Where do donuts come from?
Soon after the doughboys returned, dough-nut shops flourished. A Russian immigrant named Levitt invented a doughnut machine in 1920 that automatically pushed dough into shaped rings. By 1925, the invention earned him $25 million a year and it was a fixture in bakeries across the country. The machine-made doughnut was a hit of the 1934 World’s Fair. Other machinery quickly developed for everything from mixing to frying. Franchises soon followed. By 1937, Krispy Kreme was founded on a “secret recipe” for yeast-raised doughnuts and Dunkin’ Donuts (currently the franchise that sells the most doughnuts worldwide) was founded in Massachusetts. Presently, Krispy Kreme totals 147 stores in 26 states, while Dunkin’ Donuts has 5,000 franchises in the United States and is present in 37 countries.
