‘Krusty Kreme’: Former Krispy Kreme worker goes to Walmart. Then he exposes the truth about the Krispy Kreme donuts
When you’re craving a Krispy Kreme donut and there isn’t a location nearby, some grocery stores carry them in designated areas.
Walmart, Publix, Stater Bros., Costco, Food Lion, RaceTrac, and Speedway are places to stop by for a sweet tooth fix, according to Yahoo. Because the company prides itself on making donuts ‘fresh off the line,’ the question arises: are all Krispy Kreme donuts baked fresh? A former Krispy Kreme employee warns viewers not to eat Walmart Krispy Kreme donuts after revealing a questionable best-by date printed on the box.
While inside a Walmart, TikTok creator Ian Lawrence (@i_am_naiwal) shares how ‘Krispy Kreme hasn’t changed one bit.’
“All right, y’all know I used to work at Krispy Kreme. The one I worked at is awful,” he says, standing in front of a rack of Krispy Kreme donuts, focusing on the sign that reads ‘delivered fresh daily from your local shop!’ in white font.
“So, ‘delivered fresh daily from your local shop,’ right?” he recites, without conviction. Then, he pulls out a box of assorted dozen chocolate and glazed donuts from the shelf. “What the [expletive] is the date on that?” the content creator asks, showing the 1/1/2025 best-by date printed in black ink. “Do not buy these [expletive] Krispy Kreme donuts.”
Krispy Kreme nightmare
From there, Lawrence recalls his experience working for the bakery company. “As someone who used to work there, do not drink their soda. They do not change those,” he warns. “This is the stickiest place you could work.” However, it doesn’t stop there. “There [were] roaches,” he says. “This isn’t slander. This is just my personal experience. I’m just gonna say that right now.”
Although every location is different, Mashed reported a video posted a decade ago from a North Carolina customer claiming the black dots climbing the machines were bugs. However, the donut shop denied these claims after investigating the store.
“[A professional pest control company] concluded that there were no signs of bugs anywhere in the shop, and we were able to determine that what is depicted in your video was in fact doughnut crumbs and not bugs,” a spokesperson said, per Mashed.
In the caption, he jokingly refers to the company as “Krusty Kreme.”
Viewers were appalled
The video accumulated over 32,000 views. Viewers were torn in the comments section, with many saying this ruined Krispy Kreme for them.
“No… don’t do this to me… I can’t lose Krispy Kreme,” one viewer pleaded.
“My eyes opened really wide when I saw that date,” another commented.
“[expletive] we lost another place to eat,” a third said.
“EWWWW HOW[?] did they mean the 11????” a fourth asked, referring to the date on the sticker.
Does Krispy Kreme make its donuts fresh?
According to its website, the company delivers its donuts fresh to grocery stores. Whether the date in the video was a mistake is unknown. On the other hand, their shops bake them throughout the day, depending on how busy they are.
Nevertheless, if you want a guaranteed fresh confection, you can visit one of their stores during Hot Light hours. Typically, hours are 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with donuts fresh off the line and ready to eat. Not only that, you may even receive a free Original Glazed—one per person, in-store or drive-thru. In September, Florida TikToker @mzdarvette demonstrated this by snagging a couple of these treats at her location for her and her daughter.
Since locations vary, you can download the app to track when the red light turns on. Also, feel free to call for more information.
@i_am_naiwal Krusty Kreme
♬ original sound – Naiwal
The Mary Sue reached out to Lawrence via email and TikTok comment, Krispy Kreme via press email, and Walmart via media contact form.
Update Nov. 7, 2025:
Lawrence told The Mary Sue he spotted these donuts at a Walmart in Lubbock Texas 4th and Frankford. Initially, he thought the confections were prepackaged until he read the sign, which, from previous experience wasn’t fresh.
“I chuckled to myself because there is only one Krispy Kreme in Lubbock which I’ve worked at only a few years ago and from my experience working there, there is nothing ‘fresh’ about that place,” he shared via email.
Because the shelf life of donuts are not long, he was surprised to see the date on the best by label.
“When I saw the best by date I was shocked. Typically the shelf life of a donut from Krispy Kreme is about a day. We were trained to throw all donuts out at the end of the day. So to see these donuts nearly 10 months past their date was hilarious to me based on prior experience working with them and just how genuinely unorganized that place is to work,” he said. “I was also concerned because sometimes people just want a donut and will over look that label. I hope it’s just a misprint on it otherwise they seriously have a biological weapon waiting to go off in front of the dairy department.”
Since his previous work experience with the Lubbock, Texas location is deep rooted, he would prefer to buy a regular Walmart donut as opposed to Krispy Kreme.
“I’d sooner buy a donut from the Walmart Bakery before I ever bought a Krispy Kreme donut there. If I wanted to risk getting sick I’d go to the source. I hope things have turned around there and I’m incredibly wrong but I doubt it,” Lawrence said.
But the freshness and the roaches were the tip of the iceberg of what he witnessed.
“My boss getting a haircut from his barber in the back, mold in the soda tube, people hooking up in the freezer, the donut machine erupting into flames,” he revealed.
In a nutshell, he recommended Walmart ditch the partnership with that Krispy Kreme store.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve worked there but with how deeply ingrained these things were into the local Krispy Kreme I have a hard time believing much has changed. Walmart should probably skip this partnership in Lubbock TX,” he advised.
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