The Cold Stone Story
Cold Stone Creamery – A Revolutionary Evolution
Our founders, Donald and Susan Sutherland, scoured the world in search of the perfect ice cream. Not surprisingly, they found that not all ice cream is created equal. From traditional hard-packed to soft serve varieties, until Donald and Susan pursued their “Ice Cream Dream”– we were stuck with some pretty disappointing alternatives. But after 1988 and the opening of the first Cold Stone Creamery in Tempe, Arizona, things changed. The Sutherlands fundamentally redefined ice cream and the world would never be the same.
Cold Stone Creamery ice cream is categorized by industry experts as “Super Premium.” Our ice cream is better because we make it fresh every day in every store, which puts Cold Stone completely in a class of our own.
At Cold Stone Creamery, we are proud of our heritage as Ice Cream Innovators. This heritage is based on a tradition of continuously redefining plain old regular ice cream into something truly extraordinary. Around here, we call every ice cream we serve a “Creation” – because each one is a work of art. Freshly made, smooth, creamy ice cream blended on a frozen granite stone with endless combinations – fruits, nuts, candy, cookies, brownies…you name it – you can mix in to your heart’s content.
We’re so proud of our redefinition of ice cream that we’re almost inclined to do away with the words “ice cream" altogether. Why not just call it Cold Stone?
TIMELINE OF COLD STONE CREAMERY
| 1988 | Donald and Susan Sutherland open the first Cold Stone Creamery ice cream store in Tempe, Arizona. |
| 1990 | Cold Stone Creamery’s first store becomes a hit and the Sutherlands open a second store in Phoenix, Arizona. |
| 1994 | Ken Burk joins Cold Stone Creamery and takes on a leadership role to establish the foundation of the growing company. |
| 1995 | Doug Ducey joins Cold Stone Creamery as a partner and takes on the role of president to handle business development and strategic direction. |
| 1995 | Fifth Cold Stone Creamery, the company’s first franchise store, opens in Tucson, Arizona. |
| 1996 | Cold Stone Creamery is awarded "Best of Phoenix" for the first time. |
| 1997 | Cold Stone Creamery serves its one-millionth ice cream Creation™. |
| 1997 | Cold Stone Creamery opens its first store in Alaska. |
| 2000 | Doug Ducey is named CEO. |
| 2001 | Cold Stone Creamery sells “Chocolate-Covered Crickets” as a mix-in and starts a media frenzy. |
| 2001 | First international franchise awarded, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| 2002 | Cold Stone Creamery awards 500th franchise in May 2002. |
| 2002 | Cold Stone Creamery opens 250th store in June 2002. |
| 2002 | In July, Cold Stone Creamery holds the first annual “World's Largest Ice Cream Social” to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. |
| 2003 | Cake Batter™ Ice Cream is launched in January 2003. |
| 2003 | Cold Stone Creamery opens its flagship store in Times Square. |
| 2003 | Cold Stone awards its 800th store in March 2003. |
| 2004 | Cold Stone Creamery launches a new line of Ice Cream Cakes. The new cakes are featured on ABC’s Good Morning America on April 30. |
| 2005 | Cold Stone Creamery celebrates the opening of its 1,000th store in Columbus, Ohio. |
| 2005 | Cold Stone Creamery moves into new 67,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. |
| 2005 | Cold Stone Creamery receives the "2005 Consumers Choice in Chains Award" in the Treat category in the August 2005 issue of Restaurants & Institutions. |
| 2005 | Cold Stone Creamery celebrates the opening of its first store in Japan, located in the Roppongi Hills complex in Toyko. |
| 2006 | Don Sutherland, Cold Stone Creamery founder, is honored as the 2006 recipient of the Dan Farr Pioneer Award at the Annual Franchisee Meeting titled, "Rise Above." |
| 2006 | Jesse James and his "Build Team," including Ohio resident and Cold Stone franchisee and area developer Don Smith, turn a 1977 AMC ice-cream delivery truck into a ferociously fast "ice racer" on the Discovery Channel hit show Monster Garage. |
| 2006 | USA Today takes an inside look at Cold Stone Creamery with a cover story appearing in the Money section of the June 9 |
| 2006 | Cold Stone Creamery celebrates the opening of its first store in Korea, located on "Piano Street" in Seoul. |
| 2007 | Cold Stone Creamery announces expansion plans for the Middle East. |
| 2007 | Cold Stone Creamery and Kahala merge creating a new category of franchising company. |
| 2007 | Cold Stone Creamery pays homage to the origins of ice cream with stores in Mainland China and Taiwan. |
| 2007 | Kahala•Cold Stone acquires Cereality cereal bar and café. |
