Article

How to weather proof a frozen dessert concept

From marketing shifts to menu tests, some brands are working to curb the dramatic sales cut during winter.

November 5, 2013 by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

Sales at ice cream and frozen yogurt concepts are typically cut in half during the cold winter months. But some brands have been embracing pipeline innovations and marketing strategies to curb this dramatic trend.

Menu focus shifts

Baskin-Robbins, for example, has been focused on new cake platforms to entice customers to trade up and consider the brand for unique special occasions such as National Administrative Professionals Day. The company is also working on locally-inspired cakes, such as baseball helmet cake designs.

Cold Stone Creamery introduced its "Hot Stone Warm and Delicious" plated dessert line last winter. The menu features classic offerings, such as cookies, brownies, churros and funnel cakes, served warm with the brand's French Vanilla ice cream.

Bruster's Real Ice Cream pushes its cake and pie lines during the winter, and also rotates seasonal flavors while emphasizing its signature waffle cone options, said Mike Branigan, vice president of Marketing and Product Innovation. For example, fall and winter ice creams usually feature pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, peppermint and eggnog flavors.

"In the fall, there is a high demand for our warm apple dumplings, especially at high school concession stands during football games," Branigan said. "Bruster's will also be adding a limited-time, warm mixed-berry pie a la mode this year."

Some frozen dessert concepts have even gone so far as to test hot beverage lines to remedy the winter lull, but to no avail. Carvel President Scott Colwell said the brand has tested a few hot beverages in the past, but they didn't go well and there are no further plans to continue trial.

"There are a lot of great places for consumers to get hot beverages, but Carvel is best at serving ice cream," he said.

Stores in the Pennsylvania-based Bruster's system have also tested hot coffee beverages specifically created for the winter months.

"We discovered our customers don't know us for coffee, they know us for our coffee ice cream," Branigan said.

Retail additions

During a call in May, Bill Mitchell, senior vice president and chief brand officer at Baskin-Robbins, discussed other "weather proofing" efforts, including the brand's new line of shelf-stable, sherbet-flavored freezer bars rolling out to 15,000 national retailers throughout the country.

"This is our first attempt at going into grocery and channel. In my opinion, clearly, this has clear superiority over the competition," Mitchell said. He expects the brand's retail presence to reach 50,000 outlets.

Cold Stone Creamery also recently jumped into the retail market with a line of chocolate bars. The 12 bars are available per online order for $17.97 on the brand's website and include flavors such as Chocolate Devotion and Coffee Lovers Only.

Marketing shifts

In addition to testing new platforms, jumping into retail and rolling out hot desserts, frozen dessert concepts also shift their marketing focus to navigate through the slow season. Colwell said the brand places an emphasis on cakes and weekday specials during winter.

"The weekday specials offer customers a variety of different options, enticing them to visit our locations multiple times a week," he said. "The specials translate into value for customers and feature products that are good for at-home consumption during the colder months."

These include cakes, Lil' Rounders, Flying Saucers and Chipsters. Carvel also heavily promotes its cake line during the winter.

"Cakes are popular during the holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas," Colwell said. "And some of our best-selling cake days are the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, birthdays, St. Patrick's Day and Easter. So this helps offset the slow winter months, as well."

Even if cakes don't go fast on those occasions, Carvel doubles its weekly volumes in May through September, which makes up for the sluggish January and February months. Old Man Winter doesn't deter the company's real estate choices, either. The brand is strongest, Colwell said, in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, in addition to Florida.

"With the variety of products we offer, weather is not a factor. Some of the highest per capita consumption of ice cream is in colder climates," he said.

Bruster's relies heavily on its local store marketing/community involvement efforts to push the business through winter. While the brand frequently appears at special events during the summer, it shifts gears to corporate catering and additional business partnership opportunities during the winter.

The company also encourages sales of take-home items from November through February, including pints, quarts and half gallons. And in January and February, Bruster's turns its attention to gift card sales. Participation and promotions vary by location but can rely upon email, reader boards, texts, tweets, print, posters and flyers.

"Despite weather differences and challenges, many of our most successful stores are located in the Northern areas of the country. People in the Northeast United States love ice cream, no matter the weather," Branigan said.

Read more about marketing and promotions.

About Alicia Kelso

---

None

Connect with Alicia: