Additionally, the design incorporates new digital menuboards—a first for the brand. Skena admits they’re late adopters to the technology, but it made sense to use it in Krispy Kreme’s modern store update.

Traffic both in-store and drive thru happens frequently. In the process of the redesign, the Krispy Kreme team asked how it could expand access and increase customer convenience, Skena says. With that in mind, the design now features a mobile pick-up area so people can skip the line and a double drive thru to accommodate busier dayparts.

“It’s good to see a lot of things are making it easier for folks to engage with the brand and get what they want and have fun,” Skena says. “These are all things where we’re expanding access to the brand and we absolutely think they’re going to pay off for us.”

Moving forward, this model will be the go-to design for Krispy Kreme. There may be some tweaks here and there along the way, but as new locations are built and stores remodeled, each venue will have the color palette and features found at the Concord unit.

“We'll probably continue to try [the interactive tabletop] and other things like it here and there and see what we get for the most fun for the dollar for the people that come in here,” Skena says. “We find some things that were great and some things that don’t work as great we’ll obviously do what makes the most sense for our customers and operators.”

Skena didn’t go into detail about specific markets the brand expects to target, but did confirm 45 new locations will open by the end of 2020. There is still room to grow in Krispy Kreme’s core areas.