Utah influencer named Krispy Kreme’s ‘Chief Donut Dreamer’ after winning flavor contest
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Everyone loves donuts, just not as much as Benjamin Lee.
The Lehi resident is a donut influencer, with nearly 20,000 followers on Instagram. His handle is, simply: Donut Critic.
But now he has a new title. “Chief Donut Dreamer” for Krispy Kreme.
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Lee won the accolade in a contest to create a new donut flavor. His submission was a cream cheese filled donut topped with passionfruit.
“It was so delicious,” he said. “That’s why they picked it, I think.”
After winning the contest, he visited the donut company’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He dished about donuts with company leaders, and worked with the culinary team to craft six unique flavors.
“As a donut critic and donut influencer, that was just the most amazing experience,” Lee said.
The six flavors he helped make will be released in about a year.
While Lee can’t say what all those flavors are yet, he said that one of them will be his cream cheese-passionfruit creation.
Lee has been a longtime lover of baked sweets.
He says he always judges a donut shop by their basic glazed donut. He prefers yeast donuts to cake donuts.
“When a company does nail a good yeast-raised donut, I know I’m going to love everything else,” he said.
As for Krispy Kreme, Lee says he’s always loved the company’s classic glazed. Their bismarck is another favorite.
He said winning the company’s contest made him feel like he “finally made it in the donut world.”
Another reward for winning the contest was a year’s supply of Krispy Kreme donuts. Lee said he’s going to use all those donuts for giveaways on his platform.
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