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5 ice cream chains growing on West Coast

5 ice cream chains growing on West Coast

Concepts serve everything from classic cones to liquid-nitrogen-frozen desserts RELATED: • Meet the 2015 Hot Concepts award winners • Four chains that could go public • More emerging restaurant concepts

CREAM specializes in ice cream sandwiches. Photo: CREAM

Move over, Pinkberry: Ice cream is back in a big way.

Across the West Coast, a growing number of ice cream concepts are taking the stage in a year-round battle for frozen desserts.

The concepts range from traditional soft-serve cones with a touch of nostalgia, to scoops served with a splash of Willy Wonka pageantry. Some offer frozen-to-order freshness with the use of liquid nitrogen, while others invite guests to build their own combination of ice cream, warm cookies and toppings.

Catering is also becoming increasingly popular for ice cream concepts, most of which will bring their offerings to parties or events.

Take a look at five emerging regional ice cream players.

Salt & Straw

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Salt

Portland, Ore.-based Salt & Straw brought its artisan ice cream shop to Los Angeles in 2014, and plans to open two more scoop shops in the city before the end of 2016. The chain already has three locations in Portland.

Founded in 2011, the concept is known for its unusual, small-batch ice cream flavors, which in Los Angeles have included black olive brittle and goat cheese, garam masala and cinnamon cauliflower, and avocado and strawberry sherbet.

Ingredients are sourced locally, and are all natural and sustainable. The shops serve it up in cone form, or in sundaes, milkshakes, floats or pints to go.

Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw co-founder and head ice cream maker, said growth will continue “opportunistically” once the three Los Angeles units open.

“When we find these epic locations, we have to take them,” Malek said.

The brand does not plan to franchise.

“We feel so strongly that everything we do is so unique. We have this drumbeat of a menu that changes every month, and our team has to provide legendary hospitality,” he said.

The menu varies by market, but one flavor that is a hit in both Los Angeles and Portland is sea salt ice cream with a caramel ribbon, which is hand-poured into the ice cream as it comes out of the machine.

“People can’t get enough of that one,” Malek said.

Sloan's Ice Cream

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Sloan's decor combines Victorian style with a Willy Wonka twist. Photo: Sloan's Ice Cream

Sloan’s Ice Cream, a South Florida-based chain with a design that gives Victorian style a Willy Wonka twist, will debut in Los Angeles this month.

Besides ice cream, Sloan's also serves baked goods and candy. Photo: Sloan's Ice Cream

The shops are painted bright pink and green, and interior walls are lined with plush toys. Chandeliers twinkle from the ceiling, which is lined with cupids. The clear glass bathroom doors “magically” fog for privacy once you lock the door.

The menu includes ice cream, baked goods and candy.

Sloan’s has six units in Palm Beach County, Fla., and one location in San Diego. In 2012, the chain began franchising, and the company has a goal of adding 200 units over the next five to seven years.

David Wild, Sloan’s director of franchising, said a key selling point is the experience of visiting the ice cream shop.

“We’ve created this wonderland,” Wild said. “We’ve tried to get away from just being an ice cream place. If you look at brands like Cold Stone and Häagen-Dazs or Marble Slab, maybe they do ice cream cakes, but a lot of it is just, ‘My ice cream is better than yours.’ I think our ice cream is the best in the world, but we also put a lot of emphasis on the experience of coming to the store.”

Sloan’s is looking to grow in other major markets, including Texas and New York.

While seasonality is a factor for ice cream concepts outside Florida and California, Wild contends that Sloan’s has an edge with its store design.

“A good time is a good time, no matter what time of year it is,” he said.

CREAM

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CREAM specializes in ice cream sandwiches, and also offers milk shakes and ice cream tacos. Photo: CREAM

San Francisco-based CREAM, a build-your-own ice cream sandwich concept that recently opened its 20th location, is another rapidly growing, franchised brand.

CREAM, which stands for Cookies Rule Everything Around Me, features about 25 flavors of ice cream, including non-dairy versions made with soy, as well as 10 to 15 cookie varieties baked in house. Guests can choose from the warm cookies and pair them with ice cream and various toppings.

Ice cream sandwiches are priced at $2.99, a value positioning that pleases families and students, said Jim Ryan, president of CREAM, which Nation’s Restaurant News named a Breakout Brand this year. Milk shakes and ice cream tacos, which are made with a waffle cone, are also on the menu.

So far, three units are company owned and the rest are franchised. Outside California, CREAM has a location in Summerlin, Nev. A franchise operator recently signed a deal to open 30 units throughout Florida over the next seven years.

Another eight locations are expected to open before the end of the year, and Ryan expects the chain will hit 60 units in 2016.

Next week, CREAM will start testing a mobile app with provider Pepper, which will let users order and pay ahead, as well as earn “badges” and track loyalty points.

Fosselman's Ice Cream Co.

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Dog Haus serves Fosselman's soft serve at its fast-casual restaurants. Photo: Dog Haus

In August, Dog Haus, a fast-casual hot dog chain, announced a collaboration with Fosselman’s Ice Cream Co., an Alhambra, Calif.-based brand that was founded in 1919 and is known throughout Southern California.

Fosselman’s has just one shop, but it runs a brisk wholesale business. The brand is known primarily for its hard-packed ice cream.

Enter Dog Haus, which last month added a new soft-serve ice cream developed by Fosselman’s to its nine restaurants in California and one unit in Colorado.

Going forward, all Dog Haus restaurants will also offer Fosselman’s soft serve, and will use the ice cream as a base for a new line of milk shakes.

Hagop Giragossian, a partner in Dog Haus, said the ice cream brand’s co-owner, John Fosselman, is a longtime friend. Ice cream goes well with chain’s hot-dog-centric menu, so it made sense to use the restaurant chain as a new outlet for Fosselman’s.

At Dog Haus, a Fosselman’s milkshake is priced at $4.99, and a cup or cone of ice cream is priced at $2.99. The chain is experimenting with exotic toppings.

Another 12 Dog Haus locations are scheduled to open in California over the next six months, and it has 110 units in development. The chain expects to move into Texas, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

“We’re looking forward to expanding our relationship with Dog Haus to bring our premium ice cream to our fans in an entirely different form than they’ve experienced before, while also reaching new audiences across the country. It’s an incredible opportunity to work with a growing brand that has so much hometown pride,” Fosselman said in a statement.

Creamistry

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Creamistry says freezing its ice cream with liquid nitrogen produces a creamier, richer product. Photo: Creamistry

From the chemistry department comes Creamistry, one of a growing number of concepts using liquid nitrogen to create frozen-to-order ice cream.

Customers choose the base — including various non-dairy options — the flavor and toppings to mix in.

Liquid nitrogen is injected directly into the mixing bowl. The nitrogen evaporates quickly and freezes the base, which results in what the chain calls a smoother, creamier product.

Creamistry freezes ice cream to order. Photo: Creamistry

Creamistry also offers catering, and will make ice cream on site at special events with a mobile cart.

The concept debuted about two years ago in Irvine, Calif., which remains the only company-owned location. Another two units are planned.

With franchising, Creamistry now includes seven units across Southern California, and is expected to hit 15 or 16 locations before the end of the year.

Another seven locations are under development in Northern California, and the company has signed agreements for units in Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Texas, said Jay Yim, who founded the Yorba Linda, Calif.-based brand with his wife, Katie Yim.

International expansion is also in the works. The company has a master franchise agreement to open six units in Dubai. Asia is also a growth target, Jay Yim said.

Jay Yim comes from a dessert-focused family. His grandfather had a bakery and ice cream plant in Korea. His parents moved to the U.S. when he was three years old, and his father opened the Crown Bakery chain in Southern California, which had seven units.

Yim said he first saw a liquid nitrogen concept in Korea, and he wanted to bring the idea to the U.S. But the appeal is less about the science than the result.

“It makes a richer, denser, creamier product,” he said.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
Follow her on Twitter: @livetodineout

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