The Elephant and the Doughnut Factory, pt. I
The first of a multi-part posting about America’s favorite breakfast treat
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A job at a Krispy Kreme doughnut factory is probably about as close as one can come to living the Oompa Loompa lifestyle.
For six hours a day or more, a Krispy Kreme employee is surrounded by conveyor belts of the sweet, golden, ringed pastries and breathes air heavy with the aroma of liquid sugar glaze. Dough extruders perpetually hiss with loud bursts of compressed air as they deposit batter loops to rise, while the motors of conveyor belts grind away at their Sisyphean task of escorting dozens upon dozens of doughnuts gingerly to their next appointments with proofers, fryers, flippers, fillers, or the final, legendary “glaze waterfall.”
All that’s missing is the eccentric group singing — and perhaps Veruca Salt.
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| Raleigh’s famous Person Street store sign |
I visited such a Krispy Kreme factory Friday. My visit had two purposes, to take advantage of the company’s “Free Doughnut Day” and to gather audio for a news story on the giveaway.
As possibly indicated by my previous description of the doughnut assembly line, I was overwhelmed by the experience. It is practically impossible not to be when confronted with the sheer quantity of Krispy Kreme product coupled with the all-out sensory assault levied by thousands of hot, fresh doughnuts whizzing by one’s face. Whether sight, sound, smell, or taste, a factory tour leaves no sense untouched — not even touch, for traces of glaze bathe the floor with a stickiness that grips the soles of one’s shoes.
I was not alone on my morning assignment. Besides the usual customers at the particular factory I toured off of Raleigh’s Person Street, an extra surfeit of area office workers and college students were there seeking to find out if the rumors of free doughnuts were true.
Indeed, they were.
Tomorrow: Those who ignore history are doomed to eat it.
Tags: Food, North Carolina, Reporting Forays