Krispy Kreme Just Opened a Surprising New Location That Had a 500-Person Line Waiting

Ooh la la, Krispy Kreme is now in France.

France has fallen deeply in love with American fast food. No matter how little the locals want to admit it. As Le Monde reported this week, McDonald’s and Burger King now have more than 2,000 locations across the nation. And France remains one of the top most profitable nations for McD’s. However, not everyone is psyched about this proliferation of fast food. Le Monde added that a new Burger King plans to open shop in the 15th arrondissement, but it’s being met with major resistance from a local collective who started a petition calling out the brand’s pollution, potential smell, and, most French of all, “the trivialization of the urban landscape.” There is at least one fast food place that those living in Paris can seemingly get behind, and that’s the ever-delicious Krispy Kreme. which was met with so much fanfare that there was a line around the block.

The doughnut shop swung open the doors to its newest location on Dec. 6 at 12 Pass. de la Canopée in Paris — an address previously occupied by a restaurant from chef Alain Ducasse — and was met by a line of some 500 people, according to The New York Times. The event, the paper noted, was complete with a red carpet, a DJ, and the brand’s signature doughnut mascot.

So why the fanfare? As The Times pointed out, much of it has to do with younger generations and social media driving a new love for American chains. As the teens and 20-somethings shared with the paper, content like Kylie Jenner eating a Krispy Kreme doughnut on TikTok and shows like The Simpsons, which they watched as kids to learn English, can be credited with hype for the opening.

Related: The Truth About Krispy Kreme's Hot Light

According to Alexandre Maizoue, Krispy Kreme's director general for France, the company has no plans to slow down its growth in France. Maizoue told the AFP, the company has invested more than $2 million into just this store, with plans to open hundreds of locations within the next five years. "I think we have some great years ahead of us," he said.

But just hours after this doughnut love fest, Krispy Kreme found itself in a bit of hot water, specifically for its aggressive marketing tactics. Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire took to Twitter to share his distaste for Krispy Kreme’s posters, which he said “littered” the streets.

“It’s a marketing practice from another time,” his tweet reads. “It is illegal, polluting, and costly for the community.” In a follow-up tweet, Grégoire told the company to “Prepare to get a big fine!” but something tells us they’ll happily pay it in full with all that ... dough ... they made on opening day.

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