If you like a sweet treat late at night then you may well be familiar with the work of Philadelphia-based Insomnia Cookies, the bakery specialist that serves late and was until recently majority owned by the king of sweet take-outs – Krispy Kreme.
And the universe of ‘Insomniacs’ certainly seems to be growing, with the bakery opening its 300th outlet this week – with bakeries across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K – and now serving the late-night bakery’s cookies and sweet products in Seattle for the first time.
Meantime, the company has pledged that this latest milestone is just another step in its designs to become nationwide.
Founded in 2003, Insomnia Cookies offers a wide variety of cookies, ice cream, and other sweets, which are also available for local delivery, with late-night delivery until 1 a.m. or later, and nationwide shipping.
By the end of the year, Insomnia Cookies has projected that it will open 55 new locations, exceeding the brand’s highest total new store openings in a calendar year.
And Insomnia Cookies will be marking its 300th bakery with a late-night grand opening event in Seattle, Washington on Saturday, September 28 at 8 PM. The new store, located in Seattle’s University District, comes in a year when Insomnia Cookies also debuted its global headquarters – the ‘Imagine What’s Possible Center’ (IWP) and Flagship Bakery, a three-story workplace within an innovation center and an expanded retail store.
It also expanded its portfolio to transit centers by opening in New York’s Penn Station and with an upcoming location set to open in Washington D.C.’s Union Station in the coming weeks.
The late-night bakery also expanded internationally last year, debuting in Canada and the U.K in the summer of 2023 and with further expansion planned for the fall of this year. Insomnia Cookies, backed by new financial backing from Verlinvest and Mistral Equity Partners after they acquired Krispy Kreme’s majority stake, plans to have opened over 1,800 bakeries in the United States alone in the next decade, the company said.
“Our first store opened in 2003, and as we celebrate our 21st birthday this October, I’m so grateful to our community of Insomniacs that has grown beyond my wildest dreams,” said Seth Berkowitz, CEO and founder, Insomnia Cookies.
Krispy Kreme Sells Majority Stake
In the summer, doughnut giant Krispy Kreme confirmed that it had sold its majority ownership stake of Insomnia Cookies to Verlinvest and Mistral Equity Partners, receiving $127.4 million for the sale and adding that it anticipates that it will receive an additional $45 million in the future as Insomnia Cookies refinances its inter-company debt.
It’s been a sweet deal. The price paid represents a total enterprise value of $350 million, which has doubled since Krispy Kreme acquired the bakery concept in 2018. In October 2023, the company said it was considering strategic alternatives for the business, understood to be because it wanted to focus on its core doughnut business.
“As we build a bigger and better Krispy Kreme, this transaction allows us to focus on our core strategy of producing, selling, and distributing fresh doughnuts daily while also further strengthening our balance sheet,” said Josh Charlesworth, president and CEO, Krispy Kreme at the time of the sale.
Krispy Kreme added that it intended to use the proceeds to further strengthen its fresh doughnut business and expand availability, as well as pay down debt. It will continue to hold an approximate 34% share in Insomnia Cookies as a minority shareholder.
Insomnia Cookies expanded beyond the United States in summer 2023 when it opened outlets in Canada and the U.K. in the Greater Toronto Area and Manchester. It now has three British outlets, all in Manchester, plus a first Sheffield store set to open in October.
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