The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2013
Dominique Ansel Bakery's Cronut — croissant fried like a doughnut, queues by 6am
A tiny SoHo bakery laminated croissant dough into fried doughnut rings; 200-a-day batches sold out by mid-morning, and the Cronut became a global craze.
Dominique Ansel Bakery
What it had to solve
In May 2013 Dominique Ansel Bakery was an 18-month-old SoHo shop competing in a city full of pastry. Chef Dominique Ansel wanted a menu addition that was, in his words, 'something like a doughnut, but not really a doughnut'.
How it works
In May 2013 chef Dominique Ansel was running an 18-month-old bakery in New York's SoHo. Looking for a new menu item, he decided a doughnut made from croissant dough would be fun — 'something like a doughnut, but not really a doughnut.' The result was the Cronut: laminated croissant dough cut into rings, fried like a doughnut, filled with cream, glazed and dusted.
Ansel launched it on May 10, 2013 in deliberate small batches — about 200 a day from a kitchen so tight that pastries were fried four or five at a time in two small pots. He also trademarked the name internationally. Within days customers were lining up before sunrise, some from 2 a.m., for pastries that sold out by mid-morning; people who missed out cried, and scalpers resold Cronuts at a markup.
The effect was outsized for a bakery product: TV segments on Jimmy Fallon, Today and CNN, a TIME 'best inventions' nod, an Eater Spectacle of the Year award, and knockoffs within weeks — Dunkin' Donuts Korea sold its own version by July 2013, and bakeries in Beijing, Manila and Japan reverse-engineered the recipe. Ansel later added online pre-orders to spare customers the winter queues.
Why it lands
- It fused the familiar: croissant and doughnut were both known to everyone, so the curiosity was instant — 'why hasn't anyone done this?'
- The name did marketing work: 'Cronut' is one shareable word that says exactly what the product is.
- Scarcity built the story: small daily batches meant daily sellouts, and every sellout became free media.
- The maker stayed human: Ansel went outside each morning to warn the queue when supplies would run out, turning disappointed customers into loyal ones.
What it did
Lines formed before dawn — some customers queued from 2 a.m. — for 200 to 400 Cronuts a day that sold out by mid-morning; people cried when the pastries ran out and scalpers resold them. The hybrid was covered on Jimmy Fallon, Today and CNN, won Eater's Spectacle of the Year, and was copied by bakeries from Beijing to Manila within weeks.
What you can take
Combine two foods everyone already knows into one product nobody has eaten, give it a one-word name, then keep supply scarce enough that the line sells the story for you.
Since then
Ansel trademarked the word Cronut within weeks and introduced an online pre-order system in November 2013 as queues continued. Knockoffs spread across Asia and North America, including a Dunkin' Donuts Korea version in July 2013. The Cronut won Eater's Spectacle of the Year, and Ansel became known as a serial inventor of pastries — the bakery went from a neighborhood shop to an internationally known name, with the Cronut still on the menu.
Sources
- Q&A: Dominique Ansel on Cronut Mania and Imposters
- Reasons to Love New York 2013: Because We Suffer for the Cronut
- 2013: The Year in Cronuts
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