Krispy Kreme — Restaurant in Clive

I debated on whether to rate this location on the staff, the manager, or the experience. Wildly different. Friends from northern Minnesota drove 10 hours to pick up 12,000 donuts for a fundraiser. Planned WAY in advance. Pick up time was 10am. There were maybe 1000 ready when we arrived. There is a very high turnover rate at this location. 2 girls were to complete this order. One had to leave a few hours in due to a family death. That left Ivy alone to finish 11k donuts. She had been there 14 hours, I believe. She was very nice, apologies, working non-stop to finish. Lonnie came in to help. Then Tyler from another store. Then Ivys boyfriend, Dennis. And my two friends from Minnesota. And me. 4 volunteers not getting paid, to make thousands of donuts. That we were purchasing. It was Lonnie and Ivys day off. And Tyler had to go back to her store after we were done to prepare it for the next day. We finished at 830pm. So I have to give the staff 5 stars. A+ for effort. Were there a few cracks in the armor? Of course there were, and I am not surprised. As Ivy neared 24 hours of work she was exhausted. She tried to keep a smile on and be professional, but one disaster after another kept happening. She just kept rising to meet them and focus on doing the job. The same with Lonnie. If I was a customer in and out for my order, I wouldn't have thought anything. But for 10 hours I worked side by side with them, and they were exhausted, even if they tried to hide it. Management? I don't think I can give him a fair rating. I never saw him. I found out at 6pm, he had been there the whole time. He didn't come say thank you for your business, we appreciate you driving 10 hours one way to purchase 12,000 donuts. Or sorry we had so many staffing issues, normally we don't ask our customers to make, fill, load on the trays, box up, bag up, label and load their own order. Well, maybe they ask them to load. That seems fair. After 10 hours non stop we had not eaten or drank anything. We were not offered a bottle of water, or would you like to order from some place,or take a break and get some dinner, or hey, here's a donut, thx for completing your entire order yourself. As things wound down and Ivy finally left for home, (along with Dennis who is also not an employee but busted tail today helping us be makeshift donut makers), we realized we were short 7 dozen Kreme donuts. My friend from Minnesota finally found the manager in the back and let him know we still needed the rest of our order. He asked Where is Ivy, and then walked away. We waited another 10 minutes or so and saw him at the back of the huge machine that makes the magic happen, and I tapped on the window. He mouthed that he was getting our order. About 20 minutes later he carried out the rest of our order. To his credit, he did a nice job late in the day, was very nice and polite to us when he handed the donuts over, but he spoke very little and as soon as we walked out, he left also. I dont know the inside scoop. The office politics. The rest of the story. I know they literally have no staff and that is why the lobby is always closed. I know the staff I encountered, were doing all they could to keep up. The beverage cooler was in disarray. The bathrooms were dirty. But I sure dont know how any one of them could have found the time or the strength to take those on, their entire focus was getting customers taken care of. Our experience, easily 1 star or below. Unfortunately, my friends had no options to do anything differently. 100+ volunteers were showing up at 8am the next day to help deliver 12,000 donuts. They had a 10 hour drive, in a 26 foot uhaul, and didn't get on the road until 830 pm. We couldn't stop for a dinner break, or to go get drinks somewhere. In the end, the job was completed. A huge shout out to Ivy, Dennis, Lonnie, Tyler, you all were rockstars. And working at a donut shop has been forever removed from my list of careers...

I freely admit, I've tried most of the donuts that Krispy Kreme has to offer. But you simply can't top the decadent feel of a fresh, hot glazed donut. When we moved to town I used to cruise by on my way to anywhere, just to check if the hot sign was on. Then they got an app called the Hot Light that tells you when the hot light is on. I removed the app after it had been a year since it said the light was on. I stopped cruising by when I found they seldom have the light on even when they are making donuts. The other day I stopped in with my brother. The hot light was not on, but he had a Groupon to use. When we walked in I noticed that they were making them hot and fresh and the conveyor was full of amazing goodness. I knew what I wanted and asked for a dozen hot, fresh donuts. The person proceeded to fill my box with a dozen right out of the display case. I said, "I'd prefer the hot ones." She said, "they're all hot, they were made today." They were NOT hot. They were not even warm, tepid, or any other word even close to hot. Had my brother not already paid for this Groupon and known it was expiring, I'd have come back another day in hopes of avoiding the ice queen. Clearly she had no care for customers, no idea what hot is or else she had no idea what words were coming out of both her and my mouths. In any case, she should not be working there. But given that they seldom turn on the light, even when they are hot, and now apparently refuse to serve you what you want if they are hot, I suppose there's no need to expect they'll ever update the status on the app or rise to any level of good service. I'd rather go anywhere else for a donut where they will at least not LIE to my face than this establishment. Cold and made this morning is nothing near HOT...so be prepared to either have it out...or get...

Poor food handling practices: stopped in late morning on Sat 3/5 with friends for a coffee. Young woman at the register helped us - I asked for a donut. She proceeded to go to the case and pick up the donut with her hands & did not use a tissue. I pointed out to her that she cannot handle food after handling money and her response was "I'm wearing gloves". Since the gloves were used to handle money, they are certainly not clean and I tried to explain that to her and asked her to please use a tissue. Another employee, a young man, asked what difference it makes since he "handles donuts with his bare hands all the time!'. I'm not sure what food service training these employees have had but it appears that they need a refresher. Careless food handling practices are a great way to get a nasty stomach virus or worse. I threw the donut I bought in the trash as I left. God knows if they will do this in front of customers, I can't imagine what happens...