Cold Stone Creamery local expansion reflects national growth trend

Lou Mazza was like a child in a candy store his first time at Cold Stone Creamery, dazed and nearly incapable of making a decision. He finally settled on a combination of brownie chunks and fudge sauce folded into a mound of chocolate ice cream.

Less than a year later, he owns two stores — one in Crossroads, the other under construction at Redmond Town Center.

The company is expanding rapidly around Puget Sound. The Redmond store, expected to open next month, is one of 12 area stores planned in the next 12 months.

As one of the first concept stores, Redmond will stray from the red-and-black old-fashioned ice-cream parlor theme and will closely resemble a cafe, with softer lighting and more brown tones, Mazza said.

Cold Stone is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., but sells franchises locally. Founders Donald and Susan Sutherland started with one store in 1988. Today, there are 290 stores nationwide, with more than 100 opening in the past year. The goal: 1,000 profitable stores by the end of 2004.

Customers create their own treats by choosing ice cream and toppings, which are mixed together on a granite stone chilled to 16 degrees. Toppings include fruit, nuts, candy, even pie crust or fudge.

Mazza said one of the more disgusting combinations he has served was lemon sorbet, peanut butter and chocolate-chip-cookie dough.

"They tasted it and said it was perfect," Mazza said. "I don't know what their goal was, but they were happy with it."

The company says perhaps the oddest combination ever was coffee ice cream with pineapple and pickles.

Cold Stone has gimmicks. Prospective employees must "audition" for a job, so that when a customer tips, they will be confident enough — whether there are 10 employees or just one — to ring a cow bell and belt out familiar ditties, but with a twist, such as: "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay, my, oh, my, there's money coming my way."

The singing is a stroke of marketing genius that often turns curious passers-by into customers. Just ask Richard and Ruth Ann Harward of Renton.

Richard Harward said they were walking around looking at magazines when an employee started singing to someone. "You can't help but look," said Harward, who ended up ordering cheesecake ice cream with raspberries.

His wife, eating raspberry sorbet with extra raspberries, said they would be back.

Tricia Duryee: 206-464-3283 or tduryee@seattletimes.com.