KRISPY KREME Doughnut maker to close plant

The Krispy Kreme plant had opened earlier this year.
RAVENNA (AP) -- Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., which has blamed the nation's obsession with low-carb dieting for its financial woes, is closing a Northeast Ohio doughnut plant.
The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company announced Monday that it will close its $4.6 million plant in Ravenna, which cooked doughnuts for grocery and convenience stores. The plant opened last June and employs fewer than 75 people.
The closing is necessary because of too many doughnuts being made but not sold, Krispy Kreme said. The Ravenna factory, which can fry up to 14,400 doughy treats an hour, is set to close Oct. 16.
First quarterly loss
The company in May reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 2000. Then in July, the company said it was under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the company's repurchase of franchises and for a profit warning.
After hitting a high of $39.74 in March, shares fell as low as $11.56 in September. The company's stock closed Tuesday at $13.34, up 23 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Krispy Kreme spokeswoman Amy Hughes said there are no plans to reopen the 24,000-square-foot plant that was supposed to ultimately employ as many as 150 people.
Krispy Kreme hopes to place as many Ravenna plant employees as it can at area stores, Hughes said.
Ravenna Mayor Paul H. Jones said he estimates an annual loss of $36,000 in city taxes.
"This will only further exacerbate our sagging revenue problems," he said.