Cold Stone Creamery
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. While the company was originally headquartered in Tempe, in 2005 headquarters were relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.[2]
Cold Stone's name comes from the frozen granite stone, used to mix "mix-ins": candy, nuts, or other edibles 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 in operation, although over 300 are currently available for sale. Inside sources[citation needed] claim that the actual number of franchises available for transfer internally place the percentage closer to 50%. Cold Stone Creamery is now the sixth-best-selling brand of ice cream in the U.S. and now operates stores in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Guam, China, and Mexico. Cold Stone opened their first franchise in Europe in 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Three more shops were later opened in other parts of the country. 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]
In June of 2008, Cold Stone Creamery came under public scrutiny as an example of how NOT to run a successful franchise by Richard Gibson of the Wall Street Journal. [1]
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 our Cold Stone song, it isn't very long."
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.
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 Originals" are recipes that include the ice cream and toppings of any given "Signature Creation."[6] 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 toppings. 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". Customers have a selection of waffle bowls or cones, either plain, dipped in chocolate, or dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with shredded coconut, peanuts, almonds, or rainbow sprinkles to put their icecream in.
Cold Stone offers a variety of smoothies, shakes and signature cakes. All of Cold Stone's ice creams (including milkshakes made from their ice cream) excluding the "sinless fat-free ice-cream" and sorbets contain transfat.[7]
Controversy
Cold Stone has been criticized for it's business model. The cost of running a shop is so steep that making a profit is often daunting for franchisees. Several factors account for this including: the average customer pays $4 for a scoop of ice cream, the company offering national two-for-one coupons (since discontinued after franchisees protested), franchisees having to buy costly ingredients from a single supplier, and some franchisees have argued that the company's rapid expansion crowded stores too close together and brought in too many inexperienced franchisees.[8]
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.
- ^ "Signature Creations". Cold Stone Creamery.com. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
- ^ "Cold Stone Nutritional Information" (PDF). ColdStoneCreamery. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "The Inside Scoop". ColdStoneCreamery. Retrieved 2008-07-01.