Cold Stone Creamery: Difference between revisions
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==History== |
==History== |
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[[Image:Coldstone Creamery.jpg|thumb|right|A neon sign for the Cold Stone Creamery at [[Irvine Spectrum Center|Irvine Spectrum]] in [[Irvine, California]].]] |
[[Image:Coldstone Creamery.jpg|thumb|right|A neon sign for the Cold Stone Creamery at [[Irvine Spectrum Center|Irvine Spectrum]] in [[Irvine, California]].]] |
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The company was co-founded in 1988 by Susan and Donald Sutherland (unrelated to actor [[Donald Sutherland]]), who sought [[ice cream]] that was neither hard-packed nor soft-serve. Publicity materials describe it as "smooth and creamy super-premium ice cream." Cold Stone Creamery opened its first store that year in [[Tempe, Arizona]]. Originally headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2005 headquarters were relocated to |
The company was co-founded in 1988 by Susan and Donald Sutherland (unrelated to actor [[Donald Sutherland]]), who sought [[ice cream]] that was neither hard-packed nor soft-serve. Publicity materials describe it as "smooth and creamy super-premium ice cream." Cold Stone Creamery opened its first store that year in [[Tempe, Arizona]]. Originally headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2005 headquarters were relocated to Tampa Bay, Florida.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/about/cold_stone_story.html | title=The Cold Stone Creamery Story | work=ColdStoneCreamery | accessdate=2007-09-12}}</ref> |
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Cold Stone's name comes from the frozen [[granite]] stone, used to mix [[candy]], nuts, or other mix-ins into various flavors of ice creams. |
Cold Stone's name comes from the frozen [[granite]] stone, used to mix [[candy]], nuts, or other mix-ins into various flavors of ice creams. |
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Revision as of 04:34, 16 March 2008
Cold Stone Creamery is an American ice cream parlor chain based in Scottsdale, Arizona.[1]
History
The company was co-founded in 1988 by Susan and Donald Sutherland (unrelated to actor Donald Sutherland), who sought ice cream that was neither hard-packed nor soft-serve. Publicity materials describe it as "smooth and creamy super-premium ice cream." Cold Stone Creamery opened its first store that year in Tempe, Arizona. Originally headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2005 headquarters were relocated to Tampa Bay, Florida.[2]
Cold Stone's name comes from the frozen granite stone, used to mix candy, nuts, or other mix-ins into various flavors of ice creams.
In 1995, Cold Stone Creamery opened its first franchise store in Tucson soon followed by a store in Camarillo, California, its first out of state. Almost 1400 franchises are now in operation. Cold Stone Creamery is now the 6th best-selling brand of ice cream in the U.S. and now operates stores in South Korea, Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Indonesia, Guam, China, and Mexico. The company was also named the 11th fastest-growing franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine in January 2006.
In May 2007, Cold Stone Creamery merged with Kahala to form the company Kahala–Cold Stone, which collectively owns 13 brands. Doug Ducey, former president and CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, was named CEO of the new company.[3] Kevin Blackwell, the former CEO of Kahala, became chairman of the board and chief strategist. In September 2007, Ducey announced he was leaving the company.[4] Blackwell was named CEO.[5]
Corporate culture
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In the spirit of joviality, and to encourage customers to give tips, Cold Stone instructs employees to sing a Cold Stone song, usually to the tune of recognizable melodies such as "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" or "Bingo," when a customer places money in the tip jar. Lyrics include short, catchy phrases, such as, "This is the ice cream song; it doesn't last you long." (Actress Nikki Blonsky worked at Cold Stone Creamery until she received the part of Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 musical film Hairspray.)
Like other franchises, Cold Stone strives to provide similar service at every store by supplying instructional material and training videos to franchise owners.
Recently various Cold Stone franchisees of New York have partnered with The Original Soup Man to sell soup in their respective stores.
Competitors
Its current competitors in the field of premium ice cream (defined as having more than 12 percent butterfat) include Baskin-Robbins, Carvel, and NexCen chains Marble Slab Creamery (opened in 1983) and MaggieMoo's (opened in 1989).[6] Cold Stone Creamery (around 1400) ranks second between Baskin-Robbins (2800) and Carvel (600) in numbers of stores, and was recently rated 14th on Entrepreneur magazine's ranking of the top 600 franchise opportunities, ahead of its competitors. (Marble Slab currently has 541 stores, with sister chain MaggieMoo's at 184.)
Products
All ice cream creations are offered in three sizes: "Like It" (5 oz), "Love It" (8 oz), and "Gotta Have It" (12 oz). There is also a kids' size (3 oz).
"Cold Stone Signature Creations" are recipes that include the ice cream and mix-ins of any given "Signature Creation."[7] Customers may also choose to alter the Signature Creation if they prefer, by substituting the ice cream it is made with, or one or more of the mix-ins. If a customer does not want a Signature Creation, he or she may choose his or her own tailor-made ice cream creation by picking both the ice cream and mix-ins. To top off the ice cream, customers have a selection of waffle bowls or cones, either plain, dipped in chocolate, or dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with almonds, or rainbow sprinkles.
Cold Stone offers a variety of smoothies and shakes, and signature cakes.
Notes
- ^ Duff, Mike (2006-05-06). "Target, Cold Stone Creamery sign in-store deal". RetailNet.com. Retrieved 2006-06-13.
- ^ "The Cold Stone Creamery Story". ColdStoneCreamery. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
- ^ "Kahala and Cold Stone Creamery merge creating new category of franchising company" (PDF). May 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
- ^ Ryan Randazzo (September 15, 2007). "Kahala-Cold Stone CEO leaving job after 12 years". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
- ^ "Kahala•Cold Stone Names New Chief Executive Officer". QSR Magazine. 17 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
- ^ Kate Murphy (October 26, 2006). "Slabs Are Joining Scoops in Ice Cream Retailing". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
- ^ "Signature Creations". Cold Stone Creamery.com. Retrieved 2007-09-12.