A Cold Stone Creamery franchise is a unique business opportunity in the thriving $8 billion ice cream industry
Now is an ideal time for aspiring business owners to purchase a Cold Stone Creamery® franchise. Operating for 30 years, Cold Stone Creamery is a stand-out brand in the $8 billion ice cream industry. We are recruiting entrepreneurs to open franchises in locations throughout the United States.

Here are five fast facts to consider as you research the Cold Stone Creamery franchise opportunity.
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Our brand’s ice cream is made fresh daily
When it comes to delicious ice cream, there’s no rival to Cold Stone Creamery. Other ice cream chains ship their product in prepackaged vats or tubs. Our franchise owners make ice cream fresh every day.
We use the finest ingredients and state-of-the-art, easy-to-use ice cream machines to make our delicious, super-premium ice cream. Every scoop of our brand’s ice cream meets our customers’ high standards for taste, consistency and texture.
Find out why customers love our ice cream so much.
2. A Cold Stone Creamery franchise is easy to run and easy
to scale
You don’t need experience in the restaurant industry or the service industry to open a Cold Stone Creamery. All we ask for is a passion for ice cream, enthusiasm for our brand’s product and the desire to be a positive, meaningful force in your community. The business model and training and support make a Cold Stone Creamery franchise easy to run and easy to scale.
“The beauty of Cold Stone Creamery is that anyone with business savvy and passion for our brand and the ability to follow our systems can build a bright future,” says John Wuycheck, SVP of Franchise Development with Cold Stone Creamery. “Our brand’s training and support is very thorough and we teach entrepreneurs how to be a Cold Stone Creamery franchisee. Some of our franchisees have been with us since the beginning; many of them have scaled up to multiple locations. New franchisees are welcomed into the Cold Stone Creamery family with open arms, and our culture is inclusive, accessible and encouraging. Cold Stone Creamery is more relevant than ever, and our brand’s goal is to open hundreds of locations in North America and internationally in the coming years.”
Read about multi-unit ownership from a franchisee with the most locations.
3. A Cold Stone Creamery franchise is an affordable concept
with profit potential
The total investment estimate for a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream franchise ranges from $50,200 to $467,525, depending upon the type of location you launch. For 30 years, Cold Stone Creamery ice cream franchise has helped entrepreneurs realize their dreams of small business ownership.
Our brand’s initial investment costs are well below those of other ice cream or dessert brands. We offer three ways to franchise with us: a traditional model’s startup costs range from $261,625 to $467,525; a nontraditional model costs $50,200 to $386,525; and a kiosk serving soft-serve ice cream costs $108,750 to $212,900.
The ice cream industry overall offers a great opportunity for franchisees’ to grow, as there’s high demand for our delicious products. According to the most recent Franchise Disclosure Document, on average, our franchisees saw $416,855 in gross sales in one year. Forty-two percent of stores met or exceeded that average gross sale amount.
Research start-up costs and profit potential.
4. Cold Stone Creamery has optimal territory available for new franchise development
Although we have more than 1,000 stores open in the United States and are in nearly 30 international markets, we have no plans for slowing growth and development. In fact, we have optimal territory available now for franchise development.
Cold Stone Creamery franchise is actively targeting major metropolitan and small-town markets in California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. We also have numerous other territories available from coast to coast.
Find out what territories are available for franchise development.
5. Cold Stone Creamery supports franchise owners every step
of the way
We have one of the most robust training platforms in the entire franchise industry. We support franchisees with initial training, on-the-job training and ongoing training.
As part of initial training, new franchisees attend KTEC (Kahala Training and Education Center). They also spend two weeks in a store, where we cover every aspect of their new business, including making the ice cream, preparing and serving Cold Stone Creamery products, managing inventory and helping their business through savvy marketing.
New franchisees also spend 80 hours in a store to learn the ins and outs of the business, including how to correctly prepare and serve the brand’s products. Additionally, Cold Stone Creamery hosts monthly check-ins to help franchisees meet their goals, to offer assistance and to help ensure you have all the tools necessary to improve your business every day.
Every new franchisee also receives ongoing training and gets monthly check-in calls from a Regional Director of Operations or Area Developer.
Learn more about the training and support we offer.
Find out more about franchising with Cold Stone Creamery
For more details about franchising with us, visit the research pages on our franchise website, request a copy of our free Franchise Information Report or call us at 1-877-948-1853.
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