Cheerwine doughnut now only in Salisbury

A tray of Cheerwine Kreme Filled doughnuts sit under glass at the Salisbury Krispy Kreme shop on West Innes Street. After Saturday the only place one will be able to purchase this special flavor will be in the Salisbury Krispy Kreme shop. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

A tray of Cheerwine Kreme Filled doughnuts sit under glass at the Salisbury Krispy Kreme shop on West Innes Street. After Saturday the only place one will be able to purchase this special flavor will be in the Salisbury Krispy Kreme shop. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Tonda Bolander fills a couple of doughnuts with a creme flavored with Cheerwine syrup at the Salisbury Krispy Kreme shop on West Innes Street. After Saturday the only place one will be able to purchase this special flavor will be in the Salisbury Krispy Kreme shop. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Scott Jenkins

sjenkins@salisburypost.com

After today, if folks want Cheerwine creme-filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts, they’ll have to make a pilgrimage to Salisbury.

But considering the reception the doughnuts have gotten in their limited run, that could be one sweet road trip.

The two North Carolina companies announced in June they were partnering to infuse Krispy Kreme doughnuts with the taste of Cheerwine in a slightly fizzy filling.

They planned to offer the confection only during July, and only at Carolinas grocery stores. But since demand for the doughnuts immediately took off — and since this is Cheerwine’s hometown — they soon added them to the lineup at the West Innes Street Krispy Kreme.

And the Cheerwine creme, topped with a chocolate glaze and sprinkles, quickly became one of the most popular doughnuts at the local shop, behind only the classic glazed Krispy Kreme, said Manager David Oakley.

They’re so popular, the companies plan to keep selling them there.

“So the only place to get them ... is going to be here in Salisbury,” Oakley said. “No one else is going to carry it but this store.”

Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Salisbury-based Cheerwine, said sales of the doughnut, produced in partnership with Winston-Salem company Krispy Kreme, have been “phenomenally successful.”

And although they won’t be available on grocery store shelves after today, Barbitta thinks people will trek to Salisbury to get them, because they already have been, “to seek out this little gem.”

“It’s going to be great for folks to have access to Cheerwine doughnuts whenever they’d like them,” he said. And having them available only here “just reinforces how special Salisbury is to Cheerwine.”

Cheerwine and Krispy Kreme rolled out their combo with a lot of fanfare in late June. Gov. Bev Perdue was among the first to get a public taste and declared the delicacy a “home run.”

She apparently wasn’t the only one who thought so. Figures weren’t available Friday for the number of Cheerwine doughnuts sold so far, but in mid-July, the companies said consumers had gobbled up more than 500,000.

And they shared these anecdotes: A Salisbury grocery store sold 30 boxes in 30 minutes. A store in Lincolnton had a line of people waiting outside at 6 a.m. to get the doughnuts. In Kernersville, two store chains nearly doubled their Krispy Kreme sales.

“We’ve had consumers following Krispy Kreme trucks to supermarket parking lots and intercepting the driver to find out whether the doughnuts were in the truck,” Barbitta said.

He said when the two companies got together earlier this year to toss around the idea of a Cheerwine doughnut, they gave the project the code name “snowball.”

“We knew that in July, everyone would want one. And we know that when snowballs roll downhill, they get bigger,” he said. “In hindsight, we couldn

’t have picked a better name for this because of how it played out.”

Despite the snowballing sales figures however, Barbitta said the two companies didn’t set out with a specific goal in mind and the response “far exceeded our expectations.”

“The idea was always about a celebration of the Carolinas and these two great brands and the consumers who made the brands what they really are. And we never took our eye off that,” Barbitta said.

“We knew we had a special idea. ... What we didn’t expect was the fanatical response to this treat.”

It’s sure gotten a warm reception under the “Hot Now” sign on West Innes Street. Oakley, manager of the Krispy Kreme there, said he figured demand for the Cheerwine doughnut would die down after a couple of weeks. But it hasn’t.

Oakley said the most popular doughnuts after the traditional glazed had been the chocolate-iced and creme-filled chocolate-iced.

“Cheerwine just booted them to the curb,” he said.

He’s had people drive from the mountains for the Cheerwine creme doughnuts, he said. And this week, somebody from Spartanburg left a comment card at the shop saying they loved them.

Recently, Oakley attended a meeting of 18 Krispy Kreme managers from as far away as Michigan and Kansas. He took them some Cheerwine and doughnuts and told them how busy his store has been.

“I was the envy of our meeting,” he said.

And if sales of the Cheerwine doughnuts stay as bubbly as they are now — Oakley says he’ll keep making them as long as people keep buying them — he’ll be the envy of other Krispy Kreme stores for a while, at least.

Barbitta said nothing is firm yet, but officials with the two companies are talking about possibilities for next year, including whether to offer the Cheerwine doughnuts in more stores and Krispy Kreme shops and whether to offer them in other states.

“We are excited to sit down again and talk about what we learned,” Barbitta said, “and, if we decide to do it again, how would we do it for more folks to enjoy it?”

Until then, those folks can get their Cheerwine-flavored Krispy Kreme doughnuts with a visit to Salisbury.

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248.