Cold Stone to enter Caribbean market.

Cold Stone Creamery has reached an agreement with Sundaes Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Flavorite Foods Ltd., to open up to 14 stores in the Caribbean over the next five years. More specifically, this territory includes the following countries: Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, Saint Kitts, Jamaica, Saint Martin, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Suriname and Guyana. The first Cold Stone Creamery in the Caribbean is slated to open in July of this year in Trinidad and Tobago, followed by another store opening within the territory later this year.

"Since the Caribbean is known as a prime vacation venue, Cold Stone Creamery's latest expansion provides an opportunity to extend our reach and brand awareness to not just the locals of the region, but also to the thousands of tourists visiting the islands each year," said Lee Knowlton, Chief Operating Officer for Kahala. "We are happy to have found a partner with the experience and passion to bring the Cold Stone Creamery concept to life in the Caribbean."

With more than three decades of experience, Flavorite is the leading manufacturer and marketer of branded ice cream products, frozen novelties, and cultured products in the Caribbean region. Based in Trinidad, Flavorite is the largest ice cream company in the English-speaking Caribbean. They maintain the marketing and distribution of products in 11 countries in the Caribbean.

Cold Stone Creamery's international growth began in November 2005 when the company opened its first international store in Tokyo, Japan. Today, Cold Stone stores are operational with more than 100 international locations in 11 different countries, including Korea, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition to its Caribbean expansion, Cold Stone also recently reported a double digit sales increase which it credits to the successful launch of its new ice cream cupcakes line in February. Cold Stone Creamery claims it has sold 1.75 million cupcakes nation-wide since the launch.

The company notes that part of the success is due to the cupcakes being promoted at an introductory price "in order to appeal to today's value-conscious consumer."

That success has prompted Cold Stone to say that all of the product introductions throughout the year are planned to follow suit with a value price point as part of an aggressive strategy designed to create and leverage new opportunities while requiring no capital investment by the franchisees. This is seen by Cold Stone as "maximizing unit-level profitability."

Cold Stone President Dan Beem said, "It's exciting to see an uptrend in sales in an otherwise down-trending industry. We're actively pursuing new opportunities in new products, co-branding and partnerships to increase our franchisees' bottom line. We haven't seen this type of reaction since the introduction of our cake batter ice cream several years ago. While some people are giving up extravagant dinners and week-long getaways, they're still looking to spend quality time together in a relatively inexpensive way. Cold Stone provides a much needed 10 minute vacation."

Cold Stone's next innovation is a line of iced and blended coffee drinks that will capture what it describes as "a lost customer." The five flavor line includes Sweet Cream Latte, Vanilla Creme Latte, Milk Caramel Latte, Rich Mocha Latte and Raspberry Truffle Mocha Latte. Each blended drink is finished with a whipped topping and decorative sweets, from raspberry to caramel.

Making these drinks unique to Cold Stone is the proprietary ice cream mix, not yet frozen, that's added to each drink. A lighter version, with one-third the calories is made with skim milk. Cold Stone reports the new coffees will be rolled out throughout its U.S. stores.

"We knew we wanted to offer coffee to our guests, yet we wanted to do it in our own unique way using some of the same secret ingredients that make our ice cream irresistible," said Ray Karam, Cold Stone's Senior Tastemaster. "Our new line of coffee drinks brings together the perfect blend of sweet and creamy combined with a rich bold coffee taste."

Cold Stone Creamery is also introducing a new ice cream cake for Mother's Day. This new cake, Strawberry Cheesecake Paradise, made with layers of yellow cake, caramel, strawberry ice cream mixed with graham cracker pie crust and cheesecake ice cream mixed with strawberries, will be available nationwide from April 26 to May 10, 2009.