Monday, June 19, 2017

Summer Brings Sub Zero to Select Sites

Provo, Utah based Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream plans to make its Atlanta debut later this summer.  The ice cream & yogurt company has signed two franchise agreements in metro Atlanta with plans to develop at least four locations.
The first two locations are planned for Sandy Springs and downtown Atlanta.  

In Sandy Springs, Sub Zero will open in a 1,000 square foot space at  The Prado on Roswell Road.  The new ice cream shop has signed a lease for suite 130 in the Target anchored shopping center.  As ToNeTo Atlanta readers may recall, this suite was previously home to Yoreka, a failed frozen yogurt shop, but had most recently been a Subway restaurant.  Yogurt Mountain, another failed fro-yo franchise, also previously operated in a separate space in The Prado, but after opening in 2012, closed in early 2015 .

The downtown Atlanta franchise is being opened by Sohail Lakhani who also has plans for at least two other locations in metro Atlanta.  The downtown location will be located at 250 Park Avenue West Suite 5, below the Embassy Suites hotel and across from Centennial Olympic Park.  At 1,700 square feet, the downtown location is significantly larger than the average Sub Zero, which its website indicates is 800-1,300 square feet. 

A company representative indicated to me last week that both locations are expected to open in "late July."  

It's worth mentioning that Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream is in no way related to locally owned "Sub Zero Frozen Yogurt Bar,"  which was located on South Cobb Drive in Marietta and closed last year. 

Created by Jerry & Naomi Hancock in 2004, Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream started franchising in 2008.  In 2013, the Hancocks appeared on Season 4 of ABC's Shark Tank.  While the sharks were impressed with their product, none were interested enough to bite at the couple's request for $300,000 in exchange for 12% of the company.

Tom + Chee, a grilled cheese franchise, also appeared on season 4 of Shark Tank, and while it did get an investor, it has struggled as a franchise and has closed over a dozen locations including three out of four in metro Atlanta.

Jerry, who has a chemistry background, essentially applied the technique of freezing with liquid nitrogen - something done locally with milkshakes at FLIP Burger Boutique - to ice cream.  Sub Zero creates its ice cream by blasting and mixing liquid ingredients repeatedly with -320 Fahrenheit liquid nitrogen. 
A super corny video that shows the process at Sub Zero 

Sub Zero offers a variety of dairy and non-dairy options
from which to choose.  Among the options are their original and custard base in addition to a low-fat yogurt option.  They also offer lactose-free, vegan and sugar- free options for those with dietary restrictions.

Sub Zero's opening follows the recent opening of Sweet Charlie's, a Philadelphia based novelty ice cream franchise, in Buckhead.  Located on Roswell Road near Chastain Park in Buckhead Court, Sweet Charlie's also creates ice cream in front of customers, but rather than using liquid nitrogen, they use a surface that is below 20 degrees Celsius, according to a store representative.  The liquid dairy product is frozen and smoothed on the surface before being rolled and placed in a cup.   

What are your thoughts on these new trends in ice cream? Have you been to Sub Zero or Sweet Charlie's?  Do you think Sub Zero and their chemistry theatrics will find success where two frozen your chains flopped? 

Please share your thoughts below. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will the entrepreneurs realize what we really want is a one-stop shop to get expensive ice cream with a mediocre pizza, a cup of bitter over-priced coffee and a mattress on sale?

Anonymous said...

McDonald's is half there! Actually depending on the location, 3/4 there as I've seen the homeless sleep in the booths ;) all they need is the pizza!

fbenario said...

"brings ... to select sites"

Isn't every post you've ever posted in this blog about something at 'select sites'? Am I missing something obvious that makes this post different?

Anonymous said...

Fbenario is clearly not a journalist or a writer and doesn't understand the art of writing a message and also has nothing better to do. There is no value in his comment. His comment on sub zero has zero value.

fbenario said...

Classy move to critique others from behind a veil of anonymity. Wouldn't your words carry more weight if you were willing to stand behind them?

In retrospect I could have used less off-putting language in my post. I apologize to Eli forthrightly and without qualification.

Coolio said...

I'd rather watch Howard the Duck again than watch that sub zero commercial. If I ever walked into an establishment where the workers asked me all of those questions, I'd walk right out.

Anonymous said...

I just caught the Subzero re-run episode last night on Shark Tank. None of the investors were interested.

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