Chris Collins, founder of Crave Ice Cream Social, knows how to grow a business.
He has 15 years of experience in franchising from when he owned multiple Greek’s Pizzeria franchises. Greek’s is a popular pizza chain in Indiana that went from 10 units when he joined to 45.
Out of college, he worked at Levy Restaurants, a Chicago-based group that operates restaurants in nontraditional settings like ballparks and Disney World.
“They were going through explosive growth and sending me around the country to open different stadiums and be management support,” Collins said. “I also got to do some cool events like the Video Music Awards in Miami and the Kentucky Derby.”
He’s taking what he learned from those roles to his newest venture: Crave Ice Cream Social.
“Being around food my whole life since high school, ice cream is really a fun and low stress environment,” he said.
Crave has one Indianapolis location at Geist Marina, so the shop gets quite busy during the summer, Collins said.
“Something funny about my store, a lot of places say ‘No shoes, no shirt, no service.’ And we’re the opposite. We say, that’s just fine, because we’re right on the marina,” he said.
The ice cream parlor rotates between 28 flavors of ice cream.
“It’s a super-premium ice cream that we’re getting out of Wisconsin, which I believe has the best milk you can find in the country,” Collins said. “We’ve also secured a nationwide supply chain. We can go to all 50 states in the U.S. in terms of new people in different locations, so that’s pretty exciting.”
It’s not just ice cream, however. Crave serves cookies, Rice Krispie bars and scotcheroos. A customer favorite is Crave’s ice cream sandwiches, made with two cookies and two scoops of ice cream.
This season, the brand is introducing nostalgic candies and local honey to its menu. The honey comes from a farm just outside of Indianapolis. Nostalgic candy, like Dots and Big League Chew, will line the shelves—similar to what you’d see at a Cracker Barrel.
“I like Cracker Barrel. There’s one close to me, and I think it’s pretty darn successful there when I’m watching people check out,” Collins said.
The franchise keeps its food and labor costs at 36 percent, according to its franchise brochure. The total upfront investment is $260,051, including the $49,000 franchise fee.
Footprints range from 1,200 to 2,000 square feet, and Collins said he’s flexible on shop size.
The ice cream sector comprises a lot of brands. Some of the smaller brands by unit count are Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream, Handel’s Ice Cream and Jeremiah’s Italian Ice.
Related: Where Are They Now? Ice Cream Emergency Triples Unit Count to 16
Crave recommends franchisees hire a team of 10 to 13 employees and spend one percent of gross sales on local marketing.
As another revenue channel, Crave has a tricycle with a frozen cooler on the front to take to events, like school fundraisers or graduation parties, or employees wheel it down to the docks at the marina. The cooler holds about 150 scoops of ice cream and takes payment via Square on a phone.