Imagine you are a Krispy Kreme executive, tasked with working out how to sell more than the $1.7 billion worth of doughnuts that your company shipped last year, and maintain the decade-plus streak in revenue growth. New flavors, more stores, and marketing might help, but your dream partnership would involve getting the product in front of millions of already-hungry people ready to treat themselves.

That dream became a reality this week, after McDonald’s announced plans to sell Krispy Kreme’s famous glazed rings at all of the burger chain’s ~13,500 US locations by the end of 2026, supersizing their existing partnership and sending DNUT shares up a stunning 39% on the news. The deal follows other recent savory/sweet fast food collabs like Wendy’s/Cinnabon and Subway/Auntie Anne’s.

Double glazed

The rollout will require the doughnut-maker’s distribution to more than double to satisfy demand — and, in addition to reaching millions more sweet-toothed customers, the company intends to build on the ~6,800 third-party stores (like gas stations and grocery stores) that it already serves across America. Both are perfect examples of the chain’s “hub and spoke” model, which uses nucleated production sites (hubs) to make doughnuts that are delivered to nearby locations (spokes).

Down the hole: Krispy Kreme may be on a sugar-induced high now, but its shares have actually lagged over the past year, in part due to fears that the popularity of weight loss drugs like Ozempic may reduce the nation’s appetite.