64.3 million reduction associated with the divestiture of a majority stake in Insomnia Cookies to deal with debt load.
Last week, Krispy Kreme begun notifying over 160,000 people affected by a data breach last fall.
Krispy Kreme spent about $3 million on data breach remediation and saw a revenue loss of about $11 million, the company reported in its fourth-quarter earnings in February.
The 84-year-old doughnut company, best known for its “Hot Now” glazed doughnuts, started in Winston-Salem.
Krispy Kreme moved its corporate offices and test kitchen to Charlotte’s South End at 2116 Hawkins St. The publicly-traded chain operates in 40 countries and has more than 20,000 employees worldwide.
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 8:48 AM.
