tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Cold Stone Creamery
Owner -- Privately held
Primary Operating Region -- Sporadic locations in 43 states, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico
Number of Locations -- 1,100 (August 2005)

Before I'd ever set foot in one, I figured it was a MaggieMoo's-like concept. I was right. They make their own ice cream daily, they have a big row of mixes, and a big frozen slab of stone where they mix the ice cream and your choice of topping(s) into a big soft mess that you eat in a dish or a cone. Cold Stone also makes their own waffle cones daily.  Cold Stone isn't the first to utilize this format, and neither was MaggieMoo's.  But Cold Stone is the dominating player with explosive growth.

The concept is largely credited to Steve Herrell, who opened his first store outside Boston in 1973.  Herrell made his ice cream on site and offered candy bars and other treats folded into the ice cream.  Cold Stone was started by Donald Sutherland (no, not THAT Donald Sutherland) and his wife Susan in Tempe, AZ in 1988.  They started franchising in 1995.  Growth has been impressive.  Cold Stone is considered the fastest growing ice cream chain in the US.

Smiling Counter Girl asked if I'd been to Cold Stone before. I said "No". She then explained to me how the whole deal worked, which was fine, because even though I knew the deal from my long and storied history of MaggieMoo's consumption, that gave me time to pick a flavor and a mix-in. OOOOH! They have White Chocolate ice cream! I am SO there.

I had the place to myself until a party of six pulled up in a minivan. Grandma, Grandpa, and the grandkids. Grandma stayed in the van. Frankly, Grandma appeared to be dead. Nobody else in the van seemed to mind.

The big differences between MaggieMoo's and Cold Stone: Cold Stone has some specialty mixes you can order instead of coming up with your own, Cold Stone's waffle cones taste much fresher, and once in a random while, Cold Stone's employees sing. Yes, sing. Specifically, the Cold Stone jingle. There I am eating my White Chocolate ice cream with Raspberry mix-in, and suddenly, the three employees sang this ten second jingle.  I found out later from the website that this is done at all stores when tips are received.  I don't recall seeing a tip jar on my visit, but obviously, there was one.  I have noticed them at other locations since.

My first experience had one lasting memory...The ice cream was HORRIBLE.  But that just turned out to be the particular ice cream flavor I chose.  Cold Stone has since come to my market, and my favorite became Cake Batter with Cookie Dough mixed in.  Naturally, some idiots had to go get sick on the stuff and Cake Batter went away, leaving me with secondary choices like Cheesecake or the occasional red dot special.  

It's just not the same, though.

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