Krispy Kreme CEO on Plans for Robots to Start Helping With Frosting, Filling, Sprinkles, and Packaging

Deliciousness-drenched donuts from a certain crafter of comforts will soon count robots among those responsible for their sultry sweetness.

As Krispy Kreme CEO Mike Tattersfield recently revealed in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live, automation will be implemented in connection with various donut-related tasks in the coming year.

“So probably within the next 18 months you’ll see some automation starting to go into the frosting, the filling, the sprinkles, and even the packaging,” Tattersfield said when asked about imminent automation plans and whether robots would be seen taking care of certain duties in the new year. “We’ve got some pretty big factory stores. Again, if we do 12,000 points of access today which get fresh doughnuts globally, you need to start looking at what the automation capacity of that is because it is going to the grocers, it is going to the convenience shops.”

According to Tattersfield, we’ll begin seeing this “next year” and beyond. However, the experiential aspect of the main brand and the Insomnia Cookies label will continue to be human-focused. 

“We still are gonna continue to drive, you know, the experience side with our Krispy Kremers and Insomniacs,” Tattersfield said. “You know, I always find that when companies do a great job they are balanced in how they try to do that. You try to get the repetitive tasks out of the business.”

Automation plans were also mentioned in Krispy Kreme’s recently released Investor Day documents as part of the company’s operating expenses-related goals, with “production automation” listed in that category alongside “network optimization” and “labor efficiency.” Automation is also listed elsewhere in the documents, including in a rundown of long-term strategies for the years ahead.

Complex has reached out to Krispy Kreme for comment. This story may be updated.