Slabs Are Joining Scoops in Ice Cream Retailing

When we think of ice cream we think Baskin Robbins or Dairy Queen, maybe even a few small local stores. However, when we think of coffee we automatically think of Starbucks. There are a few ice cream companies like Marble Slab Creamery, Cold Stone Creamer, and MaggieMoo’s International who are hoping to be the next Starbucks of ice cream. These companies are known for the unique way of making ice cream. Employees blend ingredients such as crumbled cookies in the ice cream on a marble slab and then pack it into a freshly baked waffle cone. The companies are quickly locating stores around the world. Last year America spent about 21 billion dollars in ice cream. However, in order for new stores like Marble Slab they have to beat out the old competition of Dairy Queen and other popular chains. Currently, demand is very high for the Marble Sap. although, some people feel that “People will just go back to the regular ice cream that they grew up with because of personal or psychological associations with ice cream”. Right now Cold Stone’s sales are down by seven percent, but they still expect to bring in 465 million dollars in total revenue, which would be up 46% from last year.

What do think? Will these new ice cream companies be short lived and people go back to the original plain vanilla and chocolate or are this new style of ice cream here to stay?