MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery
 | |
| Franchises | |
| Industry | Frozen Food Industry |
| Founded | 1989; Kansas City, Kansas |
| Headquarters | Fulton County, Georgia |
Area served |
Stores in: |
| Products | Desserts, mainly ice cream |
| Parent | Global Franchise Group |
| Website | maggiemoos.com |
MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery is a chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores that specialize in serving ice cream and other desserts. It is a franchise brand in the portfolio of Global Franchise Group. The first MaggieMoo's opened in 1989 in Kansas City, Kansas. According to the MaggieMoo's website, there are currently 49 locations in 23 states, Singapore, and Puerto Rico; at its peak, the brand had 400 stores. The brand had a goal of opening over 1,000 stores. Considering the brand's contraction, this goal now seems untenable. The brand's parent company, Global Franchise Group, has removed all franchising information for the brand from their website. The brand's headquarters are in unincorporated Fulton County, Georgia. When MaggieMoo's was an independent company, it had its headquarters in the Columbia CDP, unincorporated Howard County, Maryland.
History
MaggieMoo's was founded in Kansas City, Kansas by Juel and Katherine Tillery. After deciding to open an ice cream store they were searching for a name. They named their store after a cow on a farm that they passed by every day whom their young daughter affectionally named "MaggieMoo". The Tillerys enjoyed great success in their initial store and began to launch a franchise program. By 1996 there were approximately 10 units open, mostly in Kansas City, but also in St. Louis, Wichita, Topeka, Des Moines, and Lincoln.
Facing franchisee issues and lack of capital, the Tillerys sold the company to a group of investors led by Richard J. Sharoff who became the CEO. Sharoff was a veteran of the food and franchise industry having previously been a 30 store franchisee of Boston Market and president of Vie de France. Sharoff moved the headquarters to Columbia, Maryland, proceeded to open two new company units in nearby Northern Virginia, and built a team of franchisee professionals. The company chose Kansas City cartoonist Charlie Podrebarac to create the MaggieMoo character, logo, and the "Tail of MaggieMoo", the story about "SpokesMaggie". The franchise program continued to grow and the chain celebrated its 100th unit opening in Phoenix, Arizona in 2003.
Sharoff left the company in 2003 and was succeeded by John Jamison. In February 2007 the company was sold to NexCen Brands, Inc. for a reported $16 million. Global Franchise Group acquired NexCen in July 2010.
Stores
MaggieMoo's stores serve their products in a playful environment. Each stores features a menu of freshly made ice creams, mix-ins, smoothies, sorbets and custom ice cream cakes.
MaggieMoo's serves its ice cream blend containing 14 percent of butterfat, by mixing in various treats into the ice cream including brownies, Snickers, Heath bar, sprinkles, fudge, and others on a frozen granite slab. Mix-ins are folded into the ice cream in front of the customer or sprinkled on like a topping.
Company achievements
- According to the company, it has created the world’s first ice cream cupcake (introduced by Jim McCarren on the Food Network), as well as the Maggie-O’s ice cream sandwich featuring Oreo cookies.
- The company has been rewarded for its "artistic endeavors in the field of desserts" with its "Chocolate", "Dark Chocolate", "Strawberry", "Vanilla", and "Vanilla Bean" flavors receiving the 'National Ice Cream Retailers Association's' (NICRA) Blue Ribbon for eight consecutive years.
- MaggieMoo's was included in Entrepreneur Magazine’s ranking of the top 500 franchise opportunities in 2007.
Charity work
The company does various charity works, under the name of their mascot, Miss Maggie Moo.
According to the company, their activities, all fronted by their mascot, include "rescuing animals with the Humane Society, raising money for the Hurricane Katrina Victims, walking in support of a cure for breast cancer, assisting schools to raise money, or helping Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts earn their badges."