OK, so you’re hot stuff doing 70 an hour. But this tractor-trailer can do 1,200 an hour.
The custom-designed Krispy Kreme rig transforms into a working company store that can roll out up to 1,200 fresh, hot doughnuts an hour.
This mobile doughnut palace was launched in Krispy Kreme’s hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C. Its first stop was in Norfolk, Va., where it treated some 20,000 servicemen and women and their families to hot doughnuts and coffee as they arrived from overseas duty aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Visitors can watch the entire doughnut making process. They can see the doughnuts rise, see them progress through the proofer, turn golden brown in the fryer, flip over to complete the cooking process, and finally roll down the line through a waterfall of glaze.
Designed and built by Spevco Inc., a mobile marketing business, it is the first-ever Krispy Kreme mobile store. After eight months on the road, the truck has stopped in 16 cities in 12 states.
The design and planning for the truck/store took two years, and the truck itself took six months to build.
“We did everything from A-Z,” Timothy Flavin, director of sales and marketing for Spevco Inc, said. “The design was a collaborative effort between Spevco and Krispy Kreme. Our goal was to design and build a conventional production line and provide extra space for retail and manufacturing.”
The mobile store tractor and trailer weigh 78,000 pounds and includes a generator that produces 875 amps of electricity, and 400 gallons of water.
The mobile doughnut shop drivers take a whole day to set it up and another day to break it down when it’s time to move on.
Mark Lonardo and Greg Allen, drivers for Spevco, share the driving and set up responsibility for the mobile store. It takes a full day to set up the truck and begin producing hot doughnuts. When set up, the mobile truck is 20-feet tall and 75-feet long and uses a 90-foot by 75-foot area. It takes another day to disassemble the mobile store.
“Every time we stop at a truckstop, people are really impressed with the truck and come up and ask questions about it,” Lonardo said. “Other drivers call me on my CB and say, nice looking truck, where are all the doughnuts.”
Driving the Krispy Kreme mobile store requires some extra precautions. “The truck and the trailer are part of the exhibit,” Allen said. “You really have to pay attention to all of the elements on the road like tree branches scrapping the side of the truck.”
The Krispy Kreme mobile store is traveling across America to large festivals, fairs and major events. Krispy Kreme is staffing the truck like any other store, with a manager and 11 full-time employees.
“Driving the Krispy Kreme store has just been an awesome experience,” Lonardo said.
Allen admits that with all those free doughnuts around him it is hard not to eat them constantly. Which ones? Both Allen and Lonardo say their favorite is the original glazed.
