Their ice cream is easily the richest and tastiest of the major chains, but it’s never come cheap. It’s not day-to-day ice cream, but when you need to celebrate a big win or mourn a terrible day, Cold Stone is the place to go. But like lots of “hot” franchises, I think it expanded faster than the market could support it, and needed to close many stores to find the equilibrium.
I heard they charge way-to-high franchising fees and percentages. Because of this, franchisees lose money unless they sell a TON of ice cream. This might be why so many closed.
It's usually bad management of the franchise and over selling the brand. Most screw up with that once they go that route. Only a few got it right (ie Mcdonalds)
@@davidfence6939 Price point wasn't really the issue. Plenty of people will pay for quality but it's not there in many many stores since they lost control of managing the stores. I'm a perfect example. No issues for paying for quality service but it's gotta be there for the extra price.
I used to work there. I hated it because the ice cream smell would stick to my apron and start smelling like sugar and spoiled milk. The customers sucked; they were always so entitled. I also hated singing for tips; it felt so demeaning. The owner would watch the cameras and tell me "you need to sing." "Yeah ok I will next time." I lied. I quit that cursed place after 6 months. Rarely ever go back, and when I do I tip like $10 and ask them not to sing, and their faces look so relieved.
Love this comment. Thank you. Any business that wants to drive profit off of demeaning employees shouldn't stay in business. That business has created the very entitled environment that ended up happening.
I also used to work here it was one of my first part time jobs, the smell was the worst, customers could be bad but that's everywhere. I was an opener my store manager told me that it was optional to sing. I was relieved about that but he then proceeded to have a family member go through " detailed training" and ended up working for free for over 2 weeks. Because it's a franchise so favoritism and bad management really can take hold.
I work at a small local ice cream lounge as a manager that makes rolls. Luckily I don't have to sing for my tips and it's really annoying when people confuse our rolled ice cream for what you guys did at coldstone.
In Nigeria and Africa Coldstone is the biggest Ice cream chain and they did a cobrandin with Dominos Pizza in Nigeria. So we have Dominos & Cold stone in Same building. I enjoy their ice cream its fun to watch them juggle the ice cream rolls before mixing it with other flavors and toppings. It’s really the best ICE CREAM experience. With love from Nigeria
One of my friends traveled to Nigeria for a wedding and she was shocked that Cold Stone Creamery was so popular there. It's as big as KFC is in Japan. Nigerians love Cold Stone Creamery :)
That's an interesting combination but it makes sense since pizza and ice cream can go together well. Both are lunch and dinner offerings. Also it stays warm most of the year in Nigeria which only happens in a few southernmost US states.
I think Tim Horton's has some pretty bad problems itself. All the ones around me closed a few years ago. Company Man had a video on them but it's pretty old now.
One thing I really appreciate about Cold Stone is that they offer mint ice cream without any chocolate in it. They're the only place that has plain mint ice cream and it's my favorite flavor ever!
@@dillonwright13 I tried a shamrock shake once, I thought I was getting mint ice cream but apparently it's mint flavored vanilla ice cream It was still kind of okay except that it was horribly mixed so most of the mint syrup was at the top and before I was halfway through it I only had vanilla ice cream left because there was no mint mixed into the rest of it. I'm sure it'd be fine if mixed properly but I've been wary of trying it again. I also once tried ordering an Oreo McFlurry from McDonald's and it was even worse because I kid you not, the bottom half of the cup was plain vanilla ice cream, and the top half was nothing but a giant layer of Oreo. I had to awkwardly dig through the giant Oreo rock and eat it on its own until finally I saw vanilla ice cream at the bottom. Definitely the worst ice cream experience I've ever had, I don't know why they didn't even try to mix anything and just gave me a giant pile of Oreo to dig through
Cold Stone is by far the best when it comes to premium ice cream. You simply can't beat their taste and quality. DQ and BR are both decent for more budget minded consumers but if you're after quality and taste then nothing beats Cold Stone. Yet another absolutely awesome video.
@@davidv6588 I agree. DQ isn't for everyone but its fine for.the price you pay. For me, at least, I've found Cold Stone Ice cream to be almost too rich. But to each their own.
Always reminds me of that King of the Hill episode, we make ice cream fun, and Hank saying whats with all these companies trying to shove more fun into things, ice creams already fun.
The thing that always stuck out to me about this company was that episode of King of the Hill where they basically just dumped on the playful atmosphere for a half hour, and Hank's immortal line, "Ice Cream is already fun."
Another one of their reasons for being successful is their success with the Cake Batter ice cream flavor. It's a unique flavor that particularly sweet and extremely popular. From every location I've gone to and asked what their most popular flavor is, staff has always responded with Cake Batter. That flavor has caused Coldstone to spawn other "batter" flavors but none of them seem to have been as popular as Cake Batter.
Yes, Cold Stone was the first place I had heard of cake batter flavor and I absolutely LOVED It. But the they stopped making it a while due to the raw eggs until they came out with a new formula. Now every cheap store brand ice cream has a cake batter flavor (birthday cake, etc.).
I used to work at a Cold Stone/ Which Wich. The place was poorly managed and quit to work at Walmart of all places, because it was a better option. The ice cream was great and was made fresh most of the time with good ingredients, but mixing in things would kill your forearms and as someone else mentioned, the customer base was very entitled. I’ve seen all of the ones around me closing, so I look forward to the follow up “And decline of” video.
I think it speaks to the company when your comment, and the other previous worker with an unpleasant experience, are the top two comments lol. I’ve never heard of it personally, but I’m definitely gonna steer clear after reading these.
Marble Slab is way better than Coldstone. The Texas equivalent chains tend to be better but fly under the radar due to the lack of expansion, like Whataburger and HEB. We really do have it better here, and the country doesn't know it cuz they think Texas is all Cowboys and rednecks.
It wouldn’t kill your forearms if you got good 😂 or had worse management who won’t spent the money on a new ghea that didn’t stop working every other day
I remember the Make-A-Wish collaboration. As a kid I was allowed to go behind the counter and help them work. It was the best time I’d ever had in a restaurant.
Glad to hear they are successful, cuz we lost a location recently that I grew up with, and was worried they were on a decline. Found one that is about 30min. from me, so that’s good.
Ours all went on the decline or disappeared. The stores became less well-maintained, mess was everywhere, and every surface was sticky. I get that ice cream is sticky by nature and that the stores got okay foot traffic, but it turned me off to go into one because the floors, counters, and tables were all gross.
I worked at a place called Tu Tu Tango in Coconut Grove, Miami in the 90s. They did the happy birthday acknowledgement thing with the whole crew. Nice place.
It’s heartbreaking for me to see this because I had a Cold Stone in my area and it was my go to ice cream place and then that location either went out of business or relocated but I never saw it again. I have a lot of memories from it.
This happened where I live too. but eventually we got a 2nd location. Not sure if its still there, I think it is. the OG shut down a while ago tho but probably just due to being low-income area
@ghost mall it’s heartbreaking due to the memories I had as a six year old going every weekend and having a great time up to about when I was 10 or 11 when it closed. Which wasn’t that long ago like not even 10 years ago. I’m only 18
I was about to say the same thing when I saw the title of the video, I didn’t think they were very successful because they completely left my area 10 years ago and I haven’t heard of them since this video
@@catzass69 I went to one location since then and a shit ton of memories came back. I believe it was in Florida. Mississippi where I’m from barely has any locations from what I know of.
My local location is a train wreck. High turn over, constant manager change, poor employee training, bad equipment management, flies, rats, etc. I worked there for 4 years and service was always half assed. Now a family member of mine works there and it’s just as much or even more of a circus than it was before. They are lucky they get the amount of customers they get. It’s a sheer miracle.
We had something similar in Canada (at least in Ontario) called Marble Slab. Very expensive but pretty good ice cream. Seems that 'funky' ice cream is becoming a trend, especially if they're considered healthy. So hopefully places like Marble slab can expand. Cause man, even though they're expensive, it's SO good..
We have a Marble Slab where I live in Alabama too. It is the exact same experience as cold stone down to the way they mix it and the brand collaboration. Ours is Marble Slab/Great American Cookie Company
We used to have one in South Carolina! I thought it was just the same company with a different regional name, but they went out of business there and I haven't heard more about them until now.
I worked at Cold Stone for about a year. It was fun. I was usually a closer, but I had a culinary background, so eventually the owner started teaching me how to make the ice cream. It was a blast, really. I just hated it when we had like, 40 people in line and had to sing every 2 minutes. There were like, 60 songs to try to remember and a lot of them were super lame. We did get to take one creation home a day. If I had school the next day, I'd make a Two To Mango smoothie which was incredible. I can't recommend the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, but sub in Peanut Butter ice cream instead of chocolate if they have it. Get that as a shake, too and you won't regret it. It's expensive, but it's really worth it.
@@cellie_bellie That was part of their whole corporate image. Showing a staff that is singing while working was meant to have an air of jollity to it. It helped make it more of an "experience" rather than just a place to go and buy ice cream. How many other ice cream places entertain you? The whole thing is really a spectacle from beginning to end. You pick your ice cream, mix ins, see it being worked, have a song or two sung. It's certainly a unique experience!
That's crazy I've been to CSC in NC/SC and NJ and waited in numerous long lines throughout the years and I've never heard them sing once to anyone! I didn't know they even did that until reading this comment. BTW their ice cream is expensive but very good especially the Sweet Cream with various mix-ins!
I’ve only been to Coldstone Creamery twice and both times it was when my cousin took me when I was a kid. This was in the early to mid 2000’s. It was cool to watch them mix the ice cream and toppings together. It’s store is in a mall so it gets the traffic it needs to stay in business. The thing is when you live in Wisconsin and you have so many different ice cream places around you that’s better for your wallet and it’s a small business that’s where I’ll purchase any ice cream.
I have an Aunt who sent me Coldstone gift cards for years for my birthday. I couldn't complain, but I never lived near one. Now that I finally do have one close by and a lady to take there those gift cards are finally getting used. Pretty darn good stuff!
Loved it a lot in my childhood, but did not like the singing, but loved the ice cream. I remember when one opened up just a 10 min walk from me, and I would go there in the summer. But back in 2001 not all their stores had the cricket promotional. There were several Kosher Certified Cold Stones at the time (today many many more) and as part of the certification process, they were not allowed to have any non-kosher mix-ins, and those were one of them. So those stores did not have it.
There’s a Cold Stone in a nearby mall. Tried different ice cream flavors a few times, and it was middle of the road, but I can see why folks who usually Frosty or Blizzard it up like the place so much. I worked at a Brusters Ice Cream franchise in the early 00’s as a part time gig. Like Cold Stone the ice cream was made daily and unlike the 11 flavors we had closer to 20 “stock” flavors available everyday. I was one of the peeps making the ice cream, helping with supply day, so I had a good grasp of the ingredients, and it was top tier stuff. I had a wonderful boss. And he definitely showed me how to lead by example and truly manage folks efficiently but with kindness. Working at that particular Brusters is still to this day the best/most fun job I ever had. Yeah, it was part time and I was making slightly above minimum wage, but the managers respected the employees and didn’t create a poor work environment. With that tangent out of the way, Brusters set the bar for ice cream very high for me, and Stone Cold… err Cold Stone while better than Baskin Robbins or DQ still hasn’t reached the same level as the Brusters stores.
The only other big name brand that does super premium, is Ben and Jerry’s. Even the ones in store are included. But out of all the ice cream brands, Coldstone is my favorite.
I worked at Bed Bath & Beyond when Cold Stone was exploding in popularity. One of the products we carried for a brief time was a stone slab you could mix your ice cream on. Somehow I think most people who bought those probably never use them more than a few times before relegating it to the back of the kitchen cabinet.
I only went to coldstone once, I didn't realize they sang there so when they did (and my very modest very no-fun family heard it) I think it was immediately decided we were never going there again. I don't even remember what it tasted like :(
Here in Montgomery, we used to have both a Marble Slab Creamery as well as a Cold Stone Creamery. Sadly, both have been defunct for years. I liked them both and wish they were still here.
Love the content from this channel! That said, I thought it'd be interesting to bring up how Cold Stone Creamery closed down here in Singapore. It had a good start at first and queues were long, but it ran out of steam after a bit and puttered along and more and more outlets closed before calling it quits after 10 years or so. Not denying that some of the ice-cream dishes were good, but it was up against a lot of stiff competition here. Not to mention, I found their gimmicks and tricks pretty irritating after a while and I reckon I wasn't alone. Thanks for the great videos as always!
Never heard of them before and figured it was another place that was far from my area as usual. I looked them up and found they actually have a location near me! I'm going to have to try them out thanks to you.
Cold stone was my first job, I showed up to work where they told me I'd be paid 4.25 an hour for a whole summer as "training pay". Safe to say I left halfway through my first day.
I once ordered a Birthday Cake from Cold Stone, Turns out they never even made the Cake and didn't even want to give us a refund so they made up buy a plain ice cream cake that they put Happy Birthday on. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THEM AGAIN!!!
@@ellerose6807 It's pretty comparable to other places. I can get a "LIke It" size for about 5.99 or 2 scoops at Baskin Robbins for 4.99. You get literally the highest grade ice cream plus mix ins, whereas other chains you get super basic...that said, I'm not big on desserts but I like to go maybe twice per year 🤤
Cold Stone to me is niche. They're delicious, but not cheap, and while their flavors are typically found at other major chains they taste better and incorporate their "mix-ins" to create favorites you simply can't find anywhere else. They should embrace and maintain their niche status and I can see them continuing to do quite well.
I heard they charge way-too-high franchising fees and percentages. Because of this, franchisees lose money unless they sell a TON of ice cream. This might be why so many closed.
I went to Cold Stone last month and had a Gotta Have It size Sundae; it was expensive but it was very delicious. The store did seemed to be kind of boring, but the woman behind the counter was very nice and I enjoyed my experience there.
On the subject of ice cream places; the other day my friends and I were talking about Friendly's and how there are only a handful left. There used to be one in every town in Upstate, NY where I am from and Friendly's ice cream in the grocery store. I'd love to have a Friendly's video about what happened to them.
I was wondering if somebody was going to bring up Friendly's. It was one of my favorite places to go as a kid because there weren't any other restaurants around that provided crayons and where you could be sure you'd be getting ice cream at the end because the Happy Ending sundae came free with just about anything.
I used to go to Friendly's too. I grew up in Connecticut. Last I heard of them they filed for Chapter 11 and there was some lawsuits going on but other than that, I dunno. I used to love the pistachio ice cream. I remember buying the ice cream from Stop & Shop supermarket but it made me miss the times I had with mom when she took me to Friendly's once or twice a month on a friday. Good times.
Honestly surprised there’s hasn’t been a Stone Cold/cold stone crossover promotion to this point. “Cold Stone the best Ice Cream. And that’s the bottom line, cause Stone Cold said so!” It writes itself
I never liked the place very much, rather expensive and frankly I disliked the employees' insincere friendliness. But good for them I'm not hating on them, glad they're doing well, I just never cared for the brand personally
I lived in South Korea for 6 years. Cold Stone there is a completely different experience. You walk in and the employees are excited about their job. Here in the states? It is like you are offending the employees by walking in. I stopped going.
It's the same way here in America too. I don't remember the last time I went into a coldstone where the employees looked like they actually wanted to be there.
Cold Stone ice cream IS amazing. Definitely above the rest. I appreciate them even more after moving to a region that does not have any! There are marble slab knockoffs here and, while the store appearance and selections appear familiar at first glance, that is where the similarities end. Cold Stone is the best I've ever had.
I agree that this is a future "Decline of Cold Stone Creamery- What Happened?" Multiple locations in my general proximity have closed within the past 4 years. I think poor management, competition from "local" ice cream shops, availability of "more affordable" chain shops, and high cost of their product, -will be their downfall.
I feel like Dylan Lemey Is Also a huge part of their success. With such a huge following. It saves it say that more people would learn about cold stone. Thats where I first knew it
My gf went to an interview there and it was bad. The guy was horrible. He said they don't do raises and don't expect one. Expect low hours too. They were extremely demanding in rules too. She walked out and said "nah I'm good". It's considered a place that only college students work at so they're really bad to workers. I've had multiple people say how much they hated it there too.
I love cold stones I used to love going to them all the time living in California but when I moved here to Texas it was hard to find a location because everyone here loves Dairy Queen.
I've eaten at Cold Stone's first location in the 90's when I was living there and going to ASU. It's on Southern and McClintock, I believe. May not be there anymore.
Braum's is the best (their milk is second to none by a long shot too), but even with over 300 locations, it's not a national chain, and will likely never be. They have this policy to stay within 300 miles of their processing facility in Tuttle, OK. Got a friend of mine from Michigan hooked on it after just a single visit 😂
The thing I like about Cold Stone is that they have an allergy procedure at every store. I tell them I am allergic to nuts and they can make my ice cream with new scoops and separately.
Man it was nice serving people with allergies sometimes knowing they don’t usually get this but my god when this whole family with nut allergies came in I wanted to cry
@@JS-wp4gs sorta but coldstone are one of the few that can actually make it happen safety wise there is no guarantee even at coldstone and that’s true for everywhere but most places if you have an allergy your gambling if they serve any of your allergens at all
I just subscribed to your channel & I love it. Excellent work on battling big major companies & brands from each other. Now I have another suggestion for you. It would be great and interesting if you did Play Station vs X BOX. I think this would be a great video against two major power houses of the 2 biggest game systems in the world. Keep up the great work.
This might be the best Ice cream I have ever had and I’m light weight lactose intolerant.The high fat content of it makes it so good I have no lactose issues
@@davidv6588that’s what poor people say. You might want rethink your life choices if you can’t afford ice cream. Just because you failed in life doesn’t mean the rest of us did also
In Puerto Rico, Cold Stones is always next to a Carribbean Cinemas (a carribbean movie theater chain). It’s a great strategy because me and my friends often get Cold Stones’ ice cream after watching a movie, no matter which movie theater we go to. Baskin Robbins isn’t near any hang out spot that I can think of, so I’ve never been there.
I love their ice cream. I try to avoid ice cream in general, but I'll go here if anywhere. I've only seen like 2 Dairy Queens ever in my life haha. For perspective I live in California. We have a handful of BR stores but Cold Stone is all over the place, even when I travel. I'm surprised to see DQ is bigger.
Crazy I live in western Canada and its the opposite never actually scene a cold stone but DQ is omnipresent lol also nothing beats a DQ blizzard and I will hear no argument against it haha
Maybe I live in a odd part of North America, but Cold Stone went out of business across my entire province about 10 years ago and I haven’t heard of them since. When I saw the title was why they are successful, I couldn’t believe it… I thought they went bust
I heard they charge way-to-high franchising fees and percentages. Because of this, franchisees lose money unless they sell a TON of ice cream. This might be why so many closed.
Had dinner with the co-founder of Kahila Corp, the company responsible for taking cold stone to the next level through franchise expansion . It was an amazing conversation and she was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. 🥰
Cold stone is upscale ice cream shop. I also got their Nintendo ice cream flavors, it’s really good! They even got the governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey to run the company before he ran for governor!
I lived in the Austin Texas area all of my 51 years on earth, I’ve never heard of this place but I wish we had one !!!! After I sent this message, found that we do have one here in Austin. Looking forward to trying it out. It opened 5-10-22. It’s actually not in Austin, but a suburb called round rock.
I haven't seen a Cold Stone Creamery in a long time. All of them closed where I lived. The ice cream was very good. I cannot say that it was the best I've eaten. The mix in thing was okay but I was never a regular customer....on rare occasions when I was in the mall or something
I don't get the appeal of Cold Stone. The ice cream is nothing special and I can get better options at Baskin Robbins without having to wait for them to smash the ice cream around. Taste is subjective of course but you can't argue with the time to serve difference. I'm going for ice cream, not a song and dance routine. Also, it doesn't seem fair to compare them to Dairy Queen since DQ only does soft serve.
I’ve always wanted to eat there but I have a nut allergy and they don’t accommodate the allergy at all. I know it’s hard given the interaction with mix-ins and the cold stone, but it’s a shame they have no intention to serve one of the largest allergy groups in the country. Oh well, Carvel and Kohrs are my fav dessert spots
I believe that here in Canada, this place is called Marble Slab. It's really good, but I still prefer DQ all day. I am hooked on Blizzards and will probably never not be.
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Their ice cream is easily the richest and tastiest of the major chains, but it’s never come cheap. It’s not day-to-day ice cream, but when you need to celebrate a big win or mourn a terrible day, Cold Stone is the place to go. But like lots of “hot” franchises, I think it expanded faster than the market could support it, and needed to close many stores to find the equilibrium.
Agreed, every location in my entire region (5+) all disappeared 10 years ago and they never came back to this day
I heard they charge way-to-high franchising fees and percentages. Because of this, franchisees lose money unless they sell a TON of ice cream. This might be why so many closed.
It's usually bad management of the franchise and over selling the brand. Most screw up with that once they go that route. Only a few got it right (ie Mcdonalds)
Lol and you expected it to be cheap? Damm, Westerners are idiots.
@@davidfence6939 Price point wasn't really the issue. Plenty of people will pay for quality but it's not there in many many stores since they lost control of managing the stores. I'm a perfect example. No issues for paying for quality service but it's gotta be there for the extra price.
I used to work there. I hated it because the ice cream smell would stick to my apron and start smelling like sugar and spoiled milk. The customers sucked; they were always so entitled. I also hated singing for tips; it felt so demeaning. The owner would watch the cameras and tell me "you need to sing." "Yeah ok I will next time." I lied. I quit that cursed place after 6 months. Rarely ever go back, and when I do I tip like $10 and ask them not to sing, and their faces look so relieved.
Love this comment. Thank you. Any business that wants to drive profit off of demeaning employees shouldn't stay in business. That business has created the very entitled environment that ended up happening.
I also used to work here it was one of my first part time jobs, the smell was the worst, customers could be bad but that's everywhere. I was an opener my store manager told me that it was optional to sing. I was relieved about that but he then proceeded to have a family member go through " detailed training" and ended up working for free for over 2 weeks. Because it's a franchise so favoritism and bad management really can take hold.
I work at a small local ice cream lounge as a manager that makes rolls. Luckily I don't have to sing for my tips and it's really annoying when people confuse our rolled ice cream for what you guys did at coldstone.
I'm glad people see that singing bit for the cringefest it is. Believe me, even customers find it very awkward to sit through
Imagine being entitled for ice cream
In Nigeria and Africa Coldstone is the biggest Ice cream chain and they did a cobrandin with Dominos Pizza in Nigeria. So we have Dominos & Cold stone in Same building. I enjoy their ice cream its fun to watch them juggle the ice cream rolls before mixing it with other flavors and toppings. It’s really the best ICE CREAM experience. With love from Nigeria
sounds like a good mix
One of my friends traveled to Nigeria for a wedding and she was shocked that Cold Stone Creamery was so popular there. It's as big as KFC is in Japan. Nigerians love Cold Stone Creamery :)
That sounds great
That's an interesting combination but it makes sense since pizza and ice cream can go together well. Both are lunch and dinner offerings. Also it stays warm most of the year in Nigeria which only happens in a few southernmost US states.
What the fuck y’all Africans get this shit but not us Canadians?! Now that’s funny.
I remember when Tim Hortons and Cold Stone had shared locations in Canada. It didn’t last too long for most of not all Canadian locations sadly.
I found one of those, but the Coldstone part was closed.
He literally says this in the video...
It was a total disaster, so expensive!
@@SPFLDAngler He didn't mention that the collaboration didn't last too long, it only lasted 5 years before they withdrew from the Canadian market.
I think Tim Horton's has some pretty bad problems itself. All the ones around me closed a few years ago. Company Man had a video on them but it's pretty old now.
One thing I really appreciate about Cold Stone is that they offer mint ice cream without any chocolate in it. They're the only place that has plain mint ice cream and it's my favorite flavor ever!
That's awesome, I've never even thought about just mint ice cream!
you can find that at good grocery store.
Then you know where to get a Shamrock Shake everyday of the year. Wink Wink
Well seeing as the whole point is to mix in what you want of course but being that I worked there a lot of people like you actually wanted the syrup
@@dillonwright13 I tried a shamrock shake once, I thought I was getting mint ice cream but apparently it's mint flavored vanilla ice cream
It was still kind of okay except that it was horribly mixed so most of the mint syrup was at the top and before I was halfway through it I only had vanilla ice cream left because there was no mint mixed into the rest of it. I'm sure it'd be fine if mixed properly but I've been wary of trying it again. I also once tried ordering an Oreo McFlurry from McDonald's and it was even worse because I kid you not, the bottom half of the cup was plain vanilla ice cream, and the top half was nothing but a giant layer of Oreo. I had to awkwardly dig through the giant Oreo rock and eat it on its own until finally I saw vanilla ice cream at the bottom. Definitely the worst ice cream experience I've ever had, I don't know why they didn't even try to mix anything and just gave me a giant pile of Oreo to dig through
Cold Stone is by far the best when it comes to premium ice cream. You simply can't beat their taste and quality. DQ and BR are both decent for more budget minded consumers but if you're after quality and taste then nothing beats Cold Stone. Yet another absolutely awesome video.
You gotta hit up a local place that makes theirs in house.
Now that’s where it’s at.
Shut up
DQ is a completely different product, You are comparing apples and oranges. I would much rather have DQ. And it has nothing to do with price.
@@davidv6588 I agree. DQ isn't for everyone but its fine for.the price you pay. For me, at least, I've found Cold Stone Ice cream to be almost too rich. But to each their own.
Always reminds me of that King of the Hill episode, we make ice cream fun, and Hank saying whats with all these companies trying to shove more fun into things, ice creams already fun.
He had a point lol
The thing that always stuck out to me about this company was that episode of King of the Hill where they basically just dumped on the playful atmosphere for a half hour, and Hank's immortal line, "Ice Cream is already fun."
I've always loved how smooth and creamy the ice cream is combined with my choice of mix-ins. It really is a recipe for success.
Do you not have actual home made ice cream shops near you?
Why tf are people crying about him liking Cold Stone?
🤣😂😆 It's a recipe for fat....I got one right by me....PASS
@@robertcuratolo5339 Boy you don’t know WHAT you’re even talking about, like bye 😂
@@squares4u 😂 Okay Fatty
Another one of their reasons for being successful is their success with the Cake Batter ice cream flavor. It's a unique flavor that particularly sweet and extremely popular. From every location I've gone to and asked what their most popular flavor is, staff has always responded with Cake Batter. That flavor has caused Coldstone to spawn other "batter" flavors but none of them seem to have been as popular as Cake Batter.
Yes, Cold Stone was the first place I had heard of cake batter flavor and I absolutely LOVED It. But the they stopped making it a while due to the raw eggs until they came out with a new formula. Now every cheap store brand ice cream has a cake batter flavor (birthday cake, etc.).
I used to work at a Cold Stone/ Which Wich. The place was poorly managed and quit to work at Walmart of all places, because it was a better option. The ice cream was great and was made fresh most of the time with good ingredients, but mixing in things would kill your forearms and as someone else mentioned, the customer base was very entitled. I’ve seen all of the ones around me closing, so I look forward to the follow up “And decline of” video.
I think it speaks to the company when your comment, and the other previous worker with an unpleasant experience, are the top two comments lol. I’ve never heard of it personally, but I’m definitely gonna steer clear after reading these.
Marble Slab is way better than Coldstone. The Texas equivalent chains tend to be better but fly under the radar due to the lack of expansion, like Whataburger and HEB. We really do have it better here, and the country doesn't know it cuz they think Texas is all Cowboys and rednecks.
What if that follow up never happens? What if instead this one is followed up by "Rise and Fall... and Rise again?"
It wouldn’t kill your forearms if you got good 😂 or had worse management who won’t spent the money on a new ghea that didn’t stop working every other day
Always been a fan of "Cold Stone" Steve Austin.
DTA Don’t Trust Anybody
That’s the bottom line!
wHaT?!
That’s what Mike Tyson called Austin
I remember the Make-A-Wish collaboration. As a kid I was allowed to go behind the counter and help them work. It was the best time I’d ever had in a restaurant.
This comment really makes me think about how many kids would would love to have my job.
Glad to hear they are successful, cuz we lost a location recently that I grew up with, and was worried they were on a decline. Found one that is about 30min. from me, so that’s good.
Ours all went on the decline or disappeared. The stores became less well-maintained, mess was everywhere, and every surface was sticky. I get that ice cream is sticky by nature and that the stores got okay foot traffic, but it turned me off to go into one because the floors, counters, and tables were all gross.
I haven't seen a Cold Stone still in business in years.
yeah this video came out several years too late, they definitely are on a steep decline.
I worked at a place called Tu Tu Tango in Coconut Grove, Miami in the 90s. They did the happy birthday acknowledgement thing with the whole crew. Nice place.
shout out to the Grove!!!!!!
It’s heartbreaking for me to see this because I had a Cold Stone in my area and it was my go to ice cream place and then that location either went out of business or relocated but I never saw it again. I have a lot of memories from it.
@ghost mall food speaks to the heart
This happened where I live too. but eventually we got a 2nd location. Not sure if its still there, I think it is. the OG shut down a while ago tho but probably just due to being low-income area
@ghost mall it’s heartbreaking due to the memories I had as a six year old going every weekend and having a great time up to about when I was 10 or 11 when it closed. Which wasn’t that long ago like not even 10 years ago. I’m only 18
I was about to say the same thing when I saw the title of the video, I didn’t think they were very successful because they completely left my area 10 years ago and I haven’t heard of them since this video
@@catzass69 I went to one location since then and a shit ton of memories came back. I believe it was in Florida. Mississippi where I’m from barely has any locations from what I know of.
Always loved cold stone creamery when I was younger. Never had one around us but when we would travel we would stop at them.
My local location is a train wreck. High turn over, constant manager change, poor employee training, bad equipment management, flies, rats, etc. I worked there for 4 years and service was always half assed. Now a family member of mine works there and it’s just as much or even more of a circus than it was before. They are lucky they get the amount of customers they get. It’s a sheer miracle.
Bad management by the franchiser.
We had something similar in Canada (at least in Ontario) called Marble Slab. Very expensive but pretty good ice cream. Seems that 'funky' ice cream is becoming a trend, especially if they're considered healthy. So hopefully places like Marble slab can expand. Cause man, even though they're expensive, it's SO good..
We have marble slab in the US too (im down in texas so its pretty far). Honestly i prefer cold stone but marble slab is good too
We have a Marble Slab where I live in Alabama too. It is the exact same experience as cold stone down to the way they mix it and the brand collaboration. Ours is Marble Slab/Great American Cookie Company
We used to have one in South Carolina! I thought it was just the same company with a different regional name, but they went out of business there and I haven't heard more about them until now.
We’ve got Marble Slab in upstate NY. I never liked it, the ice cream tasted like flavored ice chips. Cold Stone was always better to me!
My first job was cold stone. Overall a great place for a first job in my opinion. I really enjoyed working there in high school.
I worked at Cold Stone for about a year. It was fun. I was usually a closer, but I had a culinary background, so eventually the owner started teaching me how to make the ice cream. It was a blast, really. I just hated it when we had like, 40 people in line and had to sing every 2 minutes. There were like, 60 songs to try to remember and a lot of them were super lame.
We did get to take one creation home a day. If I had school the next day, I'd make a Two To Mango smoothie which was incredible.
I can't recommend the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, but sub in Peanut Butter ice cream instead of chocolate if they have it. Get that as a shake, too and you won't regret it.
It's expensive, but it's really worth it.
I’ve seen a lot of comments from previous employees saying that you would have to sing a lot to customers. Why would management make you sing?
@@cellie_bellie That was part of their whole corporate image. Showing a staff that is singing while working was meant to have an air of jollity to it. It helped make it more of an "experience" rather than just a place to go and buy ice cream. How many other ice cream places entertain you? The whole thing is really a spectacle from beginning to end. You pick your ice cream, mix ins, see it being worked, have a song or two sung. It's certainly a unique experience!
That's crazy I've been to CSC in NC/SC and NJ and waited in numerous long lines throughout the years and I've never heard them sing once to anyone! I didn't know they even did that until reading this comment. BTW their ice cream is expensive but very good especially the Sweet Cream with various mix-ins!
I’ve only been to Coldstone Creamery twice and both times it was when my cousin took me when I was a kid. This was in the early to mid 2000’s. It was cool to watch them mix the ice cream and toppings together. It’s store is in a mall so it gets the traffic it needs to stay in business. The thing is when you live in Wisconsin and you have so many different ice cream places around you that’s better for your wallet and it’s a small business that’s where I’ll purchase any ice cream.
I have an Aunt who sent me Coldstone gift cards for years for my birthday. I couldn't complain, but I never lived near one.
Now that I finally do have one close by and a lady to take there those gift cards are finally getting used. Pretty darn good stuff!
Loved it a lot in my childhood, but did not like the singing, but loved the ice cream. I remember when one opened up just a 10 min walk from me, and I would go there in the summer. But back in 2001 not all their stores had the cricket promotional. There were several Kosher Certified Cold Stones at the time (today many many more) and as part of the certification process, they were not allowed to have any non-kosher mix-ins, and those were one of them. So those stores did not have it.
There’s a Cold Stone in a nearby mall. Tried different ice cream flavors a few times, and it was middle of the road, but I can see why folks who usually Frosty or Blizzard it up like the place so much.
I worked at a Brusters Ice Cream franchise in the early 00’s as a part time gig. Like Cold Stone the ice cream was made daily and unlike the 11 flavors we had closer to 20 “stock” flavors available everyday. I was one of the peeps making the ice cream, helping with supply day, so I had a good grasp of the ingredients, and it was top tier stuff.
I had a wonderful boss. And he definitely showed me how to lead by example and truly manage folks efficiently but with kindness. Working at that particular Brusters is still to this day the best/most fun job I ever had. Yeah, it was part time and I was making slightly above minimum wage, but the managers respected the employees and didn’t create a poor work environment. With that tangent out of the way, Brusters set the bar for ice cream very high for me, and Stone Cold… err Cold Stone while better than Baskin Robbins or DQ still hasn’t reached the same level as the Brusters stores.
The only other big name brand that does super premium, is Ben and Jerry’s. Even the ones in store are included. But out of all the ice cream brands, Coldstone is my favorite.
I like cold stone but it's a bit expensive, a bad storn destroyed our local cold stone and hasn't been back in a year
I worked at Bed Bath & Beyond when Cold Stone was exploding in popularity. One of the products we carried for a brief time was a stone slab you could mix your ice cream on. Somehow I think most people who bought those probably never use them more than a few times before relegating it to the back of the kitchen cabinet.
I only went to coldstone once, I didn't realize they sang there so when they did (and my very modest very no-fun family heard it) I think it was immediately decided we were never going there again. I don't even remember what it tasted like :(
CSC is by FAR the Best Ice Cream Shoppes out there. The atmosphere, the choices, and the top notch ice cream quality.
Here in Montgomery, we used to have both a Marble Slab Creamery as well as a Cold Stone Creamery. Sadly, both have been defunct for years. I liked them both and wish they were still here.
I'm not gonna lie, I would have liked a "Why was Stone Cold Steve Austin" so successful. Show the rattlesnake some love!
Love the content from this channel!
That said, I thought it'd be interesting to bring up how Cold Stone Creamery closed down here in Singapore.
It had a good start at first and queues were long, but it ran out of steam after a bit and puttered along and more and more outlets closed before calling it quits after 10 years or so.
Not denying that some of the ice-cream dishes were good, but it was up against a lot of stiff competition here. Not to mention, I found their gimmicks and tricks pretty irritating after a while and I reckon I wasn't alone.
Thanks for the great videos as always!
Never heard of them before and figured it was another place that was far from my area as usual. I looked them up and found they actually have a location near me! I'm going to have to try them out thanks to you.
Tell us how it goes
Oh wow, where did you usually go for ice cream as a kid?
I lived at the other end of the state as a kid where they had barely anything. Only had Dairy Queen.
They’ve closed all the locations by me, but yet I still think they have great ice cream
Cold stone was my first job, I showed up to work where they told me I'd be paid 4.25 an hour for a whole summer as "training pay". Safe to say I left halfway through my first day.
I smell what you're cookin'.
Actually now that I think about it I love the smell of cold stone
I guess you could say they’re a stone cold success
Ouch
That pun suck
Well that's the bottom line...
@@stevensuarez4843 bottom of the barrel lmao
Um what
I once ordered a Birthday Cake from Cold Stone, Turns out they never even made the Cake and didn't even want to give us a refund so they made up buy a plain ice cream cake that they put Happy Birthday on. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THEM AGAIN!!!
I appreciate the passion
Heard of them, but never tasted their ice cream. But I do love hearing their background & success.
Basic ice cream but they pound whatever ingredients that you want into it. Good but expensive like $10 -15.
You’re not missing much but overpriced ice cream.
@@ellerose6807 It's pretty comparable to other places. I can get a "LIke It" size for about 5.99 or 2 scoops at Baskin Robbins for 4.99. You get literally the highest grade ice cream plus mix ins, whereas other chains you get super basic...that said, I'm not big on desserts but I like to go maybe twice per year 🤤
@@Woozlewuzzleable GEEZ, you’re place is overpriced af. The stone cold near me only charges 5ish bucks for the largest one.
@@Howitgoes799 Yeah, that's why I never eat there.
I've never had Cold Stone. This video has me intrigued. I would love to go there, often and try every menu item, just not at one sitting.
It's delicious.
shutup
Cold Stone to me is niche. They're delicious, but not cheap, and while their flavors are typically found at other major chains they taste better and incorporate their "mix-ins" to create favorites you simply can't find anywhere else. They should embrace and maintain their niche status and I can see them continuing to do quite well.
I’ve been going to cold stone a lot more recently due to the Nintendo collaboration because I found those mixes were really tasty
I actually thought they were declining. 😅
I think they have downsized. They're only in the wealthy zip codes now in Colorado. Use to be more widespread a decade back. Still the best ice cream
I heard they charge way-too-high franchising fees and percentages. Because of this, franchisees lose money unless they sell a TON of ice cream. This might be why so many closed.
I went to Cold Stone last month and had a Gotta Have It size Sundae; it was expensive but it was very delicious. The store did seemed to be kind of boring, but the woman behind the counter was very nice and I enjoyed my experience there.
They hired PEGGY HILL to name the flavour and sizes 😂 I love they’re ice cream.
I’ve been waiting for this video!
On the subject of ice cream places; the other day my friends and I were talking about Friendly's and how there are only a handful left. There used to be one in every town in Upstate, NY where I am from and Friendly's ice cream in the grocery store. I'd love to have a Friendly's video about what happened to them.
I was wondering if somebody was going to bring up Friendly's. It was one of my favorite places to go as a kid because there weren't any other restaurants around that provided crayons and where you could be sure you'd be getting ice cream at the end because the Happy Ending sundae came free with just about anything.
I used to go to Friendly's too. I grew up in Connecticut. Last I heard of them they filed for Chapter 11 and there was some lawsuits going on but other than that, I dunno. I used to love the pistachio ice cream. I remember buying the ice cream from Stop & Shop supermarket but it made me miss the times I had with mom when she took me to Friendly's once or twice a month on a friday. Good times.
Agreed. I used to love Friendly’s until they… well… disappeared…
THIS. Staple of my childhood in the mid Atlantic area. Fond memories of them and A&W.
friendlys was so fun as a kid, i loved the monster mash sundae
This is the longest Cold Stone Creamery commercial that I've ever seen
How in the heck is Dairy Queen #1? They are barely even relevant anymore.
Worked till 2003. Was great that you could make any mix and tweak things.
Honestly surprised there’s hasn’t been a Stone Cold/cold stone crossover promotion to this point.
“Cold Stone the best Ice Cream. And that’s the bottom line, cause Stone Cold said so!” It writes itself
lol ikr that'd be perfect
I haven't been to cold stone in a while. I'll have to go again soon.
I never liked the place very much, rather expensive and frankly I disliked the employees' insincere friendliness. But good for them I'm not hating on them, glad they're doing well, I just never cared for the brand personally
Cold Stone has GREAT ice cream. I really love their butter pecan with graham cracker pie crust, nilla wafers, and caramel sauce 😋
I lived in South Korea for 6 years. Cold Stone there is a completely different experience. You walk in and the employees are excited about their job. Here in the states? It is like you are offending the employees by walking in. I stopped going.
It's the same way here in America too. I don't remember the last time I went into a coldstone where the employees looked like they actually wanted to be there.
Cold Stone ice cream IS amazing. Definitely above the rest. I appreciate them even more after moving to a region that does not have any! There are marble slab knockoffs here and, while the store appearance and selections appear familiar at first glance, that is where the similarities end. Cold Stone is the best I've ever had.
"Cold Stone Steve Austin" - Mike Tyson
Nice pun in the beginning lol
I agree that this is a future "Decline of Cold Stone Creamery- What Happened?" Multiple locations in my general proximity have closed within the past 4 years. I think poor management, competition from "local" ice cream shops, availability of "more affordable" chain shops, and high cost of their product, -will be their downfall.
I feel like Dylan Lemey Is Also a huge part of their success. With such a huge following. It saves it say that more people would learn about cold stone. Thats where I first knew it
My gf went to an interview there and it was bad. The guy was horrible. He said they don't do raises and don't expect one. Expect low hours too. They were extremely demanding in rules too. She walked out and said "nah I'm good". It's considered a place that only college students work at so they're really bad to workers. I've had multiple people say how much they hated it there too.
I love cold stones I used to love going to them all the time living in California but when I moved here to Texas it was hard to find a location because everyone here loves Dairy Queen.
Can you please make a video on why 'ring' is successful.
This was awesome, thank you so much for the great content man! God bless you :)
I've eaten at Cold Stone's first location in the 90's when I was living there and going to ASU. It's on Southern and McClintock, I believe. May not be there anymore.
Braum's is the best (their milk is second to none by a long shot too), but even with over 300 locations, it's not a national chain, and will likely never be. They have this policy to stay within 300 miles of their processing facility in Tuttle, OK. Got a friend of mine from Michigan hooked on it after just a single visit 😂
The thing I like about Cold Stone is that they have an allergy procedure at every store. I tell them I am allergic to nuts and they can make my ice cream with new scoops and separately.
Yup, my mom has Celiac and Cold Stone is safe for her.
Man it was nice serving people with allergies sometimes knowing they don’t usually get this but my god when this whole family with nut allergies came in I wanted to cry
So does every other such restaurant, its a legal requirement
@@JS-wp4gs sorta but coldstone are one of the few that can actually make it happen safety wise there is no guarantee even at coldstone and that’s true for everywhere but most places if you have an allergy your gambling if they serve any of your allergens at all
@@JS-wp4gs there's no legal requirement to accommodate allergies
Wow. I never thought I would hear a reference to Steve Herrell in Massachusetts here.
It’s been a good while since I’ve cold stone creamery, definitely should change that someday.😊
I just subscribed to your channel & I love it. Excellent work on battling big major companies & brands from each other.
Now I have another suggestion for you. It would be great and interesting if you did Play Station vs X BOX. I think this would be a great video against two major power houses of the 2 biggest game systems in the world.
Keep up the great work.
I like that they were able to achieve their dreams and follow their goals.
Great broadcast
I never had Cold Stone growing up in SEA as they are 'the expensive' brand, but this video make me want go and try one
This might be the best Ice cream I have ever had and I’m light weight lactose intolerant.The high fat content of it makes it so good I have no lactose issues
With Cold Stone you get what you payed for, its pricy but you get a lot of ice cream
You get a lot more for less at the grocery store.
@@davidv6588that’s what poor people say. You might want rethink your life choices if you can’t afford ice cream. Just because you failed in life doesn’t mean the rest of us did also
In Puerto Rico, Cold Stones is always next to a Carribbean Cinemas (a carribbean movie theater chain). It’s a great strategy because me and my friends often get Cold Stones’ ice cream after watching a movie, no matter which movie theater we go to. Baskin Robbins isn’t near any hang out spot that I can think of, so I’ve never been there.
Hey I’m there right now lol
Wow what a freaking coincidence I just went to a cold stone today for the first time and then I’m recommended this
Dude Cold Stone in Japan is awesome!
I’ve never heard of them before this video but I’ll have to try it
I love their ice cream. I try to avoid ice cream in general, but I'll go here if anywhere.
I've only seen like 2 Dairy Queens ever in my life haha. For perspective I live in California. We have a handful of BR stores but Cold Stone is all over the place, even when I travel. I'm surprised to see DQ is bigger.
Crazy I live in western Canada and its the opposite never actually scene a cold stone but DQ is omnipresent lol also nothing beats a DQ blizzard and I will hear no argument against it haha
Maybe I live in a odd part of North America, but Cold Stone went out of business across my entire province about 10 years ago and I haven’t heard of them since. When I saw the title was why they are successful, I couldn’t believe it… I thought they went bust
I heard they charge way-to-high franchising fees and percentages. Because of this, franchisees lose money unless they sell a TON of ice cream. This might be why so many closed.
Dairy Queen blizzard is easily unmatched, I haven't tasted a single ice cream that even comes close to it.
Had dinner with the co-founder of Kahila Corp, the company responsible for taking cold stone to the next level through franchise expansion . It was an amazing conversation and she was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. 🥰
I’m glad to hear she was sweet! And nice to hear a woman as a co founder too 😊
Opening your ice cream shop in Arizona sounds like a smart decision in their defense.
Cold stone is upscale ice cream shop. I also got their Nintendo ice cream flavors, it’s really good! They even got the governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey to run the company before he ran for governor!
I lived in the Austin Texas area all of my 51 years on earth, I’ve never heard of this place but I wish we had one !!!! After I sent this message, found that we do have one here in Austin. Looking forward to trying it out. It opened 5-10-22. It’s actually not in Austin, but a suburb called round rock.
If you’re in Austin like me, we have Amy’s Ice Cream, which is local and fills a similar niche to Cold Stone Creamery.
They opened here in Canada and failed.
'Cuz it sucks. You Canadians are smarter about some things.
@@miastrong151 i dont think so. We think Tim Hortons is good coffee lol
@@Hogtownboy1 Yeah, true.
@@Hogtownboy1 I said "some", though.
@@miastrong151 be well Mia. 🙏🏽
I haven't seen a Cold Stone Creamery in a long time. All of them closed where I lived. The ice cream was very good. I cannot say that it was the best I've eaten. The mix in thing was okay but I was never a regular customer....on rare occasions when I was in the mall or something
I don't get the appeal of Cold Stone. The ice cream is nothing special and I can get better options at Baskin Robbins without having to wait for them to smash the ice cream around. Taste is subjective of course but you can't argue with the time to serve difference. I'm going for ice cream, not a song and dance routine. Also, it doesn't seem fair to compare them to Dairy Queen since DQ only does soft serve.
Could you do a video on Circuit City? Maybe Payless Shoe Source? Keep up the great work!
Cold Stone Creamery
Stone Cold: 'WHAT?!"
love the ice cream but working there was absolutely horrendous.
I’ve always wanted to eat there but I have a nut allergy and they don’t accommodate the allergy at all. I know it’s hard given the interaction with mix-ins and the cold stone, but it’s a shame they have no intention to serve one of the largest allergy groups in the country. Oh well, Carvel and Kohrs are my fav dessert spots
As an Arizonan who's invested in local politics, it's really weird to hear someone talk about Doug Ducey before he became governor.
I mixed this place up with Marble Slab Creamery. I didn't realize they were two separate places.
And Maggie Moo’s
Dairy Queen is soft serve ice cream with toppings and mix-ins. Completely different kind of ice cream.
Really good ice cream, but don’t be in a hurry if you go there.
Ok is Their any in Delaware or Maryland?
I believe that here in Canada, this place is called Marble Slab. It's really good, but I still prefer DQ all day. I am hooked on Blizzards and will probably never not be.