Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. is an American doughnut company and coffeehouse chain based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Krispy Kreme founder Vernon Rudolph bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans chef and, in 1937, rented a building in what is now historic Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and began selling to local grocery stores. Steady growth led to an ambitious expansion as a public company in the period 2000-2016, which ultimately proved unprofitable. In 2016, the company returned to private ownership under JAB Beech, a private Luxembourg-based firm.
