New York, NY—June 17, 2002—The New York Times recently ran a story about a local New York City McDonald’s operator, Irwin S. Kruger, who has begun making and serving bite-sized doughnuts he calls, McDonuts.
According to the Times, Kruger approached McDonald’s CEO Jack Greenberg with the idea at a conference in February. Greenberg gave the go-ahead, and soon hot doughnuts were rolling out of Kruger’s Eighth Avenue store at one dollar for a dozen.
For now, Kruger is only offering two varieties, powdered and cinnamon sugar, but he is testing other varieties like marshmallow and pumpkin.
A spokesman for McDonald’s, Walt Riker, told the Times that the company applauds Mr. Kruger’s initiative and is closely monitoring the success of the McDonuts. Riker was also quoted as saying that some of McDonald’s best-known items — the Big Mac, for example — were born in much the same way. “We’ve been very lucky in that some of the best ideas in McDonald’s history started at restaurants just like Irwin’s,” Mr. Riker said. “You never know.”
