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.
They also have different flavors of custard, such as vanilla, strawberry, orange cream and coffee. Customers are able to blend the custard and ice into different concoctions, such as the “Gelati,” which layers these two products.
“Companywide, mango is the No. 1 flavor,” said general manager Jim Hagan. “We just came out with Swedish fish. And that is challenging mango for sure, and it may go faster than the mango.”
Rita’s has more than 40 different flavors of ice with a new flavor coming out each month. Its regular-sized ice starts at $2.43, while their custard starts at $2.97.
Rita’s also offers seasonal flavors such as pumpkin pie and caramel apple, while the more unique ones include birthday cake and pistachio.
“The product is, number one, unique, and number two, is our service and staff,” Hagan said. “I get complimented all the time on their enthusiasm. Our tagline is ‘Ice. Custard. Happiness.’ and they do a great job on the happiness end. Customers leave a little happier than when they came in.”
Lisa Floyd, a Rita’s employee, says she enjoys working here because it’s fun, and she often sees loyal customers who she has gotten to know.
“We have a lot of people that come in every day and order the same thing every day,” Floyd said. “And they’re funny because they like what they like. We know what they like, and we see them coming, and we’re ready.”
Regular customers might also be more familiar with Rita’s less-advertised concoctions, like the “Hokie-lati,” which is made up of orange custard with wild black cherry ice.
They plan on starting Tropical Thursdays that will offer a “Tropical Treat Misto,” consisting of pineapple, coconut, a dash of kiwi and mango ice with the vanilla custard.
“I thank the town of Blacksburg and the students at Virginia Tech for our success and am grateful that they are enthusiastic about our product,” Hagan said. “We are looking to grow from here and to meet more and more of the students and the town. Every day I see new people, and that’s the fun part.”
Teresa Tobat contributed to this report.