In a move that’s sent ripples through the quick-service restaurant (QSR) sector, McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme have officially ended their product partnership, less than two years after its highly publicized rollout.
The collaboration, which began in October 2022 with a pilot program in select Kentucky locations and had expanded to approximately 160 McDonald’s outlets across the U.S. by 2023, will now wind down by July 2025.
The goal was simple: bring fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts—original glazed, chocolate iced, and raspberry-filled—into the McDonald’s menu to attract more footfall, especially during breakfast and midday snacking hours.
But as of this week, the deal is done. McDonald’s will stop selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts at its U.S. restaurants by the end of 2025, according to statements from both companies. While the pilot had shown promise in driving incremental sales, the partnership ultimately failed to meet long-term operational viability.
Behind the Breakup
According to sources close to the development, the logistics of daily fresh doughnut delivery proved complex and costly. Unlike frozen SKU integrations or shelf-stable bakery items, Krispy Kreme’s model requires freshly made doughnuts to be delivered multiple times a day to preserve quality, a tall ask across McDonald’s vast and decentralized footprint.
Industry insiders note that McDonald’s kitchens, already navigating labor shortages and limited prep space, struggled with the operational burden of managing an external product that wasn’t integrated into its primary cooking workflow.
This is particularly telling in today’s QSR environment, where kitchen optimization and menu streamlining are being prioritized to combat rising input costs and speed-of-service concerns.
“We had strong collaboration with Krispy Kreme, while the partnership met our expectations for McDonald’s and Owner/Operators, this needed to be a profitable business model for Krispy Kreme as well,” said McDonald’s USA chief marketing and customer experience officer Alyssa Buetikofer in a statement.
Krispy Kreme’s Next Move
For Krispy Kreme, this exit may be less a failure and more a pivot. The brand has indicated it will redirect resources to scale its fresh daily delivery (FDD) model across grocery and convenience channels, where logistics are more predictable and SKU velocity can be better controlled.
The doughnut giant has already seen success with Walmart, Target, and grocery store kiosks, channels that more naturally fit Krispy Kreme’s hub-and-spoke model, where doughnuts are produced in central “hubs” and distributed to retail “spokes” daily.
This move signals a strategic doubling down on B2B retail partnerships where Krispy Kreme owns more of the value chain and can scale with more precision.
