Krispy Kreme plans Baltic debut with 30-store European franchise rollout

Krispy Kreme has signed a franchise agreement to enter Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with the first stores due by the end of 2026. The Baltic move is part of a 30-store European rollout, a scale that turns a fresh market entry into a real bet on how far a familiar coffee-and-doughnut format can travel in a region where branded café concepts are still finding room to grow.

The company is leaning on the same playbook it has used in other markets, a more capital-light model in which franchisees supply the investment and run the locations day to day. That matters for a chain founded in North Carolina in 1937, because it lets Krispy Kreme push beyond its home market without carrying the full cost of each new café. By March 2025, the company said it operated 2,000 stores and 15,500 points of access across 40 global markets, a footprint that shows how much of its growth story now depends on partnerships rather than company-owned expansion.

The numbers behind the brand underline why the Baltics matter. Krispy Kreme reported 2024 net revenues of $1.66 billion. International company-owned markets rose 6% year on year to $519 million, while US sales fell 4% to $1 billion. That split helps explain the company’s appetite for franchise-led international growth, especially in places where convenience, recognition and a simple grab-and-go format can still carve out a coffee occasion alongside local bakeries and café chains.

The Baltics are not Krispy Kreme’s only recent European test. The company entered France in December 2023 and had grown there to 19 stores by mid-2025, while partner Columbus Café & Co planned to add 50 more points of access through a supermarket partnership. In April 2026, Krispy Kreme said it would open its first Netherlands store in late 2026 with Jafa Holding BV and expected about 30 Dutch locations over five years. The company has also said it aims to open at least 100 new global locations and enter three to four new international markets in 2026.

Taken together, the Baltic debut says as much about coffee culture as it does about doughnuts. Krispy Kreme is treating Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as part of a wider European map for familiar names, beverage traffic and impulse stops, the kind of retail coffee slot that can still reward a brand when the format feels convenient, not complicated.