Coldstone Creamery: Ice cream the way you want it

October 23, 2021

Cold Stone Creamery is an American ice cream parlor chain owned and operated by Kahala Brands. It is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

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Cold Stone Creamery’s 968 U.S. Store Locations

In 1988, Donald and Susan Sutherland were looking for ice cream that was neither hard-packed nor soft-serve. Their solution was to open their own ice cream parlour, which they did and they called it Cold Stone Creamery. Their first store opened that year in Tempe, Arizona.

While some brands of ice cream have as little as 10 percent butterfat, Cold Stone Creamery premium ice cream has approximately 12-14 percent butterfat. Every ice cream order is made on location according to the customer’s taste.

Cold Stone’s menu includes ice cream cakes, pies, cookie sandwiches, smoothies, shakes and iced or blended coffee drinks. When ordering ice cream, patrons first select a flavor and then choose from a number of mix-ins to be folded into the ice cream. Mix-ins include candies, nuts, brownies and syrups.

Cold Stone gets its name from the frozen granite slab that employees use to fold mix-ins into the ice cream. 

To thank customers, Cold Stone employees sing a song when they receive a tip.

Since 2008, the company has been co-branding its locations with other chains to increase its presence outside the United States and to transform its business model from seasonal to year-round. At one time there were 100 co-branded Tim Hortons/Cold Stone Creamery locations in the United States.

In January 2006, Cold Stone was named the 11th fastest-growing franchise by Entrepreneur magazine.

In May 2007, Cold Stone Creamery merged with Kahala Corp to form Kahala-Cold Stone, which collectively owns 13 brands. 

Cold Stone Creamery is the sixth best-selling brand of ice cream in the United States. Cold Stone stores can be found in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Guam, China, Mexico, Bahrain, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, Qatar, Nigeria, Kuwait, the Philippines, Turkey, Pakistan and India. In 2008, Cold Stone opened its first European franchise in Copenhagen, Denmark. The most notable co-branded store opened in August 2009 when Tim Hortons moved into three Cold Stone Creamery locations in New York City, including its flagship Times Square location.

Gloria Sauvé
Communications and Marketing

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