HE is a young entrepreneur who spotted a gap in the market for the world's most sought after donuts to be delivered straight to sweet-toothed people living in the west of Scotland.

 

But Mark Dorricott's donut dream has come crashing to a not so sugar-coated end after American corporate giant Krispy Kreme took exception to him cashing in on their name.

The 24-year-old, of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, set up Donuts to Your Door last month after deciding a lack of outlets in the west should not stop people there sampling the popular products.

After some wranglings over branding, he eventually came to an agreement with Krispy Kreme and has been delivering up to 3,600 donuts a week.

But a recent row over the promotion of Donuts to Your Door on a consumer deal website has led to the bakery giant blocking his orders.

Mr Dorricott, who has launched a petition calling for the firm to overturn the decision, said: "The way it worked was that we were calling up the day before and ordering around 50 boxes for collection.

"The store doesn't stock that many so that's why we have to call the day before and place a bulk order.

"It was all going really well and then I was contacted by Wowcher about possibly offering some kind of deal with them, but they wanted to use the Krispy Kreme name and I told them I would need to check if that was okay.

"I called my contact there and asked if it would be okay and was told no, so then I said I would just use the word donut instead and was told 'you can do that if you want, but we won't be allowing you to place the orders anyway'.

"Now my only option is to go to the store and pick up the boxes as a regular customer, but the store doesn't stock anywhere near enough, so they've basically told me I can't do it anymore."

The donuts caused a frenzy when they were first introduced to Scotland two years ago, with crowds gathering overnight and major traffic jams outside the store at Edinburgh's Hermiston Gait causing chaos.

While demand for the doughy delights has ebbed slightly, the store is still regularly queued out, including at their drive-through where vehicles still regularly spill out on to the main road causing a jam.

But despite the demand, the company has never ventured west and Mr Dorricott felt he offered them a viable solution to tap into the market there.

He said: "There's a massive market for these products in the West of Scotland and now both myself and Krispy Kreme are missing out.

"I know they're very protective of their brand - and for good reason - but I can't understand why they are not supportive of this idea, especially when it was putting money in their tills.

"I'm really disappointed and I know a lot of my customers are too, it's a real shame.

"This was a new venture for me and I was really excited about it and it's all over in a few weeks."

Mr Dorricott added that he believes Krispy Kreme may be looking at setting up their own delivery service, but the company would not confirm this.

The entrepreneur said: "At the end of the day, they're a business and they want to make money so I don't blame them for that. I just wanted to do it while there was a gap in the market for as long as I could."

A spokeswoman for Krispy Kreme said: "Krispy Kreme is dedicated to ensuring our guests enjoy only the freshest doughnuts. We make and hand-finish each and every doughnut in store, fresh every day.

"Donuts to Your Door is in no way affiliated to or endorsed by Krispy Kreme UK. We cannot support re-sale of Krispy Kreme doughnuts where we aren't able to guarantee the freshness and integrity of our product."