How To Open A Cold Stone Franchise: Five Easy Steps
If you love ice cream and business, it’s a sure bet that you’ve wondered how to make a living by combining the two. A Cold Stone Creamery franchise is one way to combine your two loves into one delicious and rewarding business.
What Is a Cold Stone Franchise?
Cold Stone Creamery is an ice cream franchise with over 1,000 locations in the United States and hundreds more around the world. It makes and sells fresh artisan quality ice cream in all of its locations. At Cold Stone Creamery, customers are given almost endless options to customize the ice cream to their heart’s desire. The atmosphere in each store is fun and exciting to give customers an experience they will remember and return to for a lifetime.
photo/ ClkerFreeVectorImages via Pixabay.com
The Types of Stores Offered
Cold Stone Creamery offers three different store opportunities. You can choose to open a Traditional location, a Non-Traditional location, or an Express Kiosk.
A Traditional location is not limited in the variety of Cold Stone ice cream products it can sell. A Non-Traditional location may be more limited, and an Express Kiosk sells soft serve only. This is largely due to the space requirements needed to make and sell the ice cream. Non-Traditional and Kiosk stores are limited on space and offer fewer products.
Cold Stone’s “Shark Week” ice cream is just the latest in a long, storied history of the desert
photo/Cold Stone Creamery
Training Included
The team at Cold Stone Creamery provides assistance during each phase of the process, from finding a location and building it out, to marketing it and your grand opening.
When you decide to move forward with your own Cold Stone Creamery store, you will be guided with 120 hours of initial training, covering topics like marketing and PR, and help on developing your business plan. Their support and coaching will be an ongoing asset throughout your tenure with the company. No previous business or industry experience is required, just a love for the product and the brand.
Initial Investment Required
With any business opportunity, there’s going to be the initial start-up cost. The difference with a franchise is you have built-in training and support to manage your location because they want to see their entire brand succeed.
The initial investment will depend on where you plan to open your franchise, and which opportunity you choose to pursue (Traditional, Non-Traditional, or Express Kiosk).
The average initial investment in a single location ranges from $50,200 to $467,525. Traditional franchise locations generally will be on the upper end of the spectrum ($467,525), and Express Kiosk locations will generally be on the lower end ($50,200).
To be considered, you must have a minimum net worth of $250,000 and minimum liquid capital of $100,000.
The Five Easy Steps to Open a Cold Stone Franchise
Once you’ve looked at the opportunity and the cost and have determined that a Cold Stone business is right for you, there are just five steps to go through to get the ball rolling and your store open.
1. Complete the application that’s located here.
2. Sign the franchise agreement once your application has been accepted.
3. Find a location for your store and build it out.
4. Go through the mandatory training that Cold Stone Creamery offers.
5. Open your doors to all of the ice cream lovers in your neighborhood!
If you’ve been dreaming of opening your own ice cream store, Cold Stone Creamery is one of the most loved and affordable opportunities to consider. If you meet the requirements, it’s really as easy as following the five-step process. To get started, all you need to do is complete the online application and wait for your approval.
Author: Jeremy Biberdorf
