Cold Stone Creamery
Top Jobs, p1
The scoop: Outgoing personalities, willingness to sing, keep Cold Stone Creamery crew warm
They
sing. They scoop. They mix things up. For employees at Cold Stone
Creamery on McHenry Avenue in Modesto, work is all about fun.
The
family-friendly ice cream franchise, one of five in the local area,
offers custom-made ice cream creations mixed by hand before customers’
eyes.
Owners Duane Costa and Mark Schweitzer, who also own the
Turlock store on West Monte Vista Avenue, believe that fun is an
essential businesses strategy. “We know the key to success is to have a
trained and happy crew. It has to be a very positive, thriving
environment,” Costa says.
Speaking of fun, how many food service
jobs do you know of that offer “auditions,” rather than interviews?
Every Cold Stone auditions employees in some way, but at the McHenry and
Monte Vista stores, the two-hour process is an event.
In the spotlight
Three
times a year, 20 applicants and up to 20 Cold Stone employees, acting
as judges, fill a room at a local restaurant, where the owners hold a
competition of sorts, to find out which candidates are the most
outgoing.
Activities include spontaneous introductions by each
applicant, then Cold Stone song sheets are handed out. “The reason they
must sing a song is to see who’s got the courage, who goes first, that
kind of thing,” Costa says. “We’re not looking for good singers, we’re
looking for people that have fun with it.”
Next, each applicant
has to “bust a move.” “They come up to the front of the room for three
seconds and do a move that tells a little about them,” Costa explains.
“Football players might pretend to catch a football, someone could
pretend to ride a skateboard, cheerleaders might do a cheer. It’s
something totally creative,” he says.
Lastly, candidates are
broken into groups of three, plus one crew member, and given 10 minutes
to make up a song to role-play. Performances are videotaped, then the
“winners” portions are edited and shown at the next holiday party.
After
the auditions, Cold Stone staff and management discuss the merits of
each candidate – even referring to the video performances as needed.
Everyone is involved in the decision-making. By unanimous vote, three to
six finalists are selected for interviews.
Costa characterizes
the auditions as a positive experience for everyone. “The existing crew
can get to know potential coworkers, and the candidates feel like they
belong. It breaks the ice quickly.” He says the auditions help ensure
that the person is going to be successful. “For a lot of them, it’s
their first job; we want them to have a very positive experience at Cold
Stone,” Costa notes, pointing out that the majority of his workers are
college students, with the balance attending high school.
Fierce competition
Cold
Stone’s jovial setting makes it an appealing place to work. Between the
two stores, more than 900 applications were received over the summer.
To minimize the deluge, applications at the two stores are now accepted
only between the months of December and July. Although prospective
employees can apply online, Costa prefers that candidates fill out
applications in person.
Costa says he and Schweitzer plan to hire
approximately 10 people (five per store) between January and April. In
all, there are between 13 and 18 employees per store, including one crew
leader per shift. Crew leaders act as store managers. Compensation
starts at approximately $7.75 per hour for crew members, plus roughly $1
more per hour in tips. Crew leaders make about $9 per hour, plus tips.
Costa
and Schweitzer offer a very flexible schedule, with employees averaging
approximately 20 hours per week, and among other perks, workers enjoy
free ice cream while at work.
No experience is required to apply.
“Experience doesn’t really carry any weight,” Costa says. “Honestly, it
just depends on how well they do at the audition. You can’t train
people to be outgoing and relaxed in a new environment – they’ve got to
naturally be comfortable with it.”
Company training takes about
30 days. Crew members receive four days of one-on-one training, view
training videos and complete a 20-page workbook.
Appearance,
attitude and character count, and being well groomed goes with the
territory. According to the application, the company doesn’t allow
visible tattoos, visible piercing (except one stud earring in each ear),
and has a policy of no denim, no fingernail polish, no fake nails and
no unnatural hair color. Further, employees are asked if they are
willing to entertain customers and song Cold Stone Creamery songs.
In
addition, Costa says that Cold Stone Creamery is strongly opposed to
any reference to or conversation encouraging the use of alcohol or
illicit drugs among crew members or customers.
Qualities that
Costa looks for in his staff are honesty and caring about the people
around them, including their fellow staff members and the customers.
Employees
are taught to treat customers as though they are guests in their home,
which includes greeting customers, inviting them in, asking if they’ve
ever been to a Cold Stone and talking with them. To further “connect’
with guests, crew members offer suggestions for ice cream creations, and
take and mix orders. When a dollar is placed in the tip jar, the
workers heartily belt out a Cold Stone song, which adds to the
good-humored atmosphere. “Cold Stone builds an enormous amount of
confidence in younger people. In that type of environment, where we
sing, it’s almost like public speaking,” Costa says.
Stirring things up
Typically,
crew members make batches of ice cream, cook waffles and dip them in
chocolate, and bake brownies every morning. They also produce ice cream
cakes, help customers and keep the lobby clean.
Megan Luty, who
works at both stores and joined the Cold Stone crew when the McHenry
store opened in 2001, enjoys the fun environment and friendships she’s
developed. For her, challenges include resisting the temptation to eat
ice cream on every shift and standing on her feet for long periods. When
asked about the strangest ice cream creation she’s ever made, she
responded, “Somebody got a bucket of ice cream with every single mix-in
we had. I don’t know what it cost, but it was a lot.”
Luty notes
that Cold Stone is not like other places. “Duane and Mark encourage us
to have fun with our coworkers.” She also points out that the store
ranks very highly among other Cold Stones nationwide, and because it’s
open late, it makes a great warm-weather hangout. Luty adds, “We’re like
the Starbucks of ice cream.”
© HHWS for The Modesto Bee
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