A Minnesota college student recently came up with a clever — and tasty — way to ensure that he graduates debt-free while also satisfying the Krispy Kreme cravings of his fellow community members.
Since the time he was young, Jayson Gonzalez has been a major fan of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, though there hasn’t been a single store in his state for 11 years, Today reports.
“We’d used to always go, especially when I was little,” Gonzalez, 21, recalled to the outlet. “There’s no other doughnut that compares. The glaze, the taste, everything about it is just delicious.”
It wasn’t until last April when the Champlin native was preparing to coach his soccer team at a tournament in Iowa that he came up with an idea to combine his love for the dessert company with his desire to make money for college.
“Me being a Krispy Kreme fanatic, I knew there was gonna be a Krispy Kreme in Iowa, so I listed a Facebook post on the marketplace saying, ‘Hey, if you want some Krispy Kremes, let me know,'” Gonzalez said.
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And so began Gonzalez’s Krispy Kreme doughnut delivery business.
Each weekend, the Metropolitan State University student would drive his Ford Focus four hours and 270 miles to the Krispy Kreme in Iowa, purchase 100, 12-count boxes of doughnuts, and then travel back to his home state and resell them back to the eagerly-awaiting Minnesotians.
Gonzalez charged his customers anywhere between $17 to $20 per box for the sweet treats, with some paying $100 each time he made the lengthy trip, the Pioneer Press reports. He soon became known as the “Donut Guy.”
Saturday would’ve marked his 20th consecutive drive for doughnuts — but before he could complete the achievement, Krispy Kreme put an end to his entrepreneurial efforts.
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In a Facebook post on his Krispy Kreme Run Minnesota page Thursday, Gonzalez explained that he received a call from the Nebraska location, who told him “to shut down operations” because his sales were creating a liability for their company.
“I know they told one of the big managers in Nebraska directly, and he called me,” he told the Pioneer Press of the North-Carolina based company. “He said corporate told him to ‘cease’ and ‘desist.'”
The pushback from Krispy Kreme led many of Gonzalez’s customers to express their disappointment on Facebook.
“A lot of customers were pretty upset and I don’t blame them!” he told Today. “I was pretty upset too.”
“Scrolling through all the comments has definitely been pretty upsetting with how frustrated everyone is,” Gonzalez added to the Pioneer Press.
However, by Monday, Krispy Kreme issued a statement to Business Insider announcing that they had reversed their decision and would fully support Gonzalez working as an independent contractor.
“Today, we reached out to Jayson to express our appreciation for his love of Krispy Kreme and admiration for his entrepreneurial spirit,” a spokesperson for the company said. “We are going to help him achieve his goals, which include being debt-free when he graduates in 2021, in part by selling Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Our intent regarding the temporary stoppage of him selling doughnuts was to ensure product quality and regulatory compliance to protect both Jayson and Krispy Kreme.”
“Our main concern is that the doughnuts Jayson sells maintain our high product quality standards, given the distance and manner in which he is transporting and distributing them,” the spokesperson continued. “So, we are happy to work with Jayson as an independent operator to ensure consistent delivery of our high-quality doughnuts to our fans in Minnesota.”
“We wish Jayson great success and we’re thrilled to help him achieve it by donating 500 dozen doughnuts when he re-starts his business,” the spokesperson added.
A rep for Krispy Kreme did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
With the green light to purchase and deliver doughnuts, Gonzalez said he looks forward to continuing his entrepreneurial efforts through graduation, while also bringing a smile to people’s faces.
The college student has also created a GoFundMe to raise money for a new car so he can travel safely and transport 200-300 dozens of doughnuts, as opposed to 110 dozens, back to Minnesota.
“I can fully operate as an independent operator and start doing what I love to do, [which] is bringing back doughnuts and making people happy again,” Gonzalez told Today.
“This never would have happened, or have been able to continue, without everyone’s help,” he added on Facebook. “The goal is to continue to do it until I graduate and hopefully pass it down to someone else that is in my position. It’s one of the first times in my life where it’s not just myself believing in me and my ideas. It’s an incredible feeling, so thank you.”
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