Marble Slab Creamery is in a sweet sales spot. After restructuring pricing and improving the customer experience over the course of two years, the brand is experiencing a major turnaround in positive sales, boasting a 5.8 percent increase in same-store sales, a four percent increase in transactions and a 9.8 percent increase in Average Unit Volumes (AUVs) year to date. The increase in sales can be attributed to the national ice creamery's unlimited mix-ins pricing, which allows customers to add as many mix-ins as will fit into the ordered cup size or cone for a set price, increased messaging regarding its in-store homemade small batch premium ice cream, and emphasizing fresh-baked waffle cones at no additional cost. Marble Slab Creamery's sister concept, MaggieMoo's Ice Cream & Treatery, is transitioning and in the process of converting to the better recognized Marble Slab Creamery brand.
Ending five years of significant sales declines, Marble Slab demonstrated positive results in 2014 with plus 4.39 percent in same-store sales and plus 7.8 percent in AUVS. The significant turnaround in sales is a testament to increased customer satisfaction and an overall increased value proposition. Unlimited mix-ins pricing and the quality of the Marble Slab product also helps the brand standout among the competition. With these changes, Marble Slab has improved franchisee profitability and better leveraged its supply chain. The brand has also experienced an increase in inquiries from potential franchisees and general interest in the concept.
"Marble Slab Creamery has always had superior ice cream and mix-in offerings that customers love, but we were always considered a small player in the national ice cream shop scene," says Allison Lauenstein, vice president of ice cream brands for Global Franchise Group, the strategic brand management company behind Marble Slab Creamery. "We've improved the direction of the concept, reconnected to our customers and bettered the Marble Slab experience. We've worked hard to increase sales and profitability by emphasizing our differentiators and we anticipate continued results. We might be smaller than Baskin Robbins and Cold Store Creamery, but we're coming on stronger than ever with our outstanding performance."
Marble Slab is continuing to build on its improvement momentum and recently launched a new line of unique and inventive ice cream cakes in 10 flavors: Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Overload, Chocolate Rocky Road Brownie, Cookie Jar Chaos, Snickers Snackers Snuckers, Savannah Banana Fudge, Mint Chocolate Meltdown, Mocha Cappuccino Fudge, Raving Craving Sprinkle Cake, Visit to the Candy Shoppe, and Strawberry Shortcake. To complement the launch of the new ice cream cakes, Marble Slab Creamery also introduced a new easy to use, online cake ordering platform, which will allows customers to quickly order custom ice cream cakes with personalized messages. The brand is also introducing new ice cream flavors this summer, including Gone Bananas Coconut Cream Pie and Peanut Butter and Fudge and a selection of individual sundaes inspired by the new ice cream cakes in the Snickers Snackers Snuckers, Cookie Jar Chaos, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie flavors.
