Krispy Kreme mule will be allowed to continue operating

He already posted an update that he&#x27;s allowed to continue and the company is supporting him: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;KrispyKremeRunMinnesota&#x2F;posts&#x2F;449232749046048" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;KrispyKremeRunMinnesota&#x2F;posts&#x2F;44923...</a><p>&quot;<i>Hi everyone, here is the next important update! I am pumped to announce that I will be able to continue the business soon, and have the support of Krispy Kreme. They want to ensure I become an independent operator and make sure the brand is represented well. On both ends, there are things that are being worked on right now to achieve that as this is being made as a special exception. But nonetheless, we can get started up again soon once certain things are in place.</i>&quot;<p>Seems like confirmation that this was most likely about trademarks and representation.

Based on his Facebook page[1], it seems he&#x27;s going to be an authorized reseller soon.<p>&gt; Hi everyone, here is the next important update! I am pumped to announce that I will be able to continue the business soon, and have the support of Krispy Kreme. They want to ensure I become an independent operator and make sure the brand is represented well. On both ends, there are things that are being worked on right now to achieve that as this is being made as a special exception. But nonetheless, we can get started up again soon once certain things are in place.<p>&gt; This being said, I am definitely going to need a bigger vehicle with how much this has grown over the past few days. I know a couple of you have asked about a GoFundMe. I decided to create one because I won&#x27;t be able to cover the costs on my own I realize. Any donation would mean the world to me, no matter how small. Maybe I can decal it with some donut stickers! I am happy that things turned out positive, and this can continue to strive and grow over the next couple of years. I&#x27;ve said it before, and I will say it again. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone that has supported me on this journey.<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;pg&#x2F;KrispyKremeRunMinnesota&#x2F;posts&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;pg&#x2F;KrispyKremeRunMinnesota&#x2F;posts&#x2F;</a>

I have mixed feelings about this.<p>I commented on the previous post that broke this story, pointing out just how many youth fund raising activities had been doing exactly this for ever. And I really admired the guy and his repeated efforts to make some money for school. This is the classical lemonade stand incarnate. He warmed my heart; big business KK pissed me off.<p>Day two rolls around. Things are proceeding. An agreement has been struck, and he&#x27;s soliciting the equivalent of seed money to meet the new anticipated demand. Whereas yesterday I could have seen some additional students using their small cars to also deliver donuts if a) they&#x27;re willing to put in the effort and b) there&#x27;s enough demand, today that seems less likely. The sophomore across campus now has to compete against the capital gifted to this guy as well as his &quot;special arrangement&quot; with KK. So, some form of &quot;big business&quot; wins again.

I don&#x27;t see how this is actually any different than any of the many doughnut (KK specifically) fundraisers around the country where groups (sports, music, etc) either pre-order or buy large quantities to resell. Its exactly the same model, other than that this guy was doing it repeatedly and KK wasn&#x27;t getting to set the terms.

Silly consumer - free trade is only for corporations!

as soon as he buys them he can do whatever he wants, he just cant imply that he works for krispy kreme or is part of the distribution network. if KK doesnt want to sell in an area that wants KKs thats thier problem. people are allowed to grocery shop by proxy and operate delivery services of many types. it would probably help his case if he was taking delivery orders for other things such as bottled water, or energy drinks, and jack links as well.

Before Pollo Campero opened in San Francisco, there were people (1) driving vans of take-out from Los Angeles, and (2) flying it over on an airplane from Guatemala.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20110603025320&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.sfweekly.com&#x2F;foodie&#x2F;2010&#x2F;02&#x2F;is_there_an_sf_underground_net.php" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20110603025320&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.sfwe...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archives.sfweekly.com&#x2F;thesnitch&#x2F;2011&#x2F;02&#x2F;14&#x2F;mission-importers-not-playing-chicken-with-pollo-campero" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archives.sfweekly.com&#x2F;thesnitch&#x2F;2011&#x2F;02&#x2F;14&#x2F;mission-i...</a>

New is everything old.<p>Back in 2015 a little burger shop sues a little known company for ferrying burgers across the Stanford campus.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mercurynews.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;12&#x2F;in-n-out-burger-sues-palo-alto-delivery-startup-doordash&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mercurynews.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;12&#x2F;in-n-out-burger-sues-...</a>

This reminds me of domestic flights in Thailand from Bangkok to Chiang Mai where it is common to see Krispy Kreme mules.<p>There are no Krispy Kreme stores in Chiang Mai but the people in Chiang Mai seems to prefer it over other Doughnut shops in the city. So, when locals fly up from Bangkok to Chiang Mai it is fairly common for them to take up a few boxes of Krispy Kreme for their friends and family.

I wonder what was contained in that cease and desist? How could he have been doing anything that could warrant a civil suit from the company? Sure, he doesn&#x27;t have a license to be a food seller, but that&#x27;s a legal issue with the local municipality. I wonder what they claimed their &quot;damage&quot; to be?

This story strikes very close to home. My first capitalist adventure involved running donuts to my middle, and later, high schools. I used to periodically stop on the way to school to grab a donut and noticed that buying 6 donuts at once cost the same as buying 5 individually. So, I purchased 6 every morning and sold the other 5 at the individual price. By the time I got to high school, I was moving 4-6 dozen donuts a day, and had &quot;employees&quot; who handled deliveries and collections and were paid in donuts.

There was a planet money story about a guy in canada who would buy up huge quantities of trader joes stuff and sell it at a significant markup. he had to evade trader joes&#x27; managers who were told the guy was a persona-non-grata and did a lot to keep him out. eventually he had to close up shop (and he did have a real physical location) as it became too difficult to stay open.

Go to UCLA in the morning and take Election Walk, and you will find 10+ different student groups reselling KKs, five days a week!

The practice that this student engaged in is called “arbitrage” - taking a thing that is undervalued and finding its true value.<p>Kristy Kreme undervalued their product, which made it ripe for arbitrage. If not this student, it would have been Uber Eats or some other delivery service.

Not gonna happen. The first sale doctrine gives him the right to resale all he wants.

Isn&#x27;t this just reselling? There are plenty of small and large businesses that do this exclusively.<p>I think maybe he was just using the Krispy Kreme branding or trademarks.

I wonder how it is that that level of demand can’t support having stores in the area?

Isn&#x27;t the takeout a spinoff of The Onion ?

that&#x27;s an impressive hack - an entrepreneurial trait indeed.

It never ceases to amaze one just how tone-deaf big companies can be. Smart managers at Krispy-Kreme would have been all over this: looking to include this guy in ads, touting the way Krispy Kreme is helping one hard working student pay for college, living the American Dream, etc., etc. The good-will alone would have been something you couldn&#x27;t buy if you tried.<p>Instead, they totally screwed the pooch and hurt their brand, their customers, and the hard working college kid aspiring for the American Dream. Way to go, Krispy Kreme.

Someone at Krispy Kreme should be fired. Better business all around would have been to come up with some happy way to bring this guy in somehow. Publicity alone would have been ridiculously profitable: ie Free. Offer him a delivery franchise or whatever. Krispy Kreme actually said No to a delivery model that only needed tuning and some simple improvements. He essentially did a territory feasibility assessment for them. For free.<p>As a non-customer I now just think of Krispy Kreme as jerks. And the kind of business people who hate making money.

as someone from south Europe, I am amazed for the love of donuts they have in the U.S.A, how can you be craving so much to pay twice for donuts? they are mostly pure sugars sweets isnt it ?