Krispy Kreme Awards Development Rights To Oz & NZ

KRISPY KREME AWARDS DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND; COMPANY CREATES FIRST-EVER FRANCHISE PARTNERSHIP BEYOND NORTH AMERICA

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 5 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) today announced its first franchise agreement outside of North America, awarding development rights for Australia and New Zealand. Krispy Kreme will partner with Borderless Australia Pty Ltd to form Krispy Kreme Australia Pty Ltd (Krispy Kreme Australia). Krispy Kreme Australia will develop 30 stores over the next 5 years throughout Australia and New Zealand. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. will retain a 35% equity interest in the new partnership, with Borderless Australia owning the remaining 65%.

Borderless Australia is jointly owned by John McGuigan and Lawrence Maltz. Mr. McGuigan, who most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Borderless Australia, will be responsible for building and rolling out Krispy Kreme stores, in addition to managing Krispy Kreme Australia's day-to-day operations. Mr. McGuigan, who is a native of Sydney, Australia, spent most of his career working at Baker and McKenzie, the world's largest law firm. He played a key role in developing Baker and McKenzie's presence throughout the Asian region, and he was also based in Chicago where he served as the global Executive Chairman. Following his retirement from Baker & McKenzie in 1998, Mr. McGuigan founded Hunter Bay Partners, an investment and advisory group with a particular focus on establishing and developing businesses in the food, technology and sports sectors. Borderless Australia's Founder and Chairman Lawrence Maltz previously served as the original Chief Operating Officer of Starbucks Coffee Company and was deeply involved in the company's international expansion.

Scott Livengood, Krispy Kreme Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "This is an extremely exciting time for Krispy Kreme as we begin our expansion into overseas markets. John McGuigan and Lawrence Maltz are strong operating partners who understand our business and have great passion for our brand. We look forward to working together to expand the Krispy Kreme experience to new customers throughout Australia and New Zealand."

Mr. McGuigan echoed Livengood's sentiments, adding, "The fact that Krispy Kreme has selected Australia as the first market outside North America is extremely exciting. We are really looking forward to introducing Krispy Kreme and the hot doughnut experience to Australian consumers. We are thrilled to be a part of the Krispy Kreme organization particularly as it commences its journey beyond North America."

Separately, Livengood added, "As we've indicated previously, this marks the beginning of our expansion outside North America. We have spent the past year investigating international opportunities. From those efforts, we identified a number of primary target markets which we believe have success characteristics similar to our newer markets in North America. These include, in addition to Australia and New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom. We expect to announce additional international agreements this year."

Founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Krispy Kreme is a leading branded specialty retailer of premium quality doughnuts, including the Company's signature Hot Original Glazed. Krispy Kreme currently operates 226 stores in 34 states and Canada. An estimated 5 million Krispy Kreme doughnuts are made everyday and more than 2 billion are produced each year. Krispy Kreme can be found on the World Wide Web at www.krispykreme.com.

Information contained in this press release, other than historical information, may be considered forward-looking in nature and is subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, estimated or expected. Among the key factors that may have a direct bearing on Krispy Kreme's operating results, performance or financial condition are its dependence on franchisees to execute its store expansion strategy, supply issues, competition and numerous other factors discussed in Krispy Kreme's periodic reports, proxy statement and other information statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.

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