50 Fun Facts About Hard Donuts

Krispy Kreme founder Vernon Rudolph bought his yeast-raised recipe from a chef in which city?

Rudolph rented a building in what is now Old Salem, Winston-Salem, in 1937 and began selling to grocery stores. The recipe's roots may trace to an Ohio River barge cook.

Before Winston-Salem, the Rudolphs sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts from a rented store on Gallatin Road in which city?

Vernon and his uncle Ishmael Armstrong moved there in 1934 from a struggling general store in Paducah, Kentucky.

Which Chicago conglomerate owned Krispy Kreme from 1976 until franchisees bought it back in 1982?

The headquarters never left Winston-Salem. The company went public on the Nasdaq in April 2000 under the ticker KREM.

At what price per share did Krispy Kreme go public in April 2000?

It moved to the New York Stock Exchange as KKD in 2001 and peaked at $50 in August 2003, up 135 percent, before accounting scandals hit.

Under what name did Bill Rosenberg open his Quincy, Massachusetts shop in 1948, before renaming it Dunkin' Donuts?

The idea came from selling food at factories and building sites, where coffee and doughnuts were the two top sellers. The Dunkie mascot arrived in 1954.

Which rival chain, founded by Bill Rosenberg's former partner Harry Winokur, did Dunkin' Donuts absorb in 1990?

The conversion of those shops drove growth across North America the same year Baskin-Robbins' parent company bought the chain.

How much did Inspire Brands pay for Dunkin' Brands in the deal completed in December 2020?

The price included the company's debt. Dunkin' had dropped 'Donuts' from its name in January 2019 to become a 'beverage-led company'.

Tim Horton's first restaurant sold hamburgers rather than doughnuts. In which Ontario town was it?

The first doughnut store opened on May 17, 1964, in Hamilton as Tim Horton Donuts, later losing its possessive apostrophe.

After Tim Horton died in 1974, how much did Ron Joyce pay the family for their share of the 40-store chain?

Joyce, a former Hamilton police constable, then expanded aggressively. A US$11.4 billion merger with Burger King followed in 2014.

Which co-founder of Tim Hortons left in 1966 and returned only briefly in 1970 and the mid-1990s?

Charade had partnered with the Maple Leafs defenceman on the original hamburger venture. Wendy's later merged with the chain before a 2014 fast-food takeover.

Timbits, introduced in April 1976, differ from American doughnut holes in what way?

In 2021 the chain sold limited-edition celebrity Timbits with a Canadian pop star. The Dutchie is another doughnut the chain popularised.

Per John T. Edge, why did the Display Doughnut Machine Corporation coin the spelling 'donut' in the 1920s?

The first printed use of the shorter spelling actually dates to a 1900 novel by George W. Peck.

Which 1809 satire by Washington Irving contains one of the earliest mentions of the 'dough-nut'?

Dutch settlers had brought the olykoek, or oil cake, to New Amsterdam in the early 18th century, though the ring shape came later.

Which 1900 book contains the first known printed use of the spelling 'donut'?

The New York Times used both spellings interchangeably in its 'National Donut Week' coverage of the 1939 World's Fair.

Per Gil Marks, the first published jam-filled doughnut recipe appeared in a 1485 cookbook from which city?

The Gefüllte Krapfen sandwiched jam between two rounds of yeast dough fried in lard. In 19th-century Germany it became the Berliner or Bismarck.

Why is the JFK 'Ich bin ein Berliner' jam-doughnut story an urban myth?

The crowd's laughter came seconds later, when Kennedy joked about thanking his interpreter for translating his German.

A common German prank, especially on April Fools' Day, secretly fills some Berliners with what?

The doughnuts are traditionally eaten at Silvester and carnival. Before sugar became affordable they were stuffed with cheese, meat or mushrooms.

Which 12th-century rabbi's father wrote that eating fried sofganim on Hanukkah was an ancient custom?

Those early fritters were probably syrup-soaked cakes. A folk etymology claims sufganiyah means 'the end of the Garden of the Lord', which no commentator supports.

Zeppole are traditionally eaten on which Catholic feast day?

The modern zeppola dates from the 18th century and is typical of Rome, Naples and Lecce; Sardinia's tzipulas are cousins.

Greek loukoumades descend from enkrides, honey-soaked fried dough mentioned by which ancient writers?

Athenaeus described them as cakes boiled in oil and seasoned in honey. They stayed popular in Byzantine Lent because they contain no dairy or meat.

The Portuguese word malassada literally means what, a nod to the doughnut's irregular shape?

Labourers from Madeira and the Azores brought them to Hawaii's plantations in the 1870s, which is why they are called Hawaiian doughnuts.

One theory holds that Dutch oliebollen were introduced in the 15th century by which immigrant group?

Others credit Germanic tribes eating them at Yule. Today they are a Silvester tradition, often with raisins or apple inside.

Youtiao's Cantonese name means 'oil-fried devil'. Its two joined dough strips represent which figure and his wife?

The dough was originally shaped like two humans. In Taiwan the snack is iû-chiā-kóe, 'oil-fried pastry'.

In which year was Boston cream pie declared the official dessert of Massachusetts?

The pie is usually credited to chef Augustine François Anezin at the Parker House Hotel for its 1856 opening; cakes and pies were once baked in the same tins.

The word cruller comes from an early 19th-century Dutch word meaning what?

Northern Germans call them Hirschhörner, deer horns. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers introduced them to America, and the Milwaukee style is a glazed loaf.

In Scandinavia, crullers known as klejner or klenäter are traditionally made when, as a family project?

Children do the fiddly shaping and adults handle the hot fat. Both names come from Low German.

Which company may have sold the first commercial cider version in 1951?

The New York Times described the 'sweet cider doughnut' as a spicy round cake. Cider doughnuts remain a New England autumn ritual.

The Randy's Donuts building in Inglewood began life in 1952 as a branch of which drive-in chain?

Founder Russell Wendell sold it in 1976 to Robert Eskow, who named it after his son; the Weintraub brothers bought it in 1978 and kept the name.

Big Donut founder Russell Wendell later focused on which fast-food chain, sold to a rival in 1984?

Taco Bell bought it. The giant rooftop doughnut near LAX has featured in films from Earth Girls Are Easy to Iron Man 2.

Which Voodoo Doughnut creation was declared its Oregon hometown's 'Official City Doughnut' in December 2008?

Founders Kenneth 'Cat Daddy' Pogson and Tres Shannon opened in Old Town in May 2003; by 2011 the shops hosted legal weddings and sold about 20 tons of doughnuts a week.

Where did Doughnut Plant founder Mark Isreal first make his doughnuts in 1994, delivering by bike?

The first storefront opened on Grand Street in 2000. Bon Appétit and Saveur credit the shop as an early influence on the artisanal doughnut movement.

Verne Winchell founded Winchell's Donut House in 1948 in which California town?

The chain had 293 locations in 1999 and was bought by rival Yum Yum Donut Shops in 2004; by 2025 it had 100 US stores, 74 of them in California.

Which packaging innovation did the Entenmann family introduce in 1959?

William Entenmann had opened his Brooklyn bakery in 1898. The company, now owned by Mexico's Grupo Bimbo, has sold more than 620 million chocolate chip cookies since 1972.

How long did Dominique Ansel say it took to perfect the Cronut before its 2013 launch?

The trademarked pastry is fried in grapeseed oil and filled with flavoured cream. The name blends croissant and doughnut.

Beignets reached Louisiana in the 18th century with French colonists and which other group?

The word literally means 'bump'. Louisiana beignets are square and made from leavened dough rather than the choux of the French original.

In old-fashioned usage, what distinguished a 'fried cake' from a true doughnut?

Nineteenth-century 'old-fashioned donuts' were yeast-raised; the cracked-surface cake ring sold under that name in shops today is chemically leavened.

Which 1933 film title is among the earliest doughnut-themed movies?

The doughnut also appears in the 1963 short The Doughnuts, the video game Donut Dilemma and the cartoon ¡Mucha Lucha!, where it is part of the code of mask wrestling.

Which Ohio River barge cook is thought to have inspired the doughnuts behind Krispy Kreme?

Vernon Rudolph was 18 when he started working for his uncle in 1933. The exact origin of the recipe remains partly a mystery.

Which holding company acquired Dunkin' Donuts in 1990?

It was Baskin-Robbins' parent, and the two brands later shared Dunkin' Brands from 2004.

Krispy Kreme's all-day 'Hot Now' doughnut experience in the early 2010s relied on shops built with what?

The company also tested a business delivery service, Krispy Kreme Express, at a Greensboro store in 2010.

Which two chains became subsidiaries of Restaurant Brands International in December 2014?

The US$11.4 billion merger had been agreed that August. Tim Hortons had earlier spent years merged with Wendy's.

Which pop star lent his name to limited-edition Timbits in November 2021?

The 'Tim Biebs' promotion came with merchandise. Timbits themselves date to 1976.

Hanson Gregory claimed to have invented the ring doughnut in 1847 aboard a ship trading in what?

The 16-year-old said he punched out the raw centre with the ship's tin pepper box while serving on a lime-trading vessel.

What did Hanson Gregory say he used to punch the first hole in a doughnut?

Gregory claimed the pepper box trick and said he later taught it to his mother Elizabeth.

A 13th-century Arabic cookbook by Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī describes a doughnut-like version of which fried dough?

The recipe fries leavened semolina dough and even shapes some as a ring with a hole to test proofing.

On which day is National Donut Day celebrated in the United States?

The observance dates to a 1938 Salvation Army fundraiser in Chicago honouring the WWI 'Donut Girls'.

Which two Salvation Army volunteers came up with the idea of serving doughnuts to WWI soldiers in France?

Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance's doughnuts were an 'instant hit' at the front-line huts.

What were Red Cross volunteers who served doughnuts and coffee in World War II nicknamed?

WWI Salvation Army women were 'Donut Girls'; their WWII Red Cross successors became 'Donut Dollies'.

POWs at Son Tay got doughnuts by claiming which date was National Donut Day?

November 10 is the Marine Corps birthday; the ruse fooled the North Vietnamese guards into celebrating with doughnuts.

Malaysia's kuih keria is a ring doughnut made from the mash of which vegetable?

Boiled sweet potato is mashed, shaped into rings, fried and rolled in sugar for a crusted skin.