As most Ice Cream retailers will attest, product produced for store dipping cabinets come in three- gallon tubs as displayed in the image below. This makes it difficult for the consumer, looking into the dipping cabinet to determine if the store is selling the brands premium high-quality product or a lower quality brand of ice cream. They trust the brand, or they do not.
Unfortunately, but as you can imagine, some franchisees or licensees of major brands will look for ways to cut corners and costs. One way we discovered is by purchasing a much less quality $9 ice cream tub, and putting it in the dipping cabinet, replacing the brands required premium ice cream that could cost $25 a tub or more. As my franchising mentor told me repeatedly, “We can never tolerate a franchisee misleading the consumer into thinking they are buying our premium product, and sell them something less. Ever!” So, our answer to this problem was to wrap our logo around the tubs so the consumer would recognize our premium ice cream. I thought “great, problem solved! Next? “.
Months later during a market tour, I noticed a clothes iron in a few stores, and asked a part-time employee if they were ironing their uniforms in the back room. When she stopped laughing, she explained that this franchisee instructed them to use the iron to go around the outside of the lower quality ice cream tubs she purchased to loosen the product from the walls of the tub. That way it was easier to slide the product out and into the recently emptied and cleaned premium company branded tubs! Problem obviously was NOT solved!
We were able to quickly investigate, document, audit, and quantify how much chocolate and vanilla ice cream were being purchased outside the system, costing this franchisee her three store network. Again, no misleading the consumer! Relentless enforcement of brand standards is the only thing that builds consumer trust in a brand.
Key Tip: When people entrusted with your ice cream brand buy outside the system, they typically purchase chocolate and vanilla (primary beverage flavors). Keep an eye out for drops in ordering of your key items from approved sources. $
(Editor’s Note: This article was written by Michael Mershimer, President, Brand Standards & Compliance at IntelliShop. If you would like to learn more about sales reporting integrity and brand compliance, visit their website at: https://www.intelli-shop.com/.)
