When Minnesota's only Krispy Kreme doughnut store opened its doors for the first time at 5.30 one morning in April, more than 500 hungry customers were waiting outside.
Within 12 hours the store had sold about 12,600 dozen doughnuts to 2100 customers.
The Krispy Kreme chain - with aloyal following one sharemarket analyst describes as "cultlike" - will be hoping it can generate a similar frenzy of interest when it opens the first of 30 stores it plans for New Zealand and Australia by 2007.
At its annual meeting in North Carolina this week, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts announced it had chosen Australasia for its first expansion.
Under a joint venture with Borderless Australia, the first Southern Hemisphere Krispy Kreme is due to open in Sydney next April.
Borderless was founded by Lawrence Maltz, a former chief operating officer of Starbucks Coffee Company who spearheaded Starbucks' international expansion.
Speaking from Sydney yesterday, Borderless spokesman Reg Bryson said there was no definite timeframe for opening stores in New Zealand, although outlets were planned for all major centres.
Bryson said he had not tried the doughnuts himself.
"I'm going over there [the US] in two weeks' time to find out for myself, because I'm sick of people trying to explain it to me. But they definitely do have a cult following."
He said the company believed the doughnuts would appeal to the Australasian palate.
Rachel Robertson, who fell in love with Krispy Kreme doughnuts while working in New York and who now lives in Auckland, said she was delighted to hear the doughnuts were on their way to New Zealand.
"They are the best doughnuts in the world," she said. "This is terrible news for the waistline but great news for the tastebuds."
Krispy Kreme president Scott Livengood said the company had spent the past year investigating international opportunities and was also interested in moving into Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Britain.
Founded in 1937, Krispy Kreme operates 226 stores in 34 US states and in Canada.
The company sells more than two billion doughnuts a year.
