Menus and prices in 6 markets, 291 items tracked.
Cold Stone's product is a process rather than a recipe: ice cream folded with mix-ins on a frozen granite slab, to order, in front of you. That is why it exports far better than a flavour-led brand - The mix-ins can be entirely local while the theatre stays identical.
It shows in the data. Cold Stone has eleven products in our price index, against Baskin-Robbins' three, because its signature creations are named consistently across markets.
The Chocolate Devotion runs from about $3.86 in the Philippines to $12.12 in Malaysia - An unusual inversion, since Malaysia is otherwise one of our cheaper markets, and a sign of deliberately premium local positioning.
Each market has its own board. Prices are shown in local currency and are not comparable across rows - Use the index below for that.
| Market | Items | Cheapest | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand
THB |
24 | ฿40 | ฿233.07 | Full menu → |
| USA
USD |
61 | $1.19 | $7.44 | Full menu → |
| Philippines
PHP |
32 | ₱58 | ₱288.97 | Full menu → |
| Malaysia
MYR |
52 | RM16.90 | RM50.44 | Full menu → |
| Canada
CAD |
21 | C$11.24 | C$20.50 | Full menu → |
| United Kingdom
GBP |
101 | £1.50 | £5.06 | Full menu → |
Prices are in each market’s own currency and are not comparable across rows; for that, use the price index.
Products sold under one name in four or more of our markets, converted to US dollars at weekly mid-market rates.
| Product | Markets | Cheapest (USD) | Average (USD) | Priciest (USD) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate Devotion™ | 5 | $3.82 | $7.51 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Coffee Lovers Only | 5 | $3.82 | $7.51 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Our Strawberry Blonde™ | 5 | $3.82 | $7.51 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Founder’s Favorite | 4 | $3.82 | $6.85 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Cheesecake Fantasy™ | 4 | $3.82 | $7.81 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip | 4 | $3.82 | $7.81 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Berry Berry Berry Good | 4 | $3.82 | $7.81 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Birthday Cake Remix™ | 4 | $3.82 | $8.11 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Cookie Doughn’t You Want Some | 4 | $3.82 | $8.11 | $12.17 | +219% |
| Oreo Overload | 4 | $3.82 | $6.34 | $10.16 | +166% |
| Peanut Butter Cup Perfection™ | 4 | $5.10 | $8.43 | $12.17 | +138% |
Every item across every Cold Stone Creamery menu, mapped onto our dish taxonomy.
Cold Stone Creamery is an American ice cream chain built around a piece of theatre: ice cream made fresh in the store, then folded together with mix-ins on a frozen granite stone in front of the customer.
The company was founded in Tempe, Arizona in 1988, and the granite slab kept at around minus nine degrees Celsius is still the centre of every store. Customers pick a base ice cream and the toppings to be worked into it, so the product is assembled to order rather than scooped from a tub.
Alongside build-your-own orders the chain sells a set list of named combinations, ice cream cakes and shakes. Portions run in three sizes with the names Like It, Love It and Gotta Have It.
Cold Stone franchises internationally, with a substantial presence in Southeast Asia and the Gulf alongside its American home market.
Almost every restaurant you think of as a chain is owned by someone else entirely. What the franchisee actually buys, and why it explains the price on the board.
Localisation is not adding a novelty item. It is a staged process with a predictable sequence, and the menu data shows exactly how far each market has travelled.
Menu boards are designed documents, not lists. Where the money items sit, what the ordering of panels is doing, and how to find the price you actually want.
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Discussion
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