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This reaction is not new to the employees of Cold Stone Creamery on Main Street. Since its opening in February 2004, the store has been nothing short of a success.
According to owner Lisa Kopolovic, Cold Stone serves approximately 800 customers and makes more than 1,000 ice cream creations on a warm spring day.
Unlike most ice cream shops that thrive in the summer, Cold Stone's peak season is February to May, when the university is in session because students make up 80 percent of patrons, Kopolovic says.
Dara Messing, a Cold Stone employee and senior at the university, says the unique flavors and presentation are what brings customers back.
"People like being able to get cool stuff in their ice cream and watch it mixed together," Messing says. "It's like live Ben & Jerry's - plus, it's delicious."
She says working at Cold Stone has its perks, including all-day sampling. Messing says she doesn't mind the policy that employees must sing when tipped.
"I have two songs I really like," she says. "But when I work the day shift by myself and have to sing, that's embarrassing."
Messing and Small say they have both encountered interesting customers during their days as Cold Stone employees.
Messing says she has had two people come in, sample every flavor, then leave without making a purchase. Small says he once watched a man spin the brownie container around and start eating them. They are not samples.
They agree their funniest customers are girls who order the sinless ice cream, sugar-free and fat-free, then add fudge, Oreos and Reese's.
"It's like Burger King with a Diet Coke," Small jokes.
Cold Stone's most popular flavor is cake batter, which he says the store orders in bulk - three times as much as any other ice cream.
Customers had to temporarily survive without their beloved cake batter when it was recalled last fall. The recipe contained raw egg and rumors surfaced that customers were becoming sick in the mid-West. Since then, it has been reformulated and made a comeback in February, Small says.
Kopolovic, who was born and raised in Newark, says she and her parents, Peter and Sharon Kopolovic, decided to open Cold Stone because there were no ice cream stores they liked in the area.
Aside from serving premium ice cream, Cold Stone sponsors fundraisers for university and outside organizations, donating 20 percent of proceeds to different causes. This month, every weekday is booked for a fundraiser, Kopolovic says.
Junior Diana Gron laughed when asked if she had been to Cold Stone before.
"Oh yeah, are you kidding?" Gron says. "When I think of good ice cream, I think of Cold Stone."
Cold Stone Creamery #0969
168 B East Main Street
Newark, DE 19711
(302)731-1746
Kosher Certified
Hours:
Sun-Thu Noon-10:00P
Fri-Sat Noon-11:00P
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