5 Reviews

1. AmyT Says:
   October 16th, 2006 at 1:34 pm

   They just recently closed the Marble Slab’s downtown location but the one in Glenwood Meadows, near Target and Lowes is still open.

2. Mike b Says:
   November 3rd, 2006 at 3:20 pm

   The Marble Slab at Glenwood Meadows has actually closed as well.

3. Liz Says:
   November 3rd, 2006 at 3:20 pm

   WOW glad we when for a walk after that ice cream, you could taste the calories.

4. Dustin K Says:
   April 25th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

   THE DOWNTOWN STORE RE-OPENED ON FEB 1ST UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT AND THE GLENWOOD MEADOWS STORE WILL RE-OPEN ON JUNE 1ST ‘07!!!

   THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK AND STOP ON BY FOR SOME FRESH HOMEMADE ICE CREAM AND BAKED GOODS WHEN YOU GET A SWEET TOOTH

   OWNER/OPERATOR

5. Cecil Rolle Says:
   March 20th, 2008 at 7:17 am

   I considered Marble Slab when I was looking at ice cream franchises. I wish I had opened a Marble Slab instead of a Cold Stone Creamery because in my opinion, from an investment standpoint, Cold Stone is a disaster!!!

   I am an Ex-Cold Stone Creamery franchisee. I am currently suing the company in federal court for among other things: (1) fraud in the inducement (i.e. for selling to potential franchisees based on statements such as “profit by making people happy” and “Cold Stone’s franchise opportunities are about as solid as they come”); and (2) Cold Stone effectively charges more than the 9% enumerated in their franchise agreement because they negotiate and receive “kickbacks” from the very vendors that they require franchisees to use. Those “kickbacks” drive up food cost for its franchisees and makes many of them unprofitable. This is apparent by the large number of stores that are closing down throughout the nation.

   Cold Stone has known for years that its franchisees have had serious profitability issues, yet they go out and negotiate deals that make their franchisees even more unprofitable. In my view, there is something inherently wrong with a company that negotiates deals with vendors that increase the cost to their franchisees. Those deals effectively pad the company’s own profits at the expense of its franchisees who suffer life altering financial failures and many are filing bankruptcy at an alarming rate. In my opinion, that is completely contrary to their core value to supposedly “do the right thing”. Cold Stone’s lack of care and concern for their franchisee’s well being is inexplicably disingenuous in my view.

   On its website, Cold Stone Creamery boasts its average store generates $381,985 in annual sales. We had three stores and they were performing well above the national average. Two of our stores did $500,000 each in annual sales, which is more than $100,000 above the company’s national average. We operated a store near a large college campus that was among the top Cold Stones in the entire nation. With $1.4 million in sales between the three stores–Cold Stone Creamery repeatedly recognized us as outstanding performers among stores throughout the nation and within our region. Even with such a large sales volume, we still could not earn a profit. This from a company that promised us 20% profits.

   There are Cold Stone Creamery franchisees who are pumping several thousands into their stores each month just to cover their losses. One franchisee told me, after investing $300,000 to open his store, he is losing $4,000 to $7,000 per month. A franchisee in Florida recently told me that he lost nearly $132,000 in just one store during 2007. That’s alarming.

   We are also suing Cold Stone for scuttling a sale to a potential buyer. According to this comment (http://www.bluemaumau.org/recovering_cold_stone_creamery_franchisee), we are not alone in that complaint.

   I haven’t had a whole lot of history with Kahala Corp (Cold Stone’s parent company) because they only recently purchased Cold Stone. However, if Cold Stone is their flagship brand, in my opinion, you have to wonder about the genius of this acquisition. This I do know, Cold Stone has been an absolute nightmare of an investment for many of its franchisees–myself included.

   Cecil Rolle
   cecilrolle@aol.com

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