20 more stores in four years for doughnut chain
Troubled US doughnut brand Krispy Kreme is sticking by its UK expansion plans, with a target of 20 more stores in the next four years. The company's shares fell 11 per cent in New York on Monday after the company unveiled a 79 per cent slump in third-quarter profits, reflecting slower sales and the cost of store closures.

However, the UK operation insists it is still on the acquisition trail and has restated its target of 25 UK stores by 2008. Krispy Kreme landed in the UK with a Harrods concession in October last year. Its first UK standalone opened in May at Enfield in Middlesex, followed by a kiosk at Canary Wharf in July and an outlet at Watford in October. On December 1, Krispy Kreme will open on the upper level at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent.

Openings are already planned for the first quarter of next year, with the first kiosk at a central London railway station and a full factory drive-thru store on the A3 at New Malden in Surrey. The company is planning to expand further into the UK next year and is in negotiations for sites in Milton Keynes, Birmingham and Manchester.

Colliers CRE and Sandzer are property advisers to Krispy Kreme.

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