Students savored samples of Cold Stone ice cream when CEO and ASU alumnus Doug Ducey came to ASU East to share his experience as leader of one of the fastest growing franchises in the nation.
Ducey told students how he started out in business - as the college representative in beer distribution for Anheuser-Busch in the 1980s.
It was easy to sell beer around ASU "no one ever said no," he said.
Ducey discussed how and why Cold Stone became a franchise.
"There is no bad ice cream out there," he said. "The real challenge is differentiating what will make the customer come back."
Ducey said in the beginning it was critical to communicate ideas and values that each of the Cold Stone entrepreneurs believed in.
"There was an incredible power in writing those core values down," he added.
According to Ducey, Time magazine wrote, "What Starbucks did to coffee, Cold Stone did to ice cream."
Both businesses serve a higher-quality product, and they also charge a higher price than their competitors, Ducey said.
To illustrate his point, Ducey brought with him an abundance of "peanut butter cup" and "Oreo Cookie overload" ice creams.
Associate professor Roger Hutt and faculty associate David Forsyth dished out ice cream to 60 or so students, faculty and administrators.
Watson, who teaches small business courses, said the Cold Stone presentation was a first in what the department hopes will be a series on successful local businesses.
Reach the reporter at erika.camardella@asu.edu.
