Cindy Perry figured the biggest prize would be buried the deepest at a fund-raiser Krispy Kreme held yesterday outside its soon-to-open store in Central Park.
So the Riverview Elementary School PTO parliamentarian pushed her bright red shovel into a sandbox filled with black plastic Krispy Kreme coffee mugs and started to dig.
And dig.
And dig.
Finally, Darlene Grimm, PTO secretary, couldn't stand it any longer.
"Just grab the one by your foot!" she cried.
Perry followed her suggestion and found what she was looking for: a certificate for $2,000 worth of Krispy Kreme partnership cards, which was the day's biggest prize. Each card sells for $10, and entitles users to a free dozen glazed doughnuts with the purchase of a dozen of their choice. The card can be used up to 10 times.
Perry said Riverview, in Spotsylvania County, will sell its cards and use the proceeds to fund a number of PTO projects.
"Oh, my gosh! Our kids are going to flip!" she said.
Perry's group was one of about 40 Fredericksburg area nonprofit organizations invited to the Dig for Dollars fund-raiser that Krispy Kreme held outside the nearly completed building in Central Park. The store is slated to open in March.
"It's a fun way to get the community together rather than at a regular groundbreaking," said Becky Shell, who handles new store openings for the chain.
Yesterday's event was a bright spot for 67-year-old Krispy Kreme, which is experiencing dark days. The company is facing allegations that it padded sales. Last week, it restated its earnings for fiscal 2004. The new report trimmed profits by 8.6 percent and sent its stock tumbling.
"I think [yesterday's event] puts the proper emphasis on the type of company they've been all along," said Sherry L. Jarrell, a Wake Forest University management professor who follows the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company.
"They've been doing this type of partnering with the community for decades. It's not something they came up with as a photo op just to try to distract the press from other issues," she said.
The company last week said in a prepared statement that the changes in its bottom line place it in potential default of a $150 million credit line.
Jarrell, however, is hopeful that Krispy Kreme will recover.
"They have a good product. That's not going away," she said. "Whatever errors they've made--and I don't have any inside knowledge--they've identified."
Krispy Kreme's recent problems have forced it to close some locations, but regional marketing manager Jeff Bacon said he is excited about the prospects for the new Fredericksburg store.
Customers have long asked the company to open one here so they won't have to drive to Alexandria or Richmond to buy its signature glazed doughnuts right off the assembly line, he said.
The company has been selling its products to area grocery stores, convenience stores and hospitals for years. They're shipped here from Krispy Kreme commissaries in Ashland and Lorton, and from its Alexandria store.
"We may look at putting a wholesale operation here," Bacon said.
Krispy Kreme also is well known locally for its fund-raising program, which gives churches, schools and nonprofit groups a break on its products. Last year alone, churches, schools and other nonprofits nationwide raised $47 million selling Krispy Kreme products, Shell said.
The company came up with its Dig for Dollars program about a year ago to help launch its new stores. It allows groups to start fund raising before the stores open, Shell said.
Yesterday, Krispy Kreme gave away a total of $15,000 in partnership cards. Every group that participated yesterday walked away with a handful.
Carol Thomas Horton, who won the $1,000 second prize for The King's Academy Christian School in Stafford County, said the new school will probably use the proceeds from selling the partnership cards to buy educational software and other equipment.
"This will be a great asset to our school," she said.
To reach CATHY JETT: 540/374-5407 cjett@freelancestar.com