Krispy Kreme may not have started in NC. The iconic doughnut’s real origin story?

A Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut is a simple, beautiful truth — a perfect circle wrapped in sugar.

But what if one of North Carolina’s most famous foods isn’t actually from North Carolina?

It appears there might be more to the Krispy Kreme origin story than most of us knew. This week, the popular YouTube series Try Guys featured Krispy Kreme’s entire menu, sampling doughnuts and coffee and checking on their blood sugar.

The famous story we all know is that Krispy Kreme founder Vernon Rudolph opened the first location in Winston-Salem in 1937. That’s the story on the company’s website.

But the beginnings of those beloved glazed doughnuts may stretch back even further and span multiple states.

In the episode intro, Try Guys cast member Keith Habersberger gave a recap of Krispy Kreme’s history, suggesting that Krispy Kreme as we know it actually started in Kentucky.

“If you do some digging, you’ll see that actually there was a place called the Krispy Kreme Donut Company in Nashville,” Habersberger said. “And who owned that? None other than Vernon’s uncle. His uncle had the shop. And if you do some more digging, you see, actually they had a shop before that in Paducah, Kentucky, where they were making these same donuts.”

Is that true?

Did Krispy Kreme start in Kentucky?

We reached out to Krispy Kreme on Wednesday, June 18, for a comment on this older history, but haven’t heard back.

After some digging of our own, there are at least multiple references to these Kentucky beginnings.

The Smithsonian Institute has Krispy Kreme’s corporate archives in the National Museum of American History. On the museum’s website, the company’s history can be traced all the way back to a pastry recipe in New Orleans.

“After graduating from high school, (Vernon) Rudolph then began his life’s work when he went to work for his uncle, Ishmael Armstrong,” reads a company history on the Smithsonian website. “It seems Armstrong bought a doughnut shop — along with the assets, name, and recipe — from a Frenchman from New Orleans, Joe LeBeau. So in 1933, Rudolph began selling the yeast-based doughnuts door to door for the Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop in Paducah, Kentucky. Not only did Rudolph sell doughnuts, he took part in producing them, thereby giving him an all-around experience in the doughnut business.”

Hit by the Great Depression, uncle and nephew then moved the doughnut shop to Nashville, which was short-lived. Armstrong sold the shop and was back in Kentucky by 1935, the Smithsonian archives say.

Curiously, since then, there has never been a Krispy Kreme location in Paducah, Ky.

Rudolph stayed behind in Nashville, Tenn., and continued selling doughnuts in his family’s general store.

“...Vernon Rudolph still wanted to own his own Krispy Kreme store,” the Smithsonian history says. “In the summer of 1937, he left Nashville with two friends in their new 1936 Pontiac and $200.”

Inspired by the location on a pack of Camel Cigarettes, as this story goes, Rudolph ended up in Winston-Salem. The first location opened on July 13.

So who can really claim the first Krispy Kreme?

The brand’s iconic glazed doughnut is a singular treat, airy and sweet, with a glossy sheen of icing. There’s nothing out there quite like it.

Is this the doughnut style Ishmael Armstrong bought in New Orleans nearly a century ago? Did it remain the same in Paducah, Kentucky, when a teenage Vernon Rudolph sold them in the street?

Or did Krispy Kreme begin in earnest in Winston-Salem, when a tiny doughnut shop became a global icon?

Perhaps we can agree that Krispy Kreme began when they invented the “Hot Now” sign.

This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Krispy Kreme may not have started in NC. The iconic doughnut’s real origin story?."

Drew Jackson

The News & Observer

919-829-4707

Drew Jackson writes about restaurants and dining for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun, covering the food scene in the Triangle and North Carolina.