Doughnut chain expands in UK

The doughnut chain Krispy Kreme is to double its number of UK stores over the next five years as the country's desire for sweet treats grows.

The company, which produced more than 50 million doughnuts for UK customers in the year to January, aims to open 10 stores a year. The plans will see total stores double from 47 to nearly 100 by 2016.

Krispy Kreme – which first came to the UK in October 2003 through a concession in Harrods department store – will open its next store in Leeds in July.

The expansion plans came as Krispy Kreme posted a 1.4 per cent rise in UK sales of £33.4m, compared to £29.7m the previous year. In the past year, it opened six stores in the UK, and 50 cabinets in Tesco.

Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937 in North Carolina, in the US, where the parent company is still based. It licenses the brand on a franchise basis in international markets.