Cold Stone Creamery
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Cold Stone Creamery is an ice-cream parlor chain whose corporate headquarters are in the Scottsdale suburb of Phoenix. Co-founded in 1988 by Donald and Susan 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. Cold Stone describes its stores as the "Ultimate Ice Cream Experience".
The business earns its name from the frozen granite stone used to mix candy or other toppings into the ice cream.
In 1995, Cold Stone Creamery opened its first franchise store, soon followed by a store in Camarillo, California, its first out of state. Over 1250 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 its first overseas stores in Tokyo, Japan. The company was also named the 11th fastest-growing franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine in January 2006.
Future expansion plans include a 150-store contract with Korean franchiser C.J. Foodville to open outlets throughout Korea. It also plans to continue opening stores in Japan in addition to the three stores it now runs.
The company has recently made a deal with the Target Corporation to open four test stores in various locations. (Duff 2006).
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