Millbrae, Calif.-based CREAM Inc., which makes gourmet ice cream sandwiches, plans to franchise 13 locations in San Diego, the first two opening later this year.
A franchisee partnership also plans 10 locations in Orange County in the next three to four years, CREAM said.
The initial two San Diego locations will be on College Avenue and Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach.
The first two Orange County stores will open in Aliso Viejo in March and the Irvine Spectrum in April. Franchisees Kyle Olson and Hector Haget also plan to open a location on the University of Southern California campus in February.
Olson founded Newport Beach-based commercial real estate firm Blu Ventures. Haget was chief executive of a Piscataway, N.J.-based fragrance firm and is a franchisee in the Jersey Mike’s sandwich shop system.
The partners are looking for sites for the other eight OC locations. Stores average 1,200 square feet.
CREAM - its name functions as an acronym for “cookies rule everything around me” - is the build-your-own concept applied to ice cream. Customers pick flavors, cookie types and toppings from about 20 in each category to create desserts.
In Your Neighborhood
NBC7 goes in your neighborhood
Stores have other desserts -shakes, floats, malts, ice cream by the scoop, baked goods, and a taco shell-shaped waffle cone.
The franchise fee is $30,000, and marketing and royalty fees are 8 percent of gross sales, according to documents filed with the state of California.
CREAM has nine locations in Northern California. It was founded in 2010 and began franchising two years later.
Additional stories from the San Diego Business Journal are available here. Sign up for their free daily email newsletter.
