Steve's Ice Cream was an ice-cream parlorchain which attracted media attention and long lines when original owner Steve Herrell opened his first establishment at 191 Elm Street in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1973. This is known as the Original Steve's Ice Cream. It introduced the concept of super-premium ice cream and customized ice cream desserts using the mix-in. MSNBC travel/leisure journalist Tom Austin credits Herrell for this innovative milestone in the ice cream industry: "Modern gourmet ice cream is widely considered to have been born at the original Steve’s in Boston." While Steve sold the company in 1977, its business concepts inspired other chains, such as Cold Stone Creamery and Amy's Ice Creams, and well-known products, including the Dairy Queen Blizzard and Wendy'sTwisted Frosty product lines. In 1980, Steve Herrell opened up a new ice cream business, Herrell's Ice Cream, but stepped down as a day-to-day operator in 2014.
History
When Steve Herrell founded Steve's Ice Cream in 1973, he mechanically altered a small batch commercial freezer to produce an extraordinarily rich, creamy, low-air ice cream. Herrell was introduced to the Heath Bar candy bar by a friend in the late 1960s and felt it would make an excellent addition to ice cream. When he opened his first store, instead of having pre-mixed flavors like chocolate chip, he had his staff mix freshly made ice cream with candy or other confections based upon customer requests. These candy additions were called mix-ins, and the custom-blended flavors proved to be highly desired by the customer. Steve sold out of ice cream on his first day, and the store became very popular in a short time. The prices in 1975 were $.35 and $.55 for cones with an additional $.10 for each "mix-in" of M&M's, Heath bars and others. A fruit mix-in was another $.10. Sundaes were $.75 and $1.25, banana splits were $1.75 and egg creams were $.40. While waiting in line, customers could pay a dime to rent a piano roll for the store's player piano which Steve had rebuilt. In 1977, Herrell sold his company for $80,000 to Joe Crugnale, the future founder of the Bertucci'srestaurant chain. The company was again sold in 1983. For several years the chain was co-located with the D'Angelossub chain until D'angelo's was purchased by Yum! Brands in 1993 and Steve's was replaced in favor of Pizza Hut. The company closed in the late 1990s. Discord arose in the late 1980s between franchise owners and Steve’s corporate office when Steve’s began selling pre-packaged ice cream in various grocery stores. Franchise owners were disgruntled that the corporate offices were luring customers away from their local ice cream shops. In addition, they argued that the sale of prepackaged ice cream bearing the “Steve’s” name was inconsistent with the concept that Steve’s was a premium hand-made ice cream. In response, some franchise owners refused to continue paying franchise fees. Ultimately, a number of franchises were forced to go out of business, which likely contributed to the company’s demise.
Industry impact
Steve has been credited with inspiring the founders of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, whose original store, opened in 1978, included, like Steve's, a freezer to churn the ice cream and a player piano. A photo of Steve, Ben and Jerry hangs on the wall of Herrell's Northampton, Mass. store. The popularity of the Heath Bar smoosh-in, created by Steve's and utilized by later chains, prompted the Heath company to expand its operation to include a commercial foods division. Later chains took the concept of the smoosh-in and applied it to their operations, creating a whole new industry around it. Because Herrell trademarked the term smoosh-in, most chains refer to the term as mix-in in industry terminology.
Revival
In 2009, the Steve's Ice Cream brand was acquired by David Stein. He was an employee of the Steve's Ice Cream which was owned by Integrated Resources in the 1980s. The new Brooklyn-based Steve's Ice Cream was launched in 2011 with the distribution of packaged ice cream plus stores located in Manhattan and Brooklyn. David Stein and The Fresh Ice Cream Co.—which was doing business as Steve’s Ice Cream—filed for bankruptcy in February 2017 and was purchased by Dean Foods Company of Dallas, Texas in June 2017.
