It was the perfect day to forget about your bottom line.
Hundreds of alert downtown Calgary workers stampeded out of their offices and into the streets last week in response to radio reports breathlessly bulleting the latest, sweetest deal in town – 2,500 dozen free doughnuts.
It was all part of a promotional stunt staged by U.S.-based doughnut king Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., in advertising its first hot doughnut factory retail store in Western Canada.
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| Shannon Oatway photo, Business Edge |
| Hundreds of Calgarians swarmed the street for free samples. |
And the event went over like a glazed bismarck.
“We were all going for a powerwalk, and then Kathy’s sister-in-law phoned us and told us about the doughnuts. So we powerwalked down here,” said June Van Iderstine, a legal assistant at Fraser Milner Casgrain and an unabashed Boston cream devotee.
“We followed the police,” joked her colleague, Kathy Cloris. (A policewoman later interviewed at the scene denied she was there for the giveaway, insisting sternly: “I’m just walking the beat.”)
The company has announced it will open its first outlet west of Ontario this spring at Sunridge Mall in northeast Calgary. KremeKo Inc., the exclusive area developer for Krispy Kreme in Alberta, says it will begin construction as soon as possible. Another seven stores are planned for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba over the next five years.
“We looked for real estate in both Calgary and Edmonton, and Sunridge was the first site that met our criteria that we were able to close,” said Judi Richardson, vice-president of communications and marketing for KremeKo. “We look for high-visibility areas with high traffic, as well as a retail and residential (component).”
The new 4,000-sq.-ft. store will feature a “doughnut-making theatre” with a glaze waterfall, and the company’s signature “Hot Doughnuts Now” neon sign.
