Steve's Ice Cream

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Steve's Ice Cream was an ice-cream parlor chain in the Boston, Massachusetts region that helped create the modern concept of super-premium ice cream and created the concept of customized ice cream desserts using the mix-in. While the company is no longer in business, its business concepts that arose spawned other chains such as Coldstone Creamery and Amy's Ice Creams and well known products including the Dairy Queen Blizzard and Wendy's Twisted Frosty product lines.[1]

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[edit] History

Steve's Ice Cream was founded in 1973 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Steve Herrell. Mr. Herrell was introduced to the Heath candy bar by a friend in the late 1960's and felt that it would make an excellent addition to ice cream. When he opened his first store, instead of having pre-mixed flavors like chocolate chip, he had his staff mix freshly made ice cream with candy or other confections based upon a customer requests. These candy additions first became known as smoosh-ins. These custom blended flavors proved to be highly desired by the customer and the store became very popular in a short time.[2][3]

Mr. Herrell sold his company to Joe Crugnale, the future founder of the Bertucci's restaurant chain, in 1977. The company was again sold it in 1983. For several years the chain was co-located with the D'Angelos sub chain until D'angelo's was purchased by Yum! Brands in the 1997 and Steve's was replaced in favor of Pizza Hut. The company closed in the late 1990s.

[edit] Industry impact

The popularity of the Heath Bar created by Steve's and expanded upon by later chains, eventually forced the Heath company to greatly expand its operation to include a commercial foods division.[2] Later chains took concept of the smoosh-in and applied it to their operations, creating a whole new industry around it. Because Mr. Herrell trademarked the term smoosh-in, most chains refer to the term as mix-ins in industry terminology.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bruce Mohl (2007-05-23). The scoop on Boston's ice cream war. Article. the Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-12-21. “Their [Coldstone Creameries] stores feature ice cream made fresh on the premises each day and frozen stone slabs where the ice cream is mixed with candy, nuts, and other mix-ins, a concept popularized in Somerville in the 1970s by Steve Herrell at the original Steve's Ice Cream.”
  2. ^ a b Eric Asimov (1987-08-27). Heath Bar finds its Metier:Ice Cream. Article. the New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-22. “STEVE HERRELL didn't know a Heath bar from a hole in a doughnut until a friend gave him one in the late 1960's. But when he tasted the milk-chocolate-covered bar of crunchy toffee, he recalled, he had a single, all-penetrating inspiration: This would be great with ice cream!”
  3. ^ Andrea Pyenson. "Recalling a luscious loss of innocence" (Subscrition required), Column, the Boston Globe, 2001-08-16, p. H7. Retrieved on 2007-12-22. "He picked me up, and we eagerly negotiated our way through the back streets of Somerville, until we arrived at the spot of our assignation: Steve's. The original, unbeatable, often-imitated-but-never-equaled Steve's Ice Cream." 
  4. ^ Ron Lieber (2003-05-09). Ice-cream parlors going nuts over extras (Archive). Article. the Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-22. “...Steve Herrell first popularized what were then called "mix-ins" at Steve's Ice Cream in Boston about 30 years ago. He sold Steve's and later opened another chain, Herrell's, and trademarked "Smoosh-in" to describe his process.”

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