The test that launched 100 co-branded locations may have put one Cold Stone Creamery franchisee out of business.
Last February, Cold Stone Creamery announced that they had concluded a successful test co-branding two stores with Tim Horton’s, Canada’s largest coffee and doughnut chain.
The results of the two Rhode Island test stores were so impressive that Cold Stone Creamery and Tim Horton’s were initiating a 100-store co-brand expansion nationwide.
However, not everyone was pleased with the co-branding test or initiative.  According to a post on Unhappy Franchisee, (COLD STONE CREAMERY: Bitter Franchisee Alleges Encroachment) an established Cold Stone Creamery franchisee …read more

According to a Wall Street Journal article by Richard Gibson, the number of SBA-backed loan defaults by franchisees increased 52% in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008, from fiscal 2007. Loan losses totaled $93.3 million, a 167% jump from $35 million just 12 months earlier.
Quiznos Sub had the highest number of loan defaults, with 108 franchisee failures.  Cold Stone Creamery franchises racked up 75 defaults, followed by the Subway franchise with 42 defaults and Curves for Women with 24.
By percentage of defaults to total loans, meal prep kitchen Dream Dinners had the highest, with 18% of franchisees having …read more

  Will Cold Stone Creamery be adding Pepper Spray Swirl as a new flavor?  Or Tazerberry?  Will MACE be the newest mix-in?
Reader IllvilleMama jokingly suggested the Pepper Spray Swirl flavor in comments following the story of a fired Cold Stone Creamery employee so loyal that his hands had to be pried from the counter and he had to be pepper-sprayed by police to be removed from the premises.
According to The Daily Journal, the Aug. 9, 2005, incident happened at the Cold Stone Creamery in New Jersey’s Cumberland Mall.
According to court records, it started with Caldwell, an employee, engaging in a …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)
…this “golden child” of the ice cream industry continues to go undetected in their ruthless business practices, their flawed business model and their total disregard for the profitability of the franchisee.
If you are thinking about buying a [Cold Stone Creamery] franchise – DON’T DO IT!!!
J.B. Montgomery, ex-franchisee, from his Cold Stone Creamery complaint at Unhappy Franchisee
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Over at Unhappy Franchisee, a reader named J.B. Montgomery has left a scathing indictment against Cold Stone Creamery and Kahala Corp., alleging that he is an ex-franchisee victimized by franchisor “churning.”

In franchising, the term “churning” refers to the practice of reselling the same …read more

(Franchise Pick Franchise Blog) Things have gotten chilly for Cold Stone Creamery. It started with Richard Gibson’s The Inside Scoop article in the Wall Street Journal:
Earlier in this decade, Cold Stone Creamery was one of the hottest franchises around. The super-premium ice-cream stores attracted scores of franchisees hungry for a piece of the “Ultimate Ice Cream Experience.”
Now many franchisees are selling their stores, overwhelmed by soaring bills and shrinking profits. Some have lost their homes, broken their retirement nest eggs or filed for bankruptcy…
A number of franchisees… contend the company misled them, giving them promises of profit …read more

Upcoming food franchise opportunities we’re exploring:  5 & Diner,
Booster Juice, Carvel, Chocolography Food Imaging System, Currito Burritos Without Borders, Maui Wowi
(FranchisePick.Com) 
Spring may be warming up for some, but 3 out of the 5 Cold Stone Creamery franchises have gone cold and stiff in the past year.
Melissa Cassutt of the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:
   The latest, at 2130 Southgate Road, was seized after owner Pittman Investments LLC, failed to pay $23,985 in state sales tax, according to a sign posted on the door. The assets of the store – including a industrial-size ice cream machine and three waffle …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)  See also: 
Cold Stone Creamery Co-Brands With Soup Nazi,
How ‘Bout a Stone Cold Bowl of Reality?
In his comment left last night on my post Cold Stone Creamery Franchise: Hell Hath no Fury Like a Franchisee Scorned, unhappy Cold Stone Creamery franchise owner Cecil Rolle states:
a recent review of Cold Stone’s website indicated that the company had 392 of its approximate 1,400 stores for sale (that’s a whopping 28% of its total franchises)…
…a recent review of bizbuysell.com and other sites revealed several Cold Stone stores with asking prices of less than $100,000 and one as low as $29,000. …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)  In franchising, the Internet has changed everything.  It used to be that angry franchise owners just went away quietly.  Even those who sued the franchisor did not get the added leverage of press coverage. 
But franchisors beware;  these days vengeful franchisees spread the word across the Internet… which also happens to be where franchise buyers are doing their research.
The Dissed ‘n Franchised don’t need much of an opening to blast out their message.  NJ Star Ledger’s sports writer Dan Graziano casually mentioned in his blog that while visiting the Yankees Spring Training Camp, there was a Cold Stone …read more

(FranchisePick.Com) Is the Cold Stone Creamery’s franchise bowl half-empty or half-full? Amidst rumors of internal problems and a third round of layoffs at franchise amalgam Kahala Cold Stone, here’s the latest attempt at making their concepts work: sticking a couple of them together. Who knows? They can always add a Cereality franchise to the mix.
 
The First Co-Branded Store Makes NYC Debut on Astor Place
‘Soup and Ice Cream for Life’ Raffle Drawing During Ceremony
NEW YORK, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ — …read more

Last week, in response to Kahala Cold Stone’s acquisition of the fledgling Cereality Cereal Cafe chain, I asked Can Kahala Cold Stone Put Some Reality in Cereality? The answer was swift and clear.
In “Cereality Growth Begins By Shutting Two of Seven Stores,” Restaurants & Institutions magazine’s Derek Gayle writes that:
On acquiring the seven-unit Cereality Cereal Bar & Café chain, one of the first moves franchising powerhouse Kahala-Cold Stone made was to close two stores, one in Chicago, the other in Evanston, Ill, a suburb north of the city.
The stated purpose is to transition from company-owned to franchise …read more