CHARLOTTE, N.C. Krispy Kreme makes kosher eating sweeter

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For those who keep kosher, a taste of heaven just got sweeter: Krispy Kreme doughnuts baked and served at the store in Matthews, N.C., are now prepared in keeping with strict standards of Jewish dietary law.
That might not resonate with the Southern Baptist trucker drawn to a glazed doughnut and hot cup of coffee at 3 in the morning. But to many Jews, it means there is a new place to go for jelly-filled bliss. And to others, the fact that Krispy Kreme on East Independence Boulevard now keeps kosher stands as another sign that the region grows richer and more diverse by the day.
Doughnuts, said Rabbi Mordechai Roizman of Charlotte, never tasted so fine.
"We're into eating well, into elevating the physical to a higher spiritual level," Rabbi Roizman said, putting the meaning of keeping kosher into stark terms: "Eating something that is not kosher is ingesting spiritual poison."
Overseeing operations
Rabbi Roizman, 34, is the man behind the kosher doughnuts. After moving from Jerusalem with his family two years ago to lead the Charlotte Torah Center, he approached the Krispy Kreme folks a few months back. He offered to oversee conversion of the Matthews store.
Right now, Rabbi Roizman's only pay is enough free doughnuts for the Torah Center's programs. Hanukkah, he said, is a huge doughnut holiday in Israel.
The concept isn't foreign to the Winston-Salem, N.C., company -- a number of its 351 stores in the United States, Australia, Canada, England and Mexico already keep kosher. Company representative Robin Pfefferkorn said the Orthodox rabbi's offer to make the Matthews store one of the first of Krispy Kreme's 27 Carolinas locations to join the fold was too good to pass up.
That explains why Rabbi Roizman has become a regular at the store -- kibitzing with manager Everett Jordan, munching on a hot one and inspecting the equipment, ingredients and staff procedures with a keen kosher eye.
Not to worry: Even Krispy Kreme lovers with the most discriminating palates won't be able to taste the difference.. Krispy Kreme was already using kosher ingredients made at the company plant in Winston-Salem, including powdered oil used in the cooking process.
But to those who keep kosher, Rabbi Roizman's 10-minute unannounced visit every few weeks means they can eat that New York cheesecake-style doughnut with a clean conscience, if a tad too many calories.
Rabbi's tasks
Although knowing that Jordan is glad to stick to the plan, Rabbi Roizman verifies that all ingredients being used in Krispy Kreme products are kosher -- including fillings in the new flavor-of-the-month offerings.
Rabbi Roizman also checks to make sure kosher and nonkosher items are kept apart. He's heard that in other places, employees warmed up burritos for lunch in a toaster meant only for kosher foods. He also confirms on each visit that employees are washing their hands. You can't have a 17-year-old part-timer polishing off a Big Mac before heading back to the hot doughnut line.
"They have to do that [wash their hands] anyway," Jordan notes.
Much of what it takes to keep kosher doesn't apply to a Krispy Kreme. No need to worry about avoiding pork, shrimp and lobster, unless some way-out-there doughnut executive decides to use it as filling. And no need to ask the kid at the counter if animals with split hooves that chew their cuds were slaughtered in accordance to biblical law.
Message to customers
The moral of the kosher Krispy Kreme story, then: A company that is as much a part of the Carolinas as barbecue and NASCAR respects the spiritual needs of a small group of prospective customers enough to do something about it.
"It's about spiritual cleanliness as opposed to physical cleanliness," Rabbi Roizman said. "When the Torah says 'I'm clean,' it means spiritually we're more concerned about our souls than our bodies."