THE summer season is almost at its tailend, but it’s still very hot. Every day, when I do field work – covering events or doing shoots – I have to contend with very hot weather. I sweat it out, even if there’s aircon in the car, in the coverage and shoot venues, and in the office. But yesterday afternoon (May 22, 2013), right after lunch at Market Market, my husband Raff and I crossed over to Serendra to visit Cold Stone Creamery’s first outlet in the Philippines that’s set to open to the public sometime next week. Michael McGill, the president of International at Kahala (*Kahala is one of the fastest growing franchising companies in the world, and Cold Stone Creamery is a subsidiary of it), is in Manila in time for the Invitational Grand Opening of the Cold Stone Creamery store in Serendra that’s ongoing today (May 23, 2013), and I was scheduled to interview him at 2:00 p.m. yesterday.
Cold Stone Creamery, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, and boasts of over 1,500 stores in 25 countries. It’s a super premium ice cream brand that offers smooth, creamy and delicious ice cream made fresh daily, using only the highest quality cream, milk and other ingredients. A store that’s fully operational offers at least 20 ice cream flavors whenever you visit and over 20 flavors of mix-ins, such as nuts, fresh fruits and candies. Customers choose their ice cream flavor and their mix-ins, and the crew members of Cold Stone put them on a frozen cold stone (15ºF), mix them up and serve the ice cream in a cup or a waffle cone or bowl.
For first-timers who do not know what mix-ins to choose to go with their chosen ice cream flavors, the crew members can make suggestions, or you can choose from any of Cold Stone Creamery’s Signature Creations. These are tried and tested combinations that are guaranteed to satisfy sweet cravings. These include Our Strawberry Blonde (strawberry ice cream with Graham cracker pie crust, strawberries, caramel and whipped cream), Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip (mint ice cream with chocolate chips, brownies and fudge), Banana Caramel Crunch (French vanilla ice cream with roasted almonds, banana and caramel), Founder’s Favorite (sweet cream ice cream with pecans, brownie, fudge and caramel), Oreo Overload (sweet cream ice cream with chocolate chips, Double Oreos and fudge), Apple Pie A La Cold Stone (French vanilla ice cream with cinnamon, Graham Cracker pie crust, apple pie filling and caramel), and Peanut Butter Cup Perfection (chocolate ice cream with peanut butter, Reese’s peanut butter cups and fudge).
You simply have to choose the size that you want – Lick It (Php95, ice cream only), Like It (Php145 if ice cream only and Php180 if you create your own ice cream with one mix-in), Love It (Php165 if ice cream only and Php200 if you create your own ice cream with one mix-in), and Gotta Have It (Php185 if ice cream only and Php220 if you create your own ice cream with one mix-in). You can also have your favorite ice cream and mix-in combination made in bulk for takeout. Additional mix-ins can be had at Php35 per extra mix-in.
Cold Stone Creamery also serves sorbets, signature shakes and lifestyle smoothies in Like It serving. Choices for the signature shakes are Oh Fudge! (chocolate ice cream and fudge), PB&C (chocolate ice cream and peanut butter), Milk & Cookies (sweet cream ice cream and Oreo Cookies), and Savory Strawberry (strawberry ice cream and strawberries). For the smoothies, the flavor selections are Pineapple Coconut Orange, Mango Pineapple, Banana Strawberry and Mango Strawberry.
Cold Stone is also popular the world over for its signature ice cream cakes. A small round cake of Midnight Delight, Cookies & Creamery, Strawberry Passion, Cheesecake Named Desire, Coffeehouse Crunch or Birthday Cake, which serves up to 8 people, is priced at Php980. McGill says customers can also “create their own” cake, but orders for customized cakes have to be made at least 48 hours prior to pickup.
As for Raff and me, we tried the Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip signature creation and then created our own Pistachio Ice Cream with Roasted Almonds and Brownie, with the mix-ins suggested by the crew member manning the ice cream station yesterday.
While McGill admits that the most popular ice cream flavors the world over are still Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and Cake Batter (*which Cold Stone invented 15 years ago), he’s confident that the variety of flavors and mix-ins that Cold Stone Creamery offers will entice everyone to be more creative and experimental with their ice cream so that they can create their own unique ice cream experience.
“According to a Harvard University doctoral study, there are 11.5 million ice cream and mix-in combinations that you can create with Cold Stone’s selections. “So if you sampled a creation a day, it would take more than 421 lifetimes to try all the combinations possible,” says McGill, who happily watched as the crew members of the first Cold Stone store in the Philippines went through their training, mixing up ice cream and mix-ins on the cold stone, flippin’ the ice cream with fire and passion, and entertaining guests with chants and suave dance moves.
Watch for the opening of Cold Stone Creamery-Serendra to the public!
