Krispy Kreme Downtown

[dipsetrenegade]

Just letting people know that there's now a Krispy Kreme Downtown.
Yes I know there were some before, yes I know some people hate Krispy Kreme.

But I think their doughnuts are miles better than Tim Hortons and it's a pain driving to Mississauga.

Anyways, the location is at Bathurst -Harbord and they are open most days till 9 or 10.

Creme filled glazed or chocolate are amazing.

[mayaishi]

If they don't bake them at the store, then they won't have that seductive almost pulsing neon sign "HOT" that used to glow in the night on 14th St in Manhattan drawing glassy eyed punters into that smell of fat and hot sugar...those fresh hot glazed, they were almost like custard...I now make a Homer Simpson like sound. Having them shipped pre-baked will not be the same.

[wontonfm]

I totally agree! Hot off the line was the BEST. I don't usually enjoy the pre-boxed Krispy Kremes.

WON
http://whatsonmyplate.net

[sbug206]

I found a quick 10 second zap in the microwave was enough to revive "stale" KK doughnuts.

[lsk]

Went to KK this Thursday afternoon. I could taste a faint staleness in my Glazed Raspberry Filled doughnut. The texture was fine, but the flavour was definitely off, so perhaps the doughnut was fried in a stale batch of oil.

The filled doughnuts are $1.04 after HST, which is only $0.10 more than Tim Horton's doughnuts at $0.94 (or $0.95) after tax. The Original Glazed may be a different price.

I have enough fond memories of KK's doughnuts that I'm willing to make the 25 minute walk to try an Original Glazed doughnut and give this KK another try.

[hungryhog]

Was walking by early morning on Monday, went in to grab a coffee and an Original Glazed. It was like eating a sweet cloud. Well worth the walk.

[ylsf]

So I posted this on RFD (giving OP here credit for it) and someone mentioned the store is pretty small and it doesn't look like they make their donuts on site. Are they made from the same location that supplies all of the other places where they sell boxed dozens of donuts?

I still haven't had the "fresh out of the frier" KK donut, maybe I should head to Mississauga to try one :)

[foodyDudey]

I tried them here about 5 years ago, and in the USA. Nothing worth eating, move along....

There has to be a reason they didn't survive here.

[Derksen]

Really? Not worth eating? Maybe a guilty pleasure, like Kraft Dinner for some I suppose. I think they are very tasty when still hot. That being said, I haven't eaten one since they had a store in the PATH. I try to save those calories for savory foods.

[sbug206]

The reason they didn't survive has nothing to do with their taste. They taste great when they're fresh and can be "refreshed" with a few seconds in the microwave. They failed because they over expanded too fast and got caught in the middle of the stupid Atkins craze.

[Davwud]

They also failed because their coffee was horrific. People may go there ahead of Uncle Timmies if the coffee was on par.

DT

[Derksen]

Can't say I recall KK's coffee all to well, but TH coffee is horrible IMO. TH 'coffee' is to coffee as Mc'D's 'burgers' are to real hamburgers. Nothing beats a truly fresh roasted, fresh ground, and fresh brewed cup.

[dipsetrenegade]

They didn't survive here because they opened too many at one time and Canadians care more about coffee than doughnuts. It had nothing to do with the quality of KK's food.

[GoodGravy]

The coffee at TH is horrific. So unless Canadians love terrible coffee, it wasn't the coffee they hated @ KK.

[Davwud]

It was significantly worse at KK.

Besides, TH doesn't taste bad if that's what you've come to think coffee should taste like. It was good at one time. Then they started lowering the bar on it and peoples taste buds adjusted along the way.

DT

[GoodGravy]

I don't remember the coffee at the KK near Scarborough Town Center being terrible, but that was also years ago. I'll have to stop at this new KK for vanilla cream bombs and coffee.

[pakmode]

The real reason they didnt survive was because KremeCo was incompetently run.
According to this Franchisee who worked for KremeCo previously - each of the 5 GTA locations cost $2.5M EACH - that's just for the construction and building itself. That was before any other overhead expenses like equipment etc.

In terms of their coffee, the franchisee told me they've mellowed out their smoother blend of coffee. I can't comment as I had the bold and found it fine. At the Harbord location it's currently only $0.99 for a small (which is 12oz compared to a Medium at Tim Hortons which is 10oz or Large which is 14oz). It's not a bad value per se, and can't expect much at that price point .

Regarding the Tim Horton's vs KK debate: Tim Horton's is 'comfort coffee', actually more like Canadian cultural comfort coffee. Its what many Canadians identify themselves with. No harm in that. It's not the greatest coffee out there, but there is something comfortable and good with familiarity.

[pakmode]

I posted this in the 'Best Doughnuts in Toronto' thread a few days back, and I'll repost it here:

A Krispy Kreme 'cafe concept store' has opened on the corner of Harbord and Bathurst in Downtown Toronto.
I was driving by a couple days ago and quickly stopped by to check it out.
It's a simple 200 sq ft takeout store only, and sells coffee, doughnuts, muffins, bagels as well as some frozen drinks.
From what I understood from the franchisee, KremeCo is no longer around, and he and his partners are trialing out this new concept store to see how it fares.
All the goods are baked at the Mavis location and then brought in every morning.
Coffee was decent, and they have a $.99 coffee special to try and spurn traffic. But to be honest there was quite a bit of foot traffic and people stopping by for a drink/doughnut.
Doughnuts obviously weren't as hot and fresh as they are at the Mississauga location, but this place is worth checking out especially if you're a diehard Krispy Kreme fan.

[wontonfm]

I love Krispy Kremes! My favourite was when they used to give free doughnuts when the special light was on. Will have to swing by this weekend.

WON
http://whatsonmyplate.net

[5andman]

KK's are baked fresh?
Whereas TH are frozen then baked.

[TexSquared]

KK are not baked. They're fried, then glazed immediately after. This video shows how they do it, if you go to the Mississauga store you can watch all this happen in person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Fkaq...

[Derksen]

TH are not baked either, nor are they frozen. That is unless they have changed their ways. Some of their smaller stores do receive daily deliveries from larger stores that house a bakery. I worked there in my teens.

[bytepusher]

They've changed. Now everything is made in big factory commissaries (the largest one is in Brantford and is called Maidstone Bakeries, but there are others, as far away as Ireland) par-baked, frozen, and shipped to stores where they are finish baked. They still bake some stuff like muffins in the stores from premixed batter but it has been years since a Tim Horton's store made a doughnut from scratch.

[foodyDudey]

Yes they changed around 5 year back, and I don't like the new dounts which are all quite a bit smaller also. I shouldn't feel like I need to order two, so I don't even order one.

[Derksen]

Huh. News to me. I remember feeling like I swam through an oil slick after a shift by the fryers.

[bytepusher]

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/personal-...

"in 2003, when Hortons co-founder Ron Joyce confirmed the truth: that the company he built (and had recently left) replaced its in-store deep fryers with frozen globs of dough trucked in from a factory"

For the record, I think KK is garbage, save some effort eat a spoonful of lard mixed with icing sugar, same flavor profile without all the annoying chewing.

[foodyDudey]

Regarding the KK product, I couldn't have said it better, and I didn't as I didn't want to offend Texsquared and the other supporters. But yes, it's complete garbage.

[TexSquared]

All of Tim Horton's products are complete garbage. So there.

[T Long]

Donuts generally are not at all good for you (garbage), but can be a tasty treat. If I had a choice of only one donut to eat it would be a KK, especially since Tim H's are no longer produced on site.

[abigllama]

As a US transplant for over 5 years I still don't understand the Tim Horton's allegiance in this country. I'd gladly take the "garbage" from KK over anything served at Tim Horton's. That includes the weak and often burnt coffee. I don't really eat donuts much, but a fresh, still hot Krispy Kreme is about as good as it gets.

I'm thankful that my Canadian SO has similar feelings on Tim Horton's.

[syoung]

I wholeheartedly agree with abigllama. I remember as a kid in the 70's going to TH with my parents and it was a totally different experience. Heck, I still have a Tim Horton hockey card from when he was with the Sabres. Today, the corporation is built on pure marketing.

[IndigoAttila]

ye gods! chocolate iced glazed, here I come. I haven't had one of those in ages. thanks for letting me know about this.

[callitasicit]

People can criticize KK all the way want but it is light years better than TH! They are terribly bad for you but okay to have once in a while. All I can say is it is a good thing there is none near me;)

[Kagemusha]

Great, not that far from the hospital!