Quick story this week.
Our kids watch a lot of YouTube shorts. My wife and I both have careers. We’re extremely busy. We’re mediocre parents…I’m going to be honest.
However, in times of need, they plug in the YouTube shorts and it fills a gap. They recently came across a Cold Stone video. You know, the ice cream place where you walk in, they put the ice cream on a slab, give you some sprinkles, charge you 10 to 12 bucks, and you’re on your way.
That place.
I told my kids that we’ll go since they’ve never been.
This past weekend I took them. I pull up to the shop, look up, and there’s the Cold Stone sign. And right below it is a Planet Smoothie sign.
Hmmm.
The kids get out of the car and they’re doing back flips in front of the door. I’m still sitting in the car Googling Planet Smoothie and Cold Stone. Turns out they have the same parent company. So they’ve decided to combine the two brands. Pretty smart.
I think you see where I’m going with this.
So I get out, I walk in, and see their huge counter. Seventy percent of its ice cream. Thirty percent of it is smoothie. Totally different branded experiences. In front of the ice cream you have what you would typically see at a standalone Cold Stone.
In front of the smoothie section, you have all the Planet Smoothie stuff, but they had a very robust snack section. They had a very robust cookie and candy section. And I’m like, “These people are not messing around.” They’ve got it figured it out.
They had separate point of sale systems. It just looked good. And mind you, they had all the coolers, right? They had the all the coolers for the take home ice cream, ice cream cakes, and the to-go smoothies and what have you.
So, nothing really lacking there, but they had just combined the two brands under one roof.
Three takeaways from my experience at Cold Stone:
- They have become the darlings of the family outing. Let me explain. My son is lactose intolerant. A trip to the ice cream shop will land him in the restroom for a minimum of 25 minutes. No iPad and a lot of screaming and complaining. Cold Stone and Planet Smoothie has solved this. While my older two children went and got their ice cream, my younger one went and got his flavored ice and it was awesome. Problem solved.
- The overhead share. Absolutely love that they’re sharing the space. They’ve created a large space, but they’ve created separate experiences under the same roof and circle back to that darling, right? They’re sharing overhead while becoming the darling of families.
- They’ve just upped their inclusivity. They’ve just made their place a tad bit more inclusive on who they can serve. My first reaction was smoothies and ice cream together: WTF? Like what’s going on here? But I can promise you after my 30 minute experience there and smiling kids, they are running and laughing all the way to the bank.
How do we tie this back into your business? How do we tie this back into your space? What can breweries, distilleries, cideries do to up the inclusivity and become the darling of the adult evening?
Let’s just keep this 21+ for now.
How do you become more inclusive? How do you become the darling? How do you share overhead?
Other examples that I’m seeing of this:
- A coffee and ice cream franchise out of Orlando that is infiltrating my hometown. They have multiple locations. So coffee and ice cream, you go in, you get the two.
- Locally here, we have donuts and bagels. And I’m not talking about Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and Einstein Bagels coming together. What I’m talking about is local, artisanal craft donuts coming together to share space, become more inclusive, and become that one-stop shop.
I haven’t exactly put my finger on the pulse of what that looks like for a beverage manufacturer, but I know there is definitely an option out there. And some of you guys are doing it now with coffee. I think the coffee play is more to fill-in time gaps that you have in the morning and the afternoon. You have unused taproom space. So, you open it up as like a co-work community or a coffeeshop. And I think that works.
I’m looking for something a little bit more Planet Smoothie and Cold Stone here, right? What’s going to get someone excited to frequent your brewery and stay there longer?
Earlier, we talked about spaghetti against the wall. And while this is possibly a new idea, I wouldn’t exactly claim this as spaghetti against the wall. I simply would say that this is an opportunity for you to get more people into the retail part of your business and have them stay longer.
If you have any questions, email me: chris@sbstandard. com, or just reply to this email here. I’d love to jump on a call and brainstorm with you on what this could look like.
Take care.
-cf