Franchised Food Company buys Cold Rock ice cream chain

The newly established Franchised Food Company has acquired the 87-strong chain of Cold Rock ice cream stores and appointed former Brumbies Bakery chief Michael Sherlock as executive chairman.

FFCo now owns 115 stores, including the Mr Whippy and Pretzel World brands. A price for the deal was not disclosed.

“We’re interested in considering other reasonable fits for the company, although not immediately, as the focus right now will be improving our latest addition,” Sherlock said.

“The products will stay the same… the idea is to add to the brand with training and increased consumer awareness.”

“The main attraction FFCo saw in the Cold Rock brand was its ability to customise ice creams to each customer,” he said.

The brand is based around the idea that customers can choose confectionary and fruit “add-ins” to mix a possible 3,000 flavour combinations in-store.

“Today’s consumer is very personally based and they want personal, individual products. There’s an important psychology there,” Sherlock said.

“You might choose bubblegum ice cream with mars bars and sour snakes, and no-one else would eat that but it would be your own thing.”

FFCo also identified a “large gap” in take away dessert offerings in the Australian market.

“Other fast food places don’t necessarily offer a wide dessert range, so we will sit next to dinner venues as a complementary option that customers can visit after their main meal.”

But despite a 12 month negotiation period, Franchise Food had little access to Cold Rock’s franchisees.

“We were subject to a very strict privacy requirement, because Cold Rock didn’t want its franchisees to actually know they were selling. So we were very restricted in our ability to find out what the franchisees think about the business,” Sherlock said.

“With any transition there’s uncertainty and so our challenge and first step now will be to listen and understand what the franchisees think.”

Sherlock has 30 years experience in franchising and branding, including his position at Brumbies from 1999 to 2007, where he built the bakery chain from six stores to 320.

He was picked to lead the Cold Rock takeover by businessman Stan Gordon, FFCo’s Melbourne-based owner.