April 29th, 2024, Lesley Simeon
McDonald’s will sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts across all its US outlets by the end of 2026. The rollout, which will start in the latter half of this year, is an expansion of the 2022 partnership between the two chains when they first trialed selling Krispy Kreme’s doughnuts at select McDonald’s outlets. Krispy Kreme’s CEO says the demand for its doughnuts from McDonald’s customers during the initial run ‘exceeded expectations’.
We dive into data from YouGov BrandIndex, a platform that tracks and measures brand health and consumer perceptions to see what brand perception and chatter around McDonald’s has been like among Krispy Kreme’s customers in recent years. To do so, we look at Consideration, Satisfaction, Current Customer and WOM Exposure scores since 2022 among Krispy Kreme customers, for McDonald’s.
Consideration: When you are in the market next to purchase food or drink, from which of the following would you consider purchasing? (Delivered as a %)
Current Customer: Have you purchased food or drink from any of the following restaurant chains in the past 30 days? (Delivered as a %)
Satisfaction: Of which of the following restaurant chains would you say that you are a satisfied/dissatisfied customer? (Delivered as a net score)
Word of Mouth Exposure: Which of the following restaurant chains have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks (whether in -person, online or through social media)? (Delivered as %)
Over the course of our observation period, McDonald’s Consideration score among Krispy Kreme’s customers grew eight percentage points, going from 42% in January 2022 to 50% in April 2024. The score grew consistently from January 2022 until April 2023 when it slumped slightly but picked up July 2023 onwards. July 2023 is also when McDonald’s trimmed its McCafé bakery lineup, phasing out offerings like apple fritter, blueberry muffin, and cinnamon roll - roughly nine months after it’s partnership with Krispy Kreme began.
Looking at McDonald’s Satisfaction score among Krispy Kreme’s customers, the score has improved more than ten points, from a net score of 26 to 37 across our observation period. Like Consideration, McDonald’s Satisfaction score among Krispy Kreme’s customers also steadily improved from July 2023 onwards. Earlier in 2023, McDonald’s started selling Krispy Kreme donuts at 160 of its locations, up from just nine at the beginning of the trial.
Similarly, McDonald’s Current Customer score among Krispy Kreme’s customers grew from 49% in January 2022 to a peak of 58% in early April 2023 (six months after the partnership between the QSR brands was first announced and trialed). It has since dipped marginally to 55% in April 2024.
Finally, McDonald’s Word of Mouth Exposure score among Krispy Kreme’s current customers went from 31% in January 2022, to 40% in April 2024.
How could the expanded McDonald's and Krispy Kreme partnership impact competition?
We now turn to YouGov Profiles data to see which other restaurants both the brands’ respective customers have patronized recently.
Data from Profiles, which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioral consumer metrics, reveals that Krispy Kreme’s current customers (who aren’t already customers of McDonald’s) are most likely to have purchased from Chick-fil-A (25%) and Burger King (25%) in the past 30 days, followed by Wendy’s (19%) and Taco Bell (18%).
As for McDonald’s current customers who aren’t already customers of Krispy Kreme, Starbucks is the top choice (24%), followed by Domino’s (20%), Dunkin (18%) and Pizza Hut (17%).
The McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme partnership has the potential to shake things up in the quick service restaurant (QSR) space. With Krispy Kreme’s offerings bringing sweetness to McDonald’s menu, it also holds the promise of increasing competition for breakfast offerings across the QSR industry.
Discover more FMCG content here
Want to run your own research? Run a survey now
Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 26 million+ members. Speak with us today.
Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. McDonald’s Consideration score is based of the question: When you are in the market next to purchase food or drink, from which of the following would you consider purchasing? and delivered as a percentage. It’s Current Customer score is based on the question: Have you purchased food or drink from any of the following restaurant chains in the past 30 days? and delivered as a percentage. It’s Satisfaction score is based on the question: Of which of the following restaurant chains would you say that you are a satisfied/dissatisfied customer? and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. It’s WOM Exposure score is based on the question: Which of the following restaurant chains have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks (whether in -person, online or through social media)? and delivered as a percentage. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 513 US adults between January 2022 and April 2024. Figures are based on a 52-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for the US is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels