Bruster's Real Ice Cream vs Cold Stone Creamery Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Bruster's Real Ice Cream vs Cold Stone Creamery including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees

 
Bruster's Real Ice Cream Franchise
Cold Stone Creamery Franchise
Investment $229,200 - $1,315,000$50,200 - $467,525
Franchise Fee $35,000$15,000 - $27,000
Royalty Fee 5%6%
Advertising Fee 3%3%
Year Founded 19891988
Year Franchised 19931994
Term Of Agreement 10 years10 years
Term Of Agreement 10 years10 years
Renewal Fee --


Business Experience Requirements

 
Bruster's Real Ice Cream Franchise
Cold Stone Creamery Franchise
Experience *20% CAPITAL IN THE PROJECT. *DEDICATION TO EITHER OPERATING OR OVERSEEING *A MANAGER THAT WORKS APPROPRIATE RETAIL HOURS CULTIVATING AND MOTIVATING YOUTH. *INVOLVEMENT IN THE COMMUNITY-

Financing Options

 
Bruster's Real Ice Cream Franchise
Cold Stone Creamery Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees No/YesNo/Yes
Start-up Costs No/YesNo/Yes
Equipment No/YesNo/Yes
Inventory No/YesNo/Yes
Receivables No/YesNo/Yes
Payroll No/YesNo/Yes

Training & Support

 
Bruster's Real Ice Cream Franchise
Cold Stone Creamery Franchise
Training On-The-Job Training: 68 hours Classroom Training: 12 hours Franchising with Cold Stone Creamery® means you’ll never be alone in your business. As one of the world’s premier ice cream franchises, Cold Stone Creamery’s support network has launched hundreds of entrepreneurs without any experience in either the service industry or the restaurant industry into growing businesses in communities across the country and around the world. “Cold Stone Creamery has one of the most robust training platforms in the entire franchise industry,” says John Wuycheck, SVP of Franchise Development. “Our franchisees make real investments of both time and money to franchise with Cold Stone Creamery, and we honor that by going above and beyond in providing an exceptional initial and ongoing training platform. We’ve been helping entrepreneurs establish new Cold Stone Creamery businesses for a long time, and we’ve built an iconic business model that requires no previous experience to become a top performer. As a franchisor, we’re honored to report that franchisee satisfaction is at an all-time high.” Initial New franchisees attend KTEC (Kahala Training and Education Center). In addition, new franchisees 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 supporting their business through savvy marketing. On-The-Job New franchisees 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. Cold Stone Creamery also hosts monthly check-ins to help you meet your goals, to offer assistance and to ensure you have all the tools necessary to improve your business every day.
Support *Real Estate Review and approval *Project Management *Marketing program and materials *procurement of products for operation *operations manager to support in your opening and ongoing consultations at your storePurchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings/Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security/Safety Procedures Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform Cold Stone Creamery will meet with you regularly to help you and answer any of your questions. Every new franchisee receives monthly check-in calls from a Regional Director of Operations or Area Developer.
Marketing Complete assortment of templates and plans annually along with the support of a field marketing representative for more one on one support.

Co-op Advertising Ad Templates Regional Advertising Social media SEO Website development Email marketing Loyalty program/app

Cold Stone Creamery franchisees have access to in-house marketing and public relations teams, which significantly reduces expenses. These teams help with national, regional and local marketing, along with public relations from the grand opening through the life of the business. We train franchisees to manage their stores’ social media accounts, including Facebook®, Twitter® and Instagram® -" and newer platforms such as Snapchat®
Operations Absentee Ownership Allowed

Number of Employees Required to Run: 15 - 30

35% of all franchisees own more than one unit

Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 15

Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)


Expansion Plans

 
Bruster's Real Ice Cream Franchise
Cold Stone Creamery Franchise
US Expansion YesYes
Canada Expansion NoNo
International Expansion NoYes

Company Overviews

About Bruster's Real Ice Cream

Consistently ranked among the nation's top Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine, Bruster's Real Ice Cream is one of the fastest growing ice cream franchises. Bruster's Real Ice Cream started as a family-owned ice cream shop in 1989 when founder Bruce Reed opened his first store in Bridgewater, PA. Bruce grew up in the food service business working at his family's diner just blocks away from where he opened the first Bruster's ice cream store. Today, Bruster's has more than 230 stores in the eastern United States from New Hampshire to Florida, with a majority of them being locally owned and operated. Bruster's Real Ice Cream has been consistently ranked by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the nation's leading franchise companies. Bruster's philosophy is very simple. We believe that ice cream is one of life's great, simple pleasures that can be shared with family and friends of all ages. Bruster's Real Ice Cream store owners and managers share in that philosophy and our commitment to providing only the highest quality products and service to our customers. They are highly skilled experts in making only the freshest ice cream with the finest ingredients. Our owners and managers continue to rotate flavors to keep their product offering new and exciting every time a customer visits the store.

In addition, Bruster's Real Ice Cream is constantly developing and testing new products based on customer feedback.

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Bruster’s franchised business is between $508,000 and $1,315,000 for a freestanding Unit, between $229,200 and $584,500 for an endcapUnit. This includes $35,000 that must be paid to the Franchisor or its affiliate(s) for a Unit.

Seeking new franchise units throughout the U.S., Asia, Canada, Central America, Middle East, Mexico, Philippines and South America    

#54 on Entrepreneur's ranking of the top 150 franchises offering incentives and other programs to help veterans become franchisees
Veteran Incentives  50% off franchise fee

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In Franchise Business Reviews Top 200.

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#23 in Gator's Top franchises.



About Cold Stone Creamery

Founders, Donald and Susan Sutherland, have an energy for frozen yogurt! They scanned wherever for frozen yogurt that was "smooth and rich", instead of the customary hard-pressed or delicate serve assortments. In 1988, in the wake of coming up purge in their hunt, they opened the primary Cold Stone Creamery in Tempe, Arizona. Utilizing just the finest fixings, the Sutherlands delivered the most elevated quality frozen yogurt accessible - making it crisp every day in their store. Each dessert creation was then made to arrange for every client by mixing in blend ins on a solidified rock stone (the Cold Stone!), and served in a crisp prepared waffle cone. Word soon spread far and wide among frozen yogurt significant others that Cold Stone Creamery's dessert was the best, and the upheaval started! In 1995, the main establishment store opened in Tucson, Arizona, trailed by the first out-of-state store in Camarillo, California.

The establishing store of Cold Stone Creamery opened in 1988
We've been granting establishments since 1994
About 1,000 stores working in the U.S. also, almost 300 stores around the world
U.S. Domains Currently Open
Single and Multi-Unit Deals Available
Normal time to open is 6-12 months
Co-marking Opportunities Available

The Numbers You Need to Know

$27,000 establishment fee*
$250,000 total assets
$100,000 fluid, non-financed stores
Add up to beginning speculation - $50,200 - $467,525 *
Sovereignty expense - 6% of gross deals
Publicizing expense - 3% of gross deals

*This charge is for a customary area and does exclude any rebates that might be appropriate. Distinctive expenses may apply for different sorts of areas. More nitty gritty venture data is accessible in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).

The Buzz About Our Brand

#53 on the 2013 "Establishment 500®" rundown in Entrepreneur® magazine
#19 on the 2013 "Worldwide 30" list in QSR® magazine
#46 on the 2012 "Top Global Franchises" list in Entrepreneur magazine
#49 on QSR magazine's 2011 "QSR Top 50" positioning
#54 on the 2011 "Establishment 500" rundown in Entrepreneur magazine
#49 on Franchise Direct's® "Best 100 Global Franchises" list for 2011

#123 on the 2010 Franchise Times® "Beat 200 Franchise Systems"
"franchiserankingscom"
#79 on Franchise Rankings.com