Krispy Kreme Begins Vaccine Mandates; Employee Prepares to be Terminated

A Krispy Kreme store sells the most awaited "Ghostbuster Donuts" in New York, Sept 29. Daksha Devnani/Epoch Times

The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation in North Carolina has joined the ranks of companies implementing vaccine mandates for its employers.

In September, the company said in a press release that “certain employees and contractors” must get the COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 30 or be terminated.

“Since when does a company built on sugar get to dictate the health care decisions of its employees?” John Richardson, an information technology employee with Krispy Kreme, told The Epoch Times.

“Krispy Kreme is only doing this with the corporate employees,” Richardson said. “They aren’t making any of the shop employees get vaccinated.”

There are 363 shops in the United States.

In a letter to CEO Mike Tattersfield, Richardson said the company isn’t requiring shop employees to get vaccinated because “people would leave.”

“For you to say this is for the health of the workers is such total and utter bologna, and the scary thing is Krispy Kreme probably already knows that,” Richardson said. “If this was about the health of your workers, then the ones you should care most about are the ones who are on the frontlines in the shops interacting with the public. Why didn’t you include them?”

If it were to mandate vaccines for shop employees, the company would lose money, Richardson said.

“If the mandate is not good for everyone, then why is it good for anyone?” Richardson asked. “Shame on Krispy Kreme and the leaders that thought this was a good idea and had the power to enact it. It is needlessly jeopardizing the lives of your employees and their families for a virus that is 99 percent survivable by almost all of the population.”

Richardson said Tattersfield has not responded to his request to end the mandate.

‘They Are Going To Have To Fire Me’

Richardson has chosen not to file for religious or medical exemption because he said he shouldn’t have to file for an exemption for a mandate the company doesn’t have the right to demand.

“They are going to have to fire me,” Richardson said, which is unfortunate, he added, because he cares about his job.

“I’ve loved Krispy Kreme from an early age,” he said. “My dad grew up here in Winston-Salem where the company was born. It really is one of those staple companies that we are very proud of.”

It’s a decision he brought before his family, he said.

“I sat them around and said, ‘Here’s the deal: I am getting ready to go through a fight,’” he said. “I’ve never before been fired for performance reasons, and for me to lose a job because I won’t put an unknown substance in my arm? It’s insanity.”

Vaccination Campaign

When vaccinations for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus became available, Krispy Kreme began a “vaccination campaign” in March to give free doughnuts to those who had gotten the shot.

By June, the company said it had given 1.5 million doughnuts to the vaccinated.

To celebrate this, the company allowed for all customers to get one free doughnut on what the company called National Doughnut Day, while the vaccinated could get two free doughnuts, according to a company press release.

‘More Risk Than Reward’

When the vaccine mandate for corporate employees was formally announced in what the company called its “Doughnut Break” meeting in September, Richardson said they were told there would be no provision for testing or natural immunity and no severance pay for those who were terminated for not getting vaccinated.

“Krispy Kreme says it respects all opinions,” Richardson said. “The company said the decision to take this vaccine is a private endeavor. Now, that’s totally reversed. Not only are they not respecting people and what their decision is, but they are also forcing this vaccine.”

There’s more risk than reward, Richardson said, on taking the vaccine.

“I really did want [the vaccines] to work,” he said. “They’re not, though, and it’s so evident for anyone willing to look at the data and not repeat the public health agency’s ‘safe and effective’ line without thinking about it.”

Richardson cited the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System’s data that he said shows more people have died from the COVID-19 vaccine than all other vaccines combined over 30 years, while in the first week of October 2021, there were 93 percent more cases and 97 percent more deaths than in the first week of October 2020 when there was no vaccine available, according to data he linked to the World Health Organization.

“How does this make sense if these vaccines are working?” Richardson asked. “There is obviously something wrong, and Krispy Kreme is going to be on the wrong side of this when the dust settles.”

Richardson said the mandate doesn’t fit with the legacy of Krispy Kreme, and though he proclaims the company makes the best doughnut, “it becomes a lot less sweet when you see the direction they are going in.”

Krispy Kreme didn’t respond immediately to questions about its policy.