ST PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota college student said he and Krispy Kreme are working together to bring doughnuts to the Twin Cities after he started driving to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that he then sold to his own customers.
There have been no Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years.
Jayson Gonzalez, 21, of Champlin, Minnesota, would drive 270 miles to a Krispy Kreme store in Clive, Iowa, pack his car with up to 100 boxes, each carrying 12 doughnuts, then drive back up north to deliver them to customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
He charged $17 to $20 per box. He said some of his customers spent nearly $100 each time. Gonzalez said he did not receive a discount from the store in Iowa where he bought the doughnuts.
But less than a week after the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on his money-making scheme, Gonzalez received a phone call from Krispy Kreme’s Nebraska office telling him to stop. The senior studying accounting at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul said he was told his sales created a liability for the North Carolina-based company.
Gonzalez, also known as “The Donut Guy,” would have made his 20th run to Iowa on Saturday. He told his Facebook followers on Thursday that he has been told he has to shut down operations.
“Life happens, and it could be a sign that something else it meant to be,” Gonzalez posted.
He then updated his Krispy Kreme Run Minnesota followers Monday, saying he received a call from the company, and the two would work together to come up with a positive solution.
"I have received a call directly from Krispy Kreme, and we are working together! A positive solution is taking place as we want to make sure we do this the right way, and I will have more details soon," Gonzalez posted.
Many followers responded saying they will not buy unless the profit goes to Gonzalez himself. He has yet to released information on deal.
Krispy Kreme followed up with its own statement:
“Today, we reached out to Jayson to express our appreciation for his love of Krispy Kreme and admiration for his entrepreneurial spirit. We are going to help him achieve his goals, which include being debt-free when he graduates in 2021, in part by selling Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Our intent regarding the temporary stoppage of him selling doughnuts was to ensure product quality and regulatory compliance to protect both Jayson and Krispy Kreme. Our main concern is that the doughnuts Jayson sells maintain our high product quality standards, given the distance and manner in which he is transporting and distributing them. So, we are happy to work with Jayson as an independent operator to ensure consistent delivery of our high-quality doughnuts to our fans in Minnesota. We wish Jayson great success and we’re thrilled to help him achieve it by donating 500 dozen doughnuts when he re-starts his business.”
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