Krispy Kreme suffered financial setbacks a few years ago, after a period of too-good-to-be-true success, but they still exist.

Their problems seem to have come from a combination of two factors: rapid geographical expansion from a relatively small region in the southeast US to a nearly-nationwide presence, and a shift in consumer perference from "trans-fatty" to healthier snacks.

I think the change in the marketplace was sudden but not permanent; many people who were temporarily scared away from donuts eventually weakened and came back.

We never had KK in New Orleans until a few years ago, when the company was expanding like crazy. Only one of several local outlets closed in the wake of the more recent nationwide downturn, the one unwisely located one block away from the famous and iconic Cafe du Monde coffee-and-beignet outlet in the French Quarter. All the suburban KK's in our area are alive and (seemingly) well.

If KK is doing OK in a relatively new market like New Orleans, I'm sure they're surviving in the original home area, centered in North Carolina and extending north as far as Washington DC and as far to the southwest as the Florida panhandle.