Remember when Baskin-Robbins' 31 flavours seemed like a lot to choose from?
Not in today's competitive ice cream market, where exotic choices like root beer float and birthday cake with sprinkles can be picked up at the grocery store, and an array of specialty shops offer premium ice cream with dozens of "mix-ins" ranging from fruit and nuts to candy and chocolate to create your own, custom flavour.
Marble Slab Creamery was first on the local scene in 2004, with its rich, in-store-made ice creams and stable of add-in goodies, all smushed together in perfect harmony on a slab of cold granite. Competition arrived this summer when Cold Stone Creamery, another American chain, set up shop in a Tim Hortons, offering similarly delicious, premium ice cream and an array of mix-ins so extensive they can be combined into some 11.5 million different creations, says Cold Stone, citing a Harvard Business School doctoral student who crunched the numbers.
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