Dangling Free Donuts, Krispy Kreme Joins the Vaccination-Incentive Crowd

The esteemed Journal of the American Medical Association published an article warning that, despite the long-awaited availability of Covid-19 vaccines, significant swaths of the American population were hesitant to get them. To change that dynamic, the authors recommended that public health authorities and corporations employ a range of incentives to encourage Americans to get the shot. Like what? Well, amusement parks, bars and restaurants could require proof of vaccination before letting people in, the article suggested. Same deal for airlines. (No shot? No vacation for you!) Already, governments and brands have started experimenting with this concept. In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, for example, residents who get vaccinated will get a break on their property taxes. And until last month, a Michigan cannabis dispensary called the Greenhouse was running a highly popular program called “Pot for Shots,” which rewarded anyone who walked in bearing a vaccination card with a doobie. (Unable to pass up a good pun, the dispensary added that this was a "joint offer" with cultivator UBaked.) As it turns out, incentives hardly have to be as artful as these examples. Just ask Krispy Kreme. The restaurant chain announced earlier today that it will reward any American who’s been vaccinated with—what else?—a free glazed donut. “We want it [the pandemic] to all go away just like everybody else,” CMO Dave Skena told Adweek. “If there’s anything we can do to show support for the folks who are getting a shot in the arm, let’s do it.” Let's be done with this Kripsy Kreme, like many brands, has rolled out its share of crisis-related promotions over the past year. Handing out free treats to everyone from doctors to teachers to ambulance drivers, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based chain has parted with some 30 million donuts since the pandemic started. But this occasion, Skena said, is different: Rather than focusing on a national crisis, it’s aimed solely at getting out of one. Skena related that he’s been asked what the brand’s angle is, trading donuts for vaccine cards. “What’s the key here? We really just want everyone to get their shot so we can get through Covid,” he said. On a secondary level, free-donut offers probably do help a little with store traffic, he conceded, or perhaps reacquainting regular customers with their old habit of stopping in for a dozen the way they used to. “There are all those good marketing and business reasons,” Skena said. “But it starts with the altruistic notion.” Vaccine incentives on the rise Krispy Kreme has also joined a growing list of companies offering incentives to employees to get vaccinated—a strategy that, in the long run, might be even more beneficial than encouraging the public to do it. After all, Americans wary of contracting the virus probably aren’t keen to enter stores in which non-vaccinated workers are handling their food. Plus, as the right-of-center argument goes, there's no better economic aid package imaginable than a return to normal economic times. Last week, a survey from Black Box Intelligence found that 50% of restaurants are offering or plan to offer incentives to their employees to get inoculated. (Thirty-nine percent said they planned to "encourage" vaccination without incentives, possibly because many in the hard-hit hospitality industry can't afford them.) The preferred method is to simply compensate employees for the time it takes to get vaccinated. Shake Shack is offering three hours of paid leave for each shot, though most other chains, including McDonald’s, Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants and Krispy Kreme, have settled for two. Giving employees a shot Elsewhere in the food industry, yogurt giant Chobani is offering up to six hours of paid leave for employees to get their shots. Speaking to The Washington Post in January, Chobani president Peter McGuinness advanced much the same reasoning for his company’s employee incentive as Skena did for his. “The more people are vaccinated,” McGuinness said, “the faster this pandemic goes away.” While consumers might respond enthusiastically to the offer of a complimentary glazed at Krispy Kreme, that incentive is not likely to do much for the chain's employees. Judging from the reviews on Glassdoor, helping themselves to free donuts during the shift are a given for hourly workers anyway.