The Scottsdale, AZ-based Cold Stone Creamery with just six corporate-owned locations is billed as one of the fastest-growing ice cream franchises in the nation. The chain last year picked up 362 franchise locations. This year's expansion will focus on Texas, Florida, New York and along the Eastern Seaboard.

"Being in the ice cream business is all about having fun," Kevin Donnellan, Cold Stone Creamery's public relations director and part of the moving force behind the rapid-fire expansion, tells GSR. "People use Cold Stone Creamery as a 10-minute vacation for their day-to-day activities or their diets."

This year, Cold Stone Creamery will add 15 flavors to the lineup. The "Red Pan" expansion plan, taking a cue from its signature color, begins this month and is spiced up with "surprises over the course of the year," Donnellan says.

To help consumers celebrate Valentine's Day, "tastemaster" Ray Karam has created "Red Hot Rush," a blending of Red Hot flakes, ice cream, fresh-made brownie and swirls of fudge, and a Cupid's Arrow cake made of devil's food cake, Red Hot ice cream and chocolate shavings, covered in a rich ganache and decorated with red piping, chocolate hearts and Red Hot flakes.

Cotton Candy ice cream debuts in March as the chain fine-tunes a celebration for its 1,000th store opening. With so many locations in various stages of development, the milestone-setting store has yet to be identified. Donnellan says the celebration location will be known by the end of this month as completion dates are firmed up.

The Cold Stone Creamery family of franchisees, getting Red Licorice ice cream in April, has penciled April 25 for the annual Make-A-Wish Foundation drive, which has raised $1.1 million to date from their customers. "It will be the world's biggest ice cream social," Donnellan says about a plan to give away a slice of ice cream cake from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in exchange for a donation to make a dream come true for Micah from Boston.

Each month will hold a special surprise, Donnellan says. But July's lineup will be particularly sweet when the chain teams National Ice Cream Month with the celebration of its 10th year of franchising.

Meanwhile, Cold Stone Creamery's executive team has reached the final stage of negotiations with an area developer in Japan. Right now, its offshore reach is limited to the Caribbean, Guam, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. In the US, franchisees crisscross 47 states. Donnellan says more than half of the chain's franchisees own more than one store, with one in the Northeast holding a claim for 14.

With 1,000 signed agreements in hand, Cold Stone Creamery's plan is to be "the best-selling ice cream brand in America" by Dec. 31, 2009. Chairman and CEO Doug Ducey, unveiling a "Pyramid of Success 2010" at a recent franchisee meeting in Las Vegas, says "this new vision will chart the course for our future. It is a course we are confident will revolutionize the ice cream industry and allow our franchisees to make people happy."

Cold Stone Creamery's "fun-loving" atmosphere attracts many first-time job seekers, young adults who are put through audition paces that include spontaneous reactions, singing and choreography for adapted lyrics to themes like the Addams Family. At last count, the chain had 200 employees at the headquarters and 24,000 full- and part-time workers with the franchises.

Franchise locations, ranging from 1,200 sf to 1,400 sf, cost a minimum of $267,300 to set up and a maximum of $399,600, according to Cold Stone Creamery's Web site. The initial franchise fee is $42,000. Last year, Cold Stone Creamery's network rung up $285 million in sales, an 83% increase from 2003, and expects to do $500 million this year, according to Donnellan. "We work with small business owners who want to be in business for themselves, but not by themselves," Donnellan explains.