After Vernon Rudolph acquired a closely guarded doughnut recipe from a New Orleans pastry chef, he couldn't keep the secret to himself. He opened up shop in 1937 to share the yeast-raised delectables with the world, thus marking the birth of Krispy Kreme.

Today, step into any Krispy Kreme shop and you can see the doughnuts progress on their journey from formless dough to circular confection. The entire process plays out through plate glass windows: the raw dough is shaped into disks, the disks rise in a heated oven, the plumped doughnuts then drop into the fryer where a conveyor belt speeds them along their journey. After cooling on the belt, the original doughnuts pass through a ribbon of glaze. Like a doughnut-shaped bat signal, a neon sign lights up the sky to announce the emergence of fresh, hot Krispy Kremes.