They know that they have come to the right place to fulfill the desires of their sweet tooth.
“We make our ice cream fresh every day and you can choose whatever they want to put it in,” said shift manager Nomeka Sours on what makes Cold Stone popular with students.
Sours, a senior marketing major, said the fun atmosphere is what keeps the ice cream shop afloat.
“I really start talking to the customers,” Sours said.
To add to the light-hearted environment, Cold Stone employees will also sing whenever they get tips or when it is someone’s birthday with parodies of songs such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
“People with little kids love it,” Sours said.
Although Cold Stone workers will sing, she said they don’t mind it if their older customers ask that they refrain.
Sours said the food is also what keeps patrons coming back. Cold Stone Creamery offers 16 different base flavors for ice cream, which are available on a day-to-day basis. Among the many flavors is cake batter, the most popular, that is made using the traditional vanilla base mixed in with real cake batter.
Sours, a senior marketing major, said if she works a Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift, about a quarter of the costumers that come through will order their Signature Creation Birthday Cake Remix — which is the cake batter ice cream, mixed with a brownie, rainbow sprinkles and fudge.
There are also four flavors that are switched out for every season. For the fall, Cold Stone offers peanut butter, butterscotch, butter pecan and pumpkin. The winter brings eggnog and candy cane flavors.
It offers ice cream in sizes called by non-traditional names, such as a “Like It” for small, “Love It” for medium and “Gotta Have It” for a large.
Cold Stone is also known for their Signature Creations, which are suggested ice cream combinations. These combinations tend to use one base ice cream flavor and mix it in with three to four different toppings, such as nuts, candy bars, fruits and caramel.
A customer could also be creative with a make-your-own creation, which starts at $3.99, and each additional topping is an extra 29 cents. Sours said she had one customer who put every topping available on his ice cream.
As the temperatures drop, Sours said she hasn’t seen a decrease in patrons.
“I know that Cold Stone is really great during final exam week,” Sours said.
Also serving up frozen delights is Rita’s located on College Avenue, which placed second for “Best Frozen Treat.”
Rita’s offers water ice, which has five different levels of viscosity or thickness. The difference between water ice and Italian ice is that Italian ice offers only one consistency.
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