By Darren Fishell, Bangor Daily News
BANGOR, Maine — Bangor’s high on the list for Krispy Kreme franchisee Cort Mendez, who recently won the right to expand the doughnut chain into Maine and New Hampshire.
“Bangor is much more of a when than an if,” Mendez said in a telephone interview Monday.
Mendez, who recently sold 10 Five Guys franchises in New Hampshire, said he’s heard that Bangor would be a good market from his former colleagues at the burger chain that recently came to the Queen City.
“The subject has come up countless times. It would be very surprising to me that the decision would be made not to go to Bangor,” Mendez said.
Mendez is coming to Maine on Tuesday to look at a few locations, he said, for the rollout that would see the first location open in about one year, with other locations rolling out in years to follow.
Mendez said he’d likely put another store in Portland or South Portland. A third, he said, is a little more uncertain, naming Augusta, Biddeford and Brunswick as possible sites. He’s also looking at a location in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire.
“I am in the very, very early stages of site selection and so I wouldn’t rule anything out at this point,” he said.
Krispy Kreme on Monday announced the new franchise agreements with Mendez’s company, NH Glazed LLC, for three stores in Maine and four in New Hampshire during the next several years.
His franchises of the publicly traded North Carolina-based doughnut chain would be the first standalone stores in New England. There is a location inside of the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, he said.
The company has more than 1,000 locations in 24 countries, according to its website.
A new hole in Maine’s doughnut franchise market opened in November, when Tim Hortons closed many of its franchises in the state.
This story appears through a partnership with the Bangor Daily News.