Wednesday 4 August 2010

Whats new on the Bristol sweet scene

Ok, ok so I am a little late in welcoming the wonderfully moreish Krispy Kreme to Bristol, but I will do so anyway!

For those who have been under a rock Krispy Kreme is the U.S chain that makes light and fluffy, usually glazed doughnuts. These indisputable lovelies come in a vast range of lip smacking, sugar rushing treats.


The Good
The good folk at Krispy Kreme have a large range of staple doughnuts, such as Original Glazed, Glazed Raspberry Filled, Glazed Kreme Filled and Chocolate Iced Custard Filled but also offer seasonal specialities such as Strawberries and Kreme, Mince Pie and Lemon Meringue.

The first Bristol store opened July 2010 at Avonmeads, Brislington, Bristol (by Showcase Cinema) after keeping us waiting for two years (when the recession hit the store was put on hold, much to my waist line and hearts relief!). A second store is to open at the end of the month, August 2010 in Cabot Circus, again after keeping hungry Bristolians salivating since Cabot was opened in 2008!

So us Bristolians are spoilt for doughnutty choice! As a frequent visitor to the Avonmeads store (twice daily since the opening! ) I recommend you skip the drive thru and go in to get the goods as you will be able to see the amazing 'hot light store theatre' where all the doughnuts are made before your eyes, kids especially, love this!


The Bad
The Bristol store has been wildly busy and the drive thru takes anywhere from 5 mins to an hour if its really stacked and you will usually que for 10 to 45mins in store as well. apart from the wait the only real complaint is the service, in their attempt to be super American pushy, the staff force deals and boxes on you rather than what you actually came in for, so if you want 5 doughnuts they will advise you that a 12 box is best as you get the whole taste of Krispy Kreme for either £9.45  for the most popular 12 or £9.95 for your choice of 12 (you can also buy 12 original Glazed for £7.95). They do have a point as at either £1.20  for a Original Glazed or £1.45 for any of the filled doughnuts it is much cheaper to buy a box of 12 than go down the individual route, that is unless you only want one obviously!!

The Ugly
Ok so this is the second part of the service complaint and after standing in Krispy Kreme for over 3 hours in total, waiting on those little lovelies,  I feel that I have a right, no a duty to complain, it is my English right of passage!

When waiting patiently the staff insist on coming half way up the queue and asking you what you want, now clearly this is them trying to be efficient but in actual fact it just confuses newcomers who don't really know whats on offer or what they want, and why should they? They can't see the menu or the doughnuts and have no idea what the offers are so how are they supposed to reel off a big order, or any order for that matter if they don't know what they're ordering!?

Because of this there suddenly becomes two ques, those who get the process and those who are lost! Those who get it reel off orders then stand in a messy group trying to pay for whichever doughnuts may be there's, this is a nightmare as once the doughnuts are boxed they are placed on the busy counter and people have to keep their eye on theirs, much like an Argos version of the card game Pairs! It is all very stressful, even for a hardened doughnut shopper, so I really feel for the newcomers who buy all kinds of crap because they get flustered, "umm I'll have, umm, two plain ones, umm and whatever you recommend" is often heard as people panic.

Anyway, mini rant over because basically these are awesome (no that is not a frivolous use of the word!) they are worth the stress and the wait and once you get used to it, it's fine and they are even worth the money.

My verdict: Exercise your right to be English and queue, queue like you have never done before!

2 comments:

  1. I am really looking forward to getting myself some Krispy Kremes! Though I may wait until the hype has died down a little; I'm a rather impatient queue-er!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good thinking! But dont get too close, the smell may over power you!! Let me know your verdict when you do and try the burger ideas I just posted if you dare, well dare to die young anyway!

    ReplyDelete