Chattanoogan: Iconic Krispy Kreme Neon Sign Originated In Chattanooga

Spotting an illuminated HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW neon sign at any Krispy Kreme location invariably puts a smile on a face, makes the heart skip a beat, evokes screams from kids of all ages, and often results in a car pulling in for a dozen (or more) of Krispy Kreme's famous, freshly made hot glazed doughnuts.

Not many people know that the iconic HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW sign, one of the most ingenious marketing tools in American business history, was born – and first appeared – in Chattanooga. The inventor was Bob Glidden, a then-31-year-old general manager of the Krispy Kreme on Brainerd Road. During a phone interview, Mr. Glidden, recently retired from a 45-year career with the company and living in Mobile, Ala., told the story of how the famous sign came about, along with his concept of baffling production output to equal demand.

Mr. Glidden, a Miami, Fla., native, started with the company in 1971 and ended up relocating around ten times. He first arrived in Chattanooga in 1977. After that, he was assigned to Richmond, Va., Knoxville, and Richmond again. In 1982, he was offered the position of general manager of the Chattanooga location. “That's when I moved back to Chattanooga and put the sign up,” Mr. Glidden said.

“I came up with a sign because I was trying to build the business,” Mr. Glidden continued. “If you’ve been to the Brainerd Road store, then you know you’re facing what used to be Eastgate Mall at the time. There was a traffic light right there with the people that were coming out of Eastgate Mall every couple minutes, and they’d be stopped right there in front of the store at the red traffic light waiting for it to change. So I had a captive audience for two or three minutes because of the red light.”

Mr. Glidden got his inspiration from a neon sign that used to appear in the windows of Wendy's restaurants. “They used to have a blue neon sign that said 'Frostys' on it, if you remember that far back,” Mr. Glidden explained. “I said if I can prove that I can build my business with that, then maybe they’d let me spend money on a red neon sign.” Krispy Kreme corporate, however, rejected the request for money for a neon sign. “At that time, I was a regular manager and if you wanted to do something you had to send in an expenditure request. And at that time to make a neon sign would have been pretty costly. I had to prove that the concept and the idea would work,” said Mr. Glidden.

So using his own money, Mr. Glidden went across the street to the JC Penny store at Eastgate and purchased a 3 feet by 5 feet white spring-loaded window shade. Mr. Glidden said, “I then had a painter paint HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW in big red block lettering on the shade. When we were running the hot glazed doughnuts I would pull the shade down exposing the HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW, and when there were no glazed doughnuts being made I would let the shade back up.”

The sign produced instant results – a 60% increase in sales the first week the sign was used. The boost in sales was so much that Krispy Kreme sent analysts from the headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C., to Chattanooga to investigate. “They sent people down from Winston-Salem because sales did start rising. They asked me if I could get five more signs made,” Mr. Glidden said. “They wanted them for the other five stores in the Krispy Kreme division.” Mr. Glidden didn't have access to sales numbers for other stores. But he assumes the signs were successful because the company later approved manufacture of the now-famous neon signs that appear at every Krispy Kreme location.

Mr. Glidden continued to reflect on the era before the “Hot Light,” as the neon sign is commonly called at Krispy Kreme. “Back then, we didn’t do much business on Saturday, because routes didn’t run on Sunday. So that was fryer cleaning day. They’d have a guy come in and he’d clean the fryer and run a limited amount of doughnuts for the rest of the night. Nowadays,Saturday is our busiest retail day.” Mr. Glidden also explained that word of mouth was their best advertising for hot doughnuts in those days. “We would have a big business – people being able to look through and see the hot doughnuts, and that’s what they wanted off that line.”

But Mr. Glidden knew the store could do better. “I’ve always been about building a business, not running one,” Mr. Glidden said. Aside from boosting sales on Saturdays, Mr. Glidden knew a key to increasing business was to have a more productive first shift. “The idea was if we could run doughnuts on first shift like we did second shift, and I could get first shift’s business up as high as second shift, then I would virtually double my business,” said Mr. Glidden. To do this, Mr. Glidden needed customers. And his sign, the precursor to the neon “Hot Light,” effectively brought them in.

According to Mr. Glidden, a key component to keeping up with demand on Saturdays and during first shifts, when staffing was lower, was his devising a way to “baffle” the production line output. Mr. Glidden needed to produce fewer doughnuts than were needed when the store wasn't making doughnuts for the sales routes, but enough to keep up with demand from retail customers at the store – and to keep the HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW sign showing. So he adjusted the equipment and broke down the dough size based on demand. Today's modern day equipment still uses the same adjustments on equipment and doughs that were used back then. Mr. Glidden said that the concept of baffling the production output went “hand in hand” with the sign.

What gave the sign added punch was adding the word NOW to HOT DOUGHNUTS. Mr. Glidden said that he'd seen other businesses with signs reading “Hot Doughnuts.” But adding “Now” to it was key. “It made it immediate,” Mr. Glidden said. “It was going on. What we did best was happening right now. So people started looking for that sign. I look at it as one of the big icons today, really. Everybody knows what that is.”

One can only speculate the effect that Mr. Glidden's sign has had on the company. When Mr. Glidden joined the company in 1971, he estimates there were only 100 stores in the then-Southeastern chain. Today, the company has over 1,000 stores around the world. Retail sales at the Chattanooga store were $5,000 to $6,000 per week before the advent of the sign, according to Mr. Glidden. Today, average weekly sales for a Krispy Kreme store range between $30,000 and $40,000.

Surprisingly, Mr. Glidden has received little attention or recognition for coming up with the sign idea. Mr. Glidden said, “There wasn’t anything in writing about me coming up with that concept. What they basically did – they took it as their own. The sign became a success and took on a life of its own. Most people forgot who came up with the concept and idea for many years. There was an article in Fortune magazine probably 15 years ago, I guess, that mentioned my name. It just tickled me to death. And then that book that Dick Clark [forwarded], Making Dough, mentioned me in there, too, so I was happy about that.”

After 12 years in Chattanooga, Mr. Glidden moved to Knoxville with the company in 1994. He also spent time on special assignment in Atlanta and traveling around the country as an organizer and trouble shooter for Krispy Kreme. In 1998, Mr. Glidden moved to Mobile, Ala., to operate his own Krispy Kreme franchise. He wound up being part owner of four locations – two in Alabama and two in Louisiana. Mr. Glidden recently sold his interests in the franchises to his business partner.

Newly engaged to his fiancée Terrie, Mr. Glidden added, “I’ve had some life changing experiences the last 2 ½ years. I lost my wife Micki in November of 2013 after 35 wonderful years. My mom is 88 and I told her that I had a hard time with my wife passing, and she said, 'Be strong. Life is for the living.' ” As for his disappointment in not being more recognized for having invented the sign, Mr. Glidden said, “Very early on I told my father of my frustration for not being recognized for my achievement. His response was that I would always know I did that. He was right, as most fathers are.”

There is something perhaps more disappointing to Mr. Glidden than the slight over the HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW sign: “After nearly 45 years of service with the same company, giving all my loyalty, dedication, and sacrifice over the years, there were no announcements – no thank-yous or good-byes or good lucks. Nothing. It was like I'd never been there.” But the excitement from seeing the iconic neon sign, the long line of cars around the Brainerd Krispy Kreme on a Saturday night, and the simple pleasure of enjoying a hot glazed doughnut all confirm that Bob Glidden had definitely been there.