Ice Cream

Brickley’s Ice Cream Corporate Office

Brickley’s Ice Cream was founded in 1995 by husband and wife team, Steve and Chris Brophy. After standing in long lines with their children for low quality ice cream, the Brophy’s decided to open their own store. The original store, located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, was a converted doctor’s office.

Today, the company has two locations in Rhode Island and has numerous awards, including Best Ice Cream in South County from the Rhode Island Monthly and Yankee Travel magazine. The company often sells more than 500 gallons of ice cream on a summer weekend and 200-300 gallons on any given weekday.

Brickley’s Ice Cream offers 48 flavors and rotates in a few seasonal items, such as peach or blueberry, as the seasons permit. The company is open early March through the end of October.

Brickley's Ice Cream and Cakes

Brickley’s Ice Cream offers 48 flavors and rotates in a few seasonal items, such as peach or blueberry, as the seasons permit. The company is open early March through the end of October.

History

Fosters Freeze Corporate Office

Fosters Freeze was founded by George Foster in 1946. The original location was on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, California. That location is still in operation. The company offers mainly soft-serve ice cream and ice cream creations, milkshakes, hamburgers, and French fries.

The company was purchased in June 2015 by Kishan Patel, who once owned several franchises. As of 2015, the company had 88 locations, most of them in California. All locations are franchised.

Many of the company’s original stores, including Palo Alto, Mountainview, and Sunnyvale, have remained virtually unchanged since the 1950s.

In July 2023, a Fosters Freeze in Fresno, California, in business since 1976, was closed to make way for a new Starbucks location.

Fosters Freeze maintains a corporate office in Pomona, California.

Fosters Freeze

History

The company was purchased in June 2015 by Kishan Patel, who once owned several franchises. As of 2015, the company had 88 locations, most of them in California. All locations are franchised.

Many of the company’s original stores, including Palo Alto, Mountainview, and Sunnyvale, have remained virtually unchanged since the 1950s.

In July 2023, a Fosters Freeze in Fresno, California, in business since 1976, was closed to make way for a new Starbucks location.

Fosters Freeze maintains a corporate office in Pomona, California.

Baskin-Robbins Corporate Office

Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by two brothers-in-law, Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins. These two partners decided to merge their two ice cream parlors into one chain. The original Baskin-Robbins was located in Glendale, California, and was called 31 Flavors, something that was unique at the time. In 1970, Baskin-Robbins was the first company to sell ice-cream cakes.

Today, Baskin-Robbins is the world’s largest ice cream specialty store. While 31 flavors seemed like an astounding amount at the time, the company says that as of 2015, they have 1,000 flavor variations. Baskin-Robbins is a subsidiary of Dunkin’ Brands.

The company has more than 7,700 locations in 50 countries, including Aruba, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, China, Colombia, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Egypt, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen.

International locations feature flavors of ice cream popular to the tastes of each country, such as Red Bean, Litchi Gold, Blackcurrant, and Cantaloupe.

The company is almost 100% franchised and in 2014, the company began selling its ice cream in supermarkets in the U.S.

President Obama says that his first job was scooping ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins location and that it taught him a great deal.

Baskin-Robbins maintains a corporate office in Canton, Massachusetts.

Baskin-Robbins

History

International locations feature flavors of ice cream popular to the tastes of each country, such as Red Bean, Litchi Gold, Blackcurrant, and Cantaloupe.

The company is almost 100% franchised and in 2014, the company began selling its ice cream in supermarkets in the U.S.

President Obama says that his first job was scooping ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins location and that it taught him a great deal.

Baskin-Robbins maintains a corporate office in Canton, Massachusetts.

Blue Bell Creameries Corporate Office

Blue Bell Creameries was founded in 1907 as The Brenham Creamery Company. The creamery purchased extra cream from dairy farmers and sell butter. In 1911 the company began to produce ice cream, making only 2 gallons a day and delivering it via a horse-drawn cart.

The company was renamed Blue Bell in 1930 after the Texas Bluebell, a wildflower native to Texas.

By the 1960’s the company concentrated solely on the production of ice cream.

In 1980 Blue Bell was producing over 10 million gallons of ice cream per day and had $30 million in sales.

An Instagram video in June 2019, went viral when a young woman at a Walmart in Texas, was seen removing the lid on a gallon of Blue Bell ice cream, licking the top, replacing the lid and then placing the ice cream back in the freezer. The ice-cream licker was later identified as a 17-year-old minor.

This incident prompted several copy cat ice cream lickers, including a man in Louisiana. This prompted some stores to post security guards in front of ice cream freezers.

Today Blue Bell is the third-best-selling ice cream brand in the United States despite only being sold in 23 states.

The corporate office for Blue Bell ice cream is located in Brenham, Texas.

Blue Bell Creameries

The company was renamed Blue Bell in 1930 after the Texas Bluebell, a wildflower native to Texas.

History

By the 1960’s the company concentrated solely on the production of ice cream.

In 1980 Blue Bell was producing over 10 million gallons of ice cream per day and had $30 million in sales.

This incident prompted several copy cat ice cream lickers, including a man in Louisiana. This prompted some stores to post security guards in front of ice cream freezers.

Today Blue Bell is the third-best-selling ice cream brand in the United States despite only being sold in 23 states.

The corporate office for Blue Bell ice cream is located in Brenham, Texas.

Friendly’s Corporate Office

Friendly’s was founded during the height of the Great Depression in 1935 by brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake in Springfield, Massachusetts. The ice cream shop began by selling double-dip cones for 5 cents.

In 1940 a second Friendly’s opened in West Springfield which included an expanded food menu. During WWII, the Blake’s closed the restaurant and reopened them in 1950.

By 1951, the company had 10 locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

By 1974, the company had more than 500 locations.

In 1979 Friendly’s was sold to Hershey Foods Corporation when the Blake brothers retired.

This purchase started a period of 30 years where the chain was bought and sold several times while trading publicly on the NASDAQ.

Friendly’s was aggressively franchised in the early 2000’s and now about 50% of the chain’s restaurants are franchised.

Harsh economic times caused Friendly’s to file for bankruptcy and close 63 of their locations in 2011. The company was sold to Sun Capital Partners, Inc. for $75 million. Restaurants are owned by Sun Capital and ice cream products sold in stores are now owned by Dean Foods, Inc.

Today Friendly’s has 380 restaurants across the East Coast of the United States. Friendly’s also distributes ice cream and frozen deserts through 7,500 retail locations including supermarkets.

Friendly's

History

In 1940 a second Friendly’s opened in West Springfield which included an expanded food menu. During WWII, the Blake’s closed the restaurant and reopened them in 1950.

By 1951, the company had 10 locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

By 1974, the company had more than 500 locations.

In 1979 Friendly’s was sold to Hershey Foods Corporation when the Blake brothers retired.

This purchase started a period of 30 years where the chain was bought and sold several times while trading publicly on the NASDAQ.

Friendly’s was aggressively franchised in the early 2000’s and now about 50% of the chain’s restaurants are franchised.

Today Friendly’s has 380 restaurants across the East Coast of the United States. Friendly’s also distributes ice cream and frozen deserts through 7,500 retail locations including supermarkets.