The Cronut or Croissant Donut?

Earlier this year, there were news stories about a bakery in New York City that somehow combined a croissant with a donut. The line of customers for these "cronuts" were around the block every morning due to the popularity of this new sweet. Fast forward to about a month ago and our regional donut/coffee shop here in the Northeast is Dunkin Donuts. They come out with the Croissant Donut which is an obvious duplicate of the cronut. A regular donut costs about $.80 and this new croissant donut costs $2.50, so I was expecting it to be at least three times as good.

Well, today I had my first Croissant Donut and it was a big letdown for me. Tasted like a regular glazed donut except with perhaps just a little denser dough. But it was definitely underwhelming. Has anyone else tried the Cronut or Crosisant Donut? Perhaps there was something to it that I was missing?

 

Was not aware that it made it outside the U.S. You are not missing anything, based upon my experience.

 

These things are really not new. I had a deep fried croissant that was then glazed about 20 years ago or more. It was good. Not much or any better than a regular doughnut.

 

I feel like I am from the Stone Age or something, because I never heard of cronuts until now. I love donuts though.

 

That was my impression...it was much the same as any other glazed donut. Yet, they are charging multiples in price for it. I don't think that this pricing (or perhaps this product) is going to make it for them. And I have no idea why the place in NYC had lines around the block.

The last time I bought a donut in Florida, I found myself at a topless donut shop in the Fort Lauderdale area. This was a loooong time ago, so they have probably been shut down by now. Usually when I travel, I try to eat as little and as light as possible. It is so easy to gain weight on the road, that I rarely would buy a donut. Of course, I have no such compunction about buying donuts at home.

 

The long lines are probably due to hype. When Krispy Kreme opened in my local market, they had long lines, too. We had someone from work wait hours in line to bring back a couple dozen doughnuts to share with us. I did not much care for Krispy Kreme at all. I was not impressed and I did not understand the hype.

As for the pricing difference, a croissant is rolled (by machine probably) many times to form layers. That entails more labor and possibly equipment expense. So a higher price is likely. Throw in the hype factor and demand pushes price up as well.

 

Krispy Kreme opened a number of shops up here in New England some time ago, but they all ended up closing down. I think that it involved bankruptcy and re-org issues or something.

 

They ended up closing down where I am, too. Krispy Kreme were small, sugary sweet little things. They were not real doughnuts. Nobody can resist a really good doughnut. Problem is that where I am a good doughnut is hard to find. People tolerate the crap from the grocery stores. When I was a kid there were doughnut shops all over the place. Mister Donut, Winchell's, Dunkin Donuts, and even some small independent bakeries that made good doughnuts. They all disappeared long ago. I used to drive over 10 miles to a doughnut shop that had delicious doughnuts until they closed because the city wanted the lot. There are some gourmet doughnut shops in the metro area I am in--none close to me. But they are expensive from what I have heard. $2 or more for a doughnut.

 

LOL...just liked her. Bet she did not know she had a fan in Rhode Island...

 

People will think of anything these days to sell. If you want to try a great donut, try finding a Tim Hortons (canadian shop), pretty good donuts there.

 

Actually, Tim Horton's opened a few shops here in New England, but I think that they closed down, as well, after a short time. Never actually made it to one of them.

 

Yea well truth be told, a lot of pastries taste the same. Don't get me wrong, I love donuts and croissants. I just don't expect some godsend food.

You just gotta look around for quality made pastries.

 

You make a really good point in that my expectations may have been too high. However, they were set high mostly because of the extremely high price that DD is charging for them compared to their ordinary donuts along with the publicity that the Cronut received when launched in NYC. Clearly, DD has overpromised and underdelivered from my perspective.

 

Same here. I don't think I've ever had a coffee or a donut from Tim Horton's. I am sure it's great, but, somehow, they've never made to central FL. I don't think they ever will.

It's funny how the US (and prolly Canada) are all divided into "what business can enter this or that market". For instance, Meijer and Kroger are very influential in the northeastern US, however, they are nowhere to be found in the south. Here it's all about WalMart and Publix.

 

It gets to be very parochial in New England and, especially, in Rhode Island. I was just meeting with an IT consulting firm this morning that is based in Providence and he went on and on how you cannot sell IT services in RI unless you know or are related to someone. It's not just consumer plays that face geography hurdles.