by Kristen Wile

The team of pastry chefs at Krispy Kreme’s Charlotte headquarters are responsible for the limited time flavors. Photo courtesy

When Krispy Kreme opened a Charlotte headquarters, the building became home to the doughnut brand’s Product and Innovation Center. There, you’ll find test kitchens where a team of pastry chefs works to come up with the recipes that will be featured as seasonal special offerings at Krispy Kreme locations across the country. 

Catie Van Slyke was the pastry chef at Uptown’s Kimpton Hotel before moving to a position with Krispy Kreme. Photo courtesy

Former Angeline’s pastry chef Catie Van Slyke is one of those pastry chefs. Van Slyke, who also managed catering baked goods for the Uptown Kimpton, started there on May 1. With a title of Associate Culinary Innovation Developer, Van Slyke spends her time conceptualizing and analyzing doughnuts. The new position, she says, keeps her close to her love of pastry without the grind required in restaurant kitchens. 

“There’s never really a lull and there’s always kind of that push, which is amazing to start with,” Van Slyke says of working in restaurant and hotel kitchens. “But … as a person who wants to have children and things of that nature, this has been a really cool opportunity for me to still do what I love, but get some more balance and get a little bit more typical job hours.”

Her creative process begins with a prompt from the brand department, which guides her work in the test kitchen. Recipes generally work with existing Krispy Kreme base doughs, with most of the creative freedom coming in on the doughnut’s toppings. Following recipe testing and securing sourcing, Van Slyke’s passion for numbers kicks in as she runs food costing and margins for each doughnut. 

“It’s very much in my wheelhouse of what my brain likes,” she says. “I still am a little bit artsy, but I get more excited about doing the science and math side of things.”

Once she has a recipe completed and its data compiled, she passes all of the information on to higher-ups. Once all is approved, the recipes hit Krispy Kreme stores the following year. Her first creations will be available in March 2024 at stores across the U.S.

“I think that there’ll be a little bit more connection to modern pastry and things of that nature from me — with my background — and being able to bring a new idea and new mindset to it,” Van Slyke says.

Growing up in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Van Slyke says she didn’t quite understand the love some Americans have for Krispy Kreme until she noticed how people responded to her current position versus her former jobs. Now, when people hear what she does, “people light up.” 

“The conversation of what I do brings a lot of joy and excitement to people, which is really cool to see because as a chef, I think we all want people to be excited about what we’re doing and to allow us to get passionate about the food,” she says. “And being able to see that on the side has been really funny and cool.”