Madisonians will have to wait a long time before they can sink their teeth into a hot, sugary Krispy Kreme doughnut made in Madison, company officials said Wednesday.
Rumors of the chain's arrival in town have circulated for years. Last March the regional manager for the Wisconsin Krispy Kreme franchise Glazed Investments, LLC, Chuck Knoblauch, said his company told Krispy Kreme they would build a store in Madison by the end of the year.
However, Knoblauch said Wednesday that scenario is now extremely unlikely because of delays in city approval of the project site. Knoblauch and Larry Gadola, the vice president of development for Glazed Investments, said they could not disclose much about the process or the site because they are engaged in negotiations with the property owners.
City planning department officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
\It's been very frustrating for me,"" Knoblauch said of the process.
Gadola said they are trying to build on a roughly 13-acre parcel of land near East Towne Mall, 89 East Towne Mall. He said they will probably not gain approval before snow falls and will have to wait until spring to break ground. Since it takes four months to build a store, a Krispy Kreme would not be complete until next fall at the earliest, he said.
""That was our number one spot to go to, and yet two years later we're still not there,"" he added.
However, there is some good news for doughnut lovers.
""We're still planning on coming to Madison,"" Gadola said.
Krispy Kreme stores produce doughnuts on site and serve them hot off the conveyer belt periodically throughout the day. They also sell cold doughnuts.
One potential Madison competitor does not expect the arrival of a Krispy Kreme to hurt its business. Staff at Greenbush Bakery, 1305 Regent St., are not concerned about a rivalry, manager Nels Labansky said.
""It just wouldn't really have much of an effect on us in any way, just because it's so far away,"" he said.
Greenbush makes cakes, kringles and kosher doughnuts. Labansky said they use better quality ingredients and have greater variety than Krispy Kreme.
