May 8, 2025 - Business

Krispy Kreme pauses doughnut rollout at McDonald's

Krispy Kreme said it is "reassessing the deployment" of its doughnut partnership with McDonald's and will pause the nationwide rollout.

Why it matters: The doughnut chain's shares were down 24.7% Thursday after the news was announced in its quarterly earnings.

The news comes a week after McDonald's announced U.S. comparable sales fell 3.6%, the company's worst showing since the pandemic.

The big picture: Krispy Kreme doughnuts are available in more than 2,400 McDonald's restaurants as of March 30, per a news release.

The company doesn't expect to add any additional restaurants in the second quarter of 2025, Krispy Kreme CEO Josh Charlesworth said Thursday during an earnings call.
"To deliver sustainable profitable growth, we are partnering with McDonald's to increase sales by stimulating higher demand and cutting costs by simplifying operations," Charlesworth said.
"We continue to believe in the long-term opportunity of profitable growth through our U.S. nationwide expansion, including McDonald's," Charlesworth said.

Flashback: The chains jointly announced a small-scale test in October 2022 and then said in March 2024 they planned to bring fresh doughnuts to Golden Arches restaurants nationwide by the end of 2026.

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