Carvel is celebrating National Ice Cream Day this year with a promotion that pays homage to the brand’s 80th anniversary. On Sunday, July 20, guests can visit their neighborhood Carvel shoppe to enjoy a junior cup or cone filled with their choice of vanilla, chocolate, or new soft-serve ice cream made with Ferrero’s Nutella hazelnut spread for only 80 cents.
The National Ice Cream Day promotion marks the latest in a string of moves aimed at leveraging the brand’s milestone 80th anniversary to re-energize the brand. This past spring, Carvel kicked off its 80th birthday celebration by unveiling a new ice cream shoppe design and modern brand image to enhance guest experience and spur a new wave of franchise growth for the iconic brand.
“National Ice Cream Day is always exciting for Carvel, but this year we have even more to celebrate,” says Carvel president Scott Colwell. “There’s a lot of momentum right now with our new shoppe design, our 80th birthday and the introduction of our famous soft-serve ice cream made with Nutella.”
Carvel is a leading regional ice cream brand in the Northeast, known for its signature ice cream cakes, Fudgie the Whale character, freshly made soft-serve ice cream, and other hand-crafted novelty treats. Carvel also has a strong presence in South Florida where it has 22 locations, including the first site of the new shoppe design, which opened in Royal Palm Beach in March, and a new second shoppe in Palm Beach Gardens in June. Nationally, Carvel has expanded its presence through more than 100 Carvel express shoppes, which are often developed as cobrands with established host restaurants.
The 400-plus-unit chain, which was the first retail ice cream franchise, expects to strengthen its brand in core markets by adding 20 new full and express shoppes this year. Carvel seeks franchisees to develop express shoppes throughout the country and full shoppes in Florida as well as Northeast markets, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.