Cold Stone Creamery Continues to Expand with Plans to Open Stores in Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cold Stone Creamery, the leading purveyor of super-premium, personalized ice cream worldwide, announced plans to make even more people happy in more international locations this year. Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are amongst the latest additions from Cold Stone Creamery, proving the company's revolutionary ice cream concept is taking the international sweet tooth by storm.
The doors of Mexico's first Cold Stone Creamery are slated to open in September, followed by two in Mexico City and one in Cancun by the end of this year. Over the next five years the company plans to open more than 25 stores throughout the country.
In this venture, Cold Stone Creamery is partnering with the Italianni's group, the number one casual dining concept in Mexico. In addition to operating over 40 Italianni's restaurants throughout Mexico, each earning over $3.5 million per store, Italianni's also owns Servicial, a food and beverage distribution company. With various food and beverage distributions throughout the country, Servicial provides a new channel to sell Cold Stone Creamery's Grab-N-Go products in retail locations.
Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are also joining the international ice cream craze, led by a partnership between Cold Stone Creamery and PT Mitra Adiperkasa (PT Map), the number one retail, food and beverage company in Indonesia. Plans include opening three Cold Stone Creamery stores in Jakarta by the end of this year, and more than 40 more in the next five years.
PT Map operates over 600 stores with 80 different brands, generating over $370 million in sales in 2006. With successful brands such as Starbucks, Burger King, Zara, Reebok and Marks & Spencer already under PT Map's leadership, Cold Stone Creamery will be entering into a partnership with a proven industry powerhouse.
"Cold Stone Creamery is thrilled to partner with two of the world's leading restaurant and retail operators to deliver the ultimate ice cream experience to more ice cream aficionados worldwide," said Lee Knowlton, Chief Operating Officer for Kahala•Cold Stone.
The path to Cold Stone Creamery's explosive international growth began in November 2005 when the company opened its first international store in the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, Cold Stone Creamery has opened 22 more stores throughout Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan and plans to open in even more territories by the year's end, including the Middle East, Mexico and Indonesia.
About Cold Stone Creamery
Cold Stone Creamery delivers the Ultimate Ice Cream Experience® through a community of franchisees who are passionate about ice cream. The secret recipe for smooth and creamy ice cream is handcrafted fresh daily in each store, and then customized by combining a variety of mix-ins on a frozen granite stone. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., Cold Stone Creamery is part of the Kahala•Cold Stone holding company, a leading brand-building franchisor with a portfolio of 14 diversified brands. Cold Stone Creamery alone operates more than 1,400 locations in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan.
Ranked no. 1 in the ice cream and frozen desserts category in Entrepreneur magazine's "Franchise 500" (2007), Cold Stone Creamery is a force to be reckoned with in the $20.7 billion U.S. ice cream industry. Reported 2006 system-wide revenues exceeded $471 million, up 15 percent over 2005.
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