TEP Talk: To Do Or Doughnut — Tech Square ATL

Sprinkled, filled, powdered, or simply glazed: Can you really ever just have one doughnut? If you’re like any of our members at Technology Enterprise Park (TEP), it’s probably hard for you to resist treating yourself to freshly-made doughnuts when they’re around. On Friday, June 4, better known to some as National Doughnut Day, we hosted a Coffee Talk to celebrate this sweet treat as a community. But like any other signature Tech Square ATL Social Club community activation, we honored the occasion with a nerdy twist: doughnut trivia. So, how much do the engineers, researchers, and chemists at TEP know about their favorite fried confection? Turns out, they know a fun fact (or four!).

We were clearly asking some tricky trivia, as most (38.6%) of our members only got two out of five answers correct. Then, there’s Stuti Sagar, Research and Development Engineer at Abbott, who seemed to know the most: She correctly answered four out of five!

1. True or False? Dunkin' Donuts has been around longer than Krispy Kreme.

✖ True

✓ False: Krispy Kreme first opened in 1937, which was 13 years before the first Dunkin' Donuts was opened (1950).

2. True or False? Doughnuts became popular in the United States after soldiers ate them during World War II.

✖ True

✓ False: It was during World War I that the Salvation Army “Doughnut Lassies” cooked doughnuts and provided supplies for soldiers to lift their spirits.

3. True or False? A German immigrant named Adolph Levitt created the first doughnut machine.

✖ True

✓ False: Adolph Levitt was a Russian immigrant who lived in New York City. He invented a doughnut machine in the 1920s to keep up with neighborhood demand for his product.

4. Krispy Kreme uses the equivalent of ___ elephants in doughnut sprinkles every year.

✖ 112

✓ 145: Each year, Krispy Kreme uses a million pounds of sprinkles, which is equivalent to the weight of about 145 elephants.

✖ 275

5. True or False? Doughnuts were originally called "oily cakes."

✓ True: With Dutch being the predominant language in New York (or New Amsterdam, as they knew it back then), they took to the confection being literally fried dough by calling them olykoeks, or “oily cakes.”

✖ False

To Do or Doughnut: Trivia Participant Scores

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The fun factoid that everyone seems to know? The fact that Krispy Kreme opened its doors before Dunkin’ Donuts. In fact, Krispy Kreme seems to hold a special place in the hearts of Atlantans: If you’ve driven down Ponce De Leon Ave, it’s hard to miss seeing the iconic Krispy Kreme doughnut factory, which opened in 1965. Unfortunately, the 56-year old establishment went ablaze earlier this year. But like former NBA basketball star, Shaquille O’Neal (who owns the Ponce De Leon doughnut franchise), our community members are looking forward to those iconic doors re-opening again someday soon.

DID YOU KNOW?

In geometry, “torus” is the mathematical name for a doughnut shape.

What’s your favorite type of doughnut? Let us know in the comments below.