Sweet Jesus! A massive lineup for Krispy Kreme doughnuts in southern Ontario is leaving many Canadians glazed and confused.
With the province under a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears some people are willing to do whatever it takes to get out of the house.
Brandon Vincent is one of those people. The RBC mortgage adviser admits he’s a sucker for sweets and the long line in Mississauga drew him in.
“I’m a doughnut guy,” Vincent told HuffPost Canada. “Tim Hortons just doesn’t cut it.”
At first, he thought the crowds were for a car show. But as drone footage (watch video above) shows, those vehicles were lining up for one thing: sweet, sugary fried goodness.
“The last few weeks I’ve been driving by and the whole parking lot has been absolutely rammed,” Vincent revealed. “They use pylons to make lines throughout the entire parking lot.”
Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937, but the chain didn’t come to Canada until it opened its Mississauga location in 2001. There were long lines then, but nothing like this.
“The line is like that all day, every single day,” Vincent said, adding some in line drove from as far away as Windsor and Ottawa.
A parking lot that normally serves multiple big box stores has morphed into a waiting area for desserts. Security guards are helping direct traffic as hundreds of people line up every day.
“It’s cool to see everyone waiting in line, doing the same thing,” Vincent said.
“I bring some home, everybody’s happy.”
- Brandon Vincent, Krispy Kreme customer
The 27-year-old admits he waited in that queue twice in the past week. The first time he waited two hours for 10 boxes. When he went on Easter Sunday, he sat in his car for three hours and received five boxes.
Vincent didn’t mind waiting, especially if it means getting out of the house.
“It’s just something to do. You’re waiting in your car, bump some music, chill, do your thing,” he said.
“I bring some home, everybody’s happy.”
As the line shows, he’s not alone. Others who waited in line told HuffPost they wanted to grab a sweet little something for their family because everyone could use a pick-me-up right about now.
“It seems like the world’s ending so everyone wants to enjoy some nice treats,” Vincent said jokingly. “We might as well wait in line, grab some doughnuts.”
But as the Twitter posts below show, not everyone gets it.
Like many other places still open during the pandemic, Krispy Kreme is operating on reduced hours and drive-thru only as Ontario is under a state of emergency.
Long lines have been reported at other locations, too, including Delta, B.C.
“There’s just literally nothing else to do, so might as well wait for some doughnuts,” one man who waited in line for nearly an hour told Global BC earlier this month.
To make the fight against COVID-19 a bit sweeter, the chain is offering free original glazed doughnuts to health-care workers on the front lines while supplies last.
“We’ve experienced such a positive response from our communities that some stores have even run out of doughnuts,” Krispy Kreme wrote on its website.
Now for the real question: Were the doughnuts worth waiting in line for hours?
“To be honest, it really was,” Vincent said.