Krispy Kreme has a devoted fan following. Among them, Jayson Gonzalez. How devoted? The 21-year-old Minnesota college student made regular drives from Champlin, Minnesota to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme donuts, which he then resold at his own price point to customers in the Twin Cities area.
When Krispy Kreme first caught wind of this endeavor, they put an end to it. “I have been told to shut down operations,” Gonzalez posted on his Facebook page. “I figured it would come eventually, but it arrived early.”
Gonzalez’ 270-mile route took him to a Krispy Kreme in Clive, Iowa, where he’d purchase up to 1,200 donuts, then bring them back to Minneapolis-St. Paul and sell them to his own customers. Why did he drive to Iowa every week?
Because there haven’t been any Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years.
Gonzalez, who said he didn’t get a discount from the Iowa store where he bought the donuts, would charge his customers $17 to $20 per dozen donuts. A dozen glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme typically cost around $8.
With no Krispy Kreme stores anywhere near the Twin Cities, people were only too willing to get their donut fix from Gonzalez.
The industrious college student was using the profits to help pay off his student debt. Gonzalez is a senior at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, where he majors in accounting. It appears his studies, and business savvy, have paid off.
About a week after the St. Paul Pioneer Press published an article about his business, Gonzalez got a call from Krispy Kreme’s Nebraska office demanding he shut down. By then, he’d already made 19 runs to Iowa to buy donuts.
People went nuts on social media, lambasting Krispy Kreme for putting the kibosh on Gonzalez’s genius plan. One guy wrote that the company should be happy people wanted their donuts so badly they were willing to pay a guy to go get them from another state.
Krispy Kreme took note and looked into the situation.
“We appreciate Jayson’s passion for Krispy Kreme and his entrepreneurial spirit as he pursues his education,” the company said in a statement.
Lucky for his customers, Gonzalez revealed that Krispy Kreme is working on a deal that’ll allow him to sell their product in Minnesota.
“I am pumped to announce that I will be able to continue the business soon, and have the support of Krispy Kreme,” Gonzalez said in a Facebook post. “They want to ensure I become an independent operator and make sure the brand is represented well.”
Krispy Kreme fans in Minnesota are feeling the love.