Awesome Doughnut, LLC is the exclusive franchisee of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Southern California. Great Circle Family Foods, LLC was the exclusive franchisee and area developer for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Southern California. Great Circle launched the Krispy Kreme brand in the Southern California market in 1999, solidified it as a part of [national] pop culture, and quickly garnered more than 50% of regional doughnut market share. By 2018 it operated 17 retail locations, and earned respect for its visionary marketing, demonstrated excellence in operations execution and unit-level profitability. Great Circle's senior executives were honored to serve on both the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Franchisee Advisory Council and Marketing Advisory Council. One of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts’ largest and fastest growing franchisees, Great Circle earned the 2000 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts “Area Developer of the Year” award and the 2001 and 2002 awards for maintaining system-leading standards in Quality, Service and Cleanliness. In addition, the company has repeatedly been recognized as one of Restaurant Finance Monitor’s top 200 restaurant franchisees, was the winner of the 2003 Hospitality Technology Edge Award for Quick Service Restaurant IT Project of the Year, and received the 2002 FS/TEC Technology Innovation Award. Great Circle has been recognized as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts' global sales leader every year since 2009. At the 2017 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Global Partner Summit, Great Circle received five sales awards! Great Circle and its team members entered into a joint venture partnership with Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation (DNUT:NASDAQ) called Awesome Doughnut, LLC, formed to operate and further develop Krispy Kreme Doughnuts opportunities in Southern California.