Krispy Kreme grew too fast

I have always been of the belief that companies like Krispy Kreme have just lied to the public with a product only a select want. They will fall by the wayside like Manhattan Bagel (stole from stockholders, New World Holdings ( had a bad dream and stole). The following is an article worth reading. BEWARE!!!!!

Can Corporate fix-it firm fill the holes at Krispy Kreme

By Matt Krantz, USA TODAY
Krispy Kreme's (KKD) just-ousted management team might have known how to make a mean doughnut. But when it came to making money, it was a different story.
So the company turned to Kroll Zolfo Cooper, the giant corporate fix-it firm that has parachuted into some of the modern era's stickiest corporate messes. It has taken on mopping up high-profile corporate disasters ranging from Enron to Sunbeam and Polaroid.
But can this firm fix the woes at Krispy Kreme that previous management could not? Some might be more suspicious, since Kroll Zolfo Cooper is owned by a company in need of some crisis-management help of its own.

It's a division of Kroll, which is owned by Marsh & McLennan, the insurance broker whose CEO was ousted after the company was implicated in a bid-rigging investigation.
Despite the odds, turnaround experts say they'd bet on the success of Kroll Zolfo Cooper and its chairman, Stephen Cooper.

"He has a stellar track record," says Bill Brandt, CEO of Development Specialists, another leading fix-it firm. "I think he can do it."

But Brandt adds that the turnaround is likely more difficult than widely thought. After all, he says, if Krispy Kreme's woes were just about the doughnuts, it would have just hired an executive with food experience. "When you skip that and go to the restructuring guy, the problems run deeper than food," he says. "This tells me this is a more difficult situation than the Krispy Kreme people have been letting on."

Kroll Zolfo Cooper certainly knows what it's in for. Its tie with Kroll gives it access to former CIA and DEA agents who assist in fraud investigations and forensic accounting, says Lewis Freeman, principal of fraud detection and turnaround firm Lewis B. Freeman, which has hired Kroll.

Krispy Kreme is hoping Kroll Zolfo Cooper can add it to past successes, including:
•NRG Energy. When the Kroll Zolfo Cooper arrived at this struggling energy firm in August 2002, it was near financial death. But in 14 months, Kroll Zolfo Cooper retired $1.2 billion in debt and boosted annual cash flow 38%. The company has relisted on the New York Stock Exchange.
•Sunbeam. This maker of household products was headed into bankruptcy shortly after the reign of former CEO Al Dunlap. The lenders hired Kroll Zolfo Cooper in 2000. Cooper vetted the management team's plan and set up a computer to manage cash flow. Sunbeam emerged from bankruptcy protection, renamed itself American Household, and was bought last September by Jarden for $745 million.

"Steve is as good as what people say he is," says Jerry Levin, CEO of American Household. "I hope he's successful. I happen to like Krispy Kremes."