With only one family-owned Krispy Kreme franchise location left in Texas, the business owner and Texas A&M students voiced their thoughts and opinions.
Krispy Kreme is a donut shop where individuals can get various donuts along with other drinks and food. Aggieland’s Krispy Kreme, located on Harvey Road, is now the only location in Texas that is a franchise branch, while the rest are corporate run. Krispy Kreme franchise owner Brian Davis said his reason for starting the franchise was due to his educational background and his interest in A&M.
“When I was looking at getting a franchise, there were certain territories that were open, [and] College Station was one. I got excited because when I first moved to Texas from California, someone had given me an A&M t-shirt to wear,” Davis said. “I have two master’s degrees; my first is in higher [education] administration, so I’ve always loved being around [a] college campus.”
Davis said since the location of the Krispy Kreme is in a college town, there are a few things they do differently compared to other locations.
“We’ll do different [donuts], like during [the] sports season, we’ll decorate the donuts with maroon or white,” Davis said. “We have discounts for the students, and then we also like working with the clubs … we do a lot of fundraising with different organizations on campus who want to raise money to help the needy, and so they’ll use the Krispy Kreme fundraising program.”
Davis said that being the only franchise left in Texas, he finds himself as a lone wolf, but the experience can be both positive and negative.
“[A] positive is that you get to do your own thing a little bit with some support from the company, yet at the same time, you’re kind of left stranded because the company is doing most of the things for the company. So, we are included, but then sometimes we’re not included in everything; we’re kind of just left there,” Davis said.
There are many challenges that come with being a franchisee, Davis said, but he is always finding ways to manage corporate demands.
“When you are franchising, you have to follow corporate, so there [are] certain things you can and can’t do,” Davis said. “This corporate is different than the previous corporate … so you go from one mentality to the other, [so] like doing even more things with the campus [is] sometimes tough because I’m limited as to what I can do based upon what corporate dictates.”
Despite the challenges, Davis said one of his main goals as a franchisee is to ensure everyone knows they want to contribute to the community.
“Whether that’s making donuts, giveaways, etc., we’re going to support whoever we can support,” Davis said. “People love the brand itself because when you look at a donut and you eat the donut, it puts a smile on your face.”
Psychology junior Daniela Porro said she really likes that the franchise is family-owned, because it reflects on the Aggie Core Values.
“We’re so heavy on tradition and generations of Aggie families, so knowing that the Krispy Kreme is family-owned, I feel like [it] is aligned with the A&M values and that may [make] more Texas A&M students go to the Krispy Kreme in particular.”
Recreation, parks and tourism sciences junior Marissa Lange said growing up, she’d always go to Krispy Kreme with her grandparents, so the fact there is one located in a college town might help increase their business.
“Krispy Kreme is a very well-known company, so I feel like it would attract more people who come into College Station,” Lange said. “A&M attracts a lot of people in the Bryan-College Station area, [so] it would give them a chance to attract people from out of state or who don’t know about Krispy Kreme.”
Davis said individuals wanting to reach out to the location and receive updates should call the store at 979-704-5346.
“If people need special requests for meetings or special donuts decorated, they can call us. We also have Wi-Fi there in the store [if] they want to hang out and study,” Davis said. “If they ever have questions, they can call us [or] just stop by.”
Davis also said as someone familiar with the different struggles that come with being a college student, he offers students different job positions with flexibility around class schedules.
“I know sometimes people need work, so we actually hire a lot of students and work around their schedules so that you know they can come work in a fun environment,” Davis said. “We just want to make sure that we put the community and everybody first before ourselves.”