Logan gets a sweet combo
Early last month, Jerom Patterson and his best friend wanted to do something out of the ordinary for their dates so they decided to bring them to the newly-opened Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert.
“(Our) dates loved it, and they gave us some loving after …we loved our night,” said Patterson, a sophomore majoring in human movement science.
Recently, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory opened a branch at the existing Cold Stone Creamery location in Logan. The store is located at 505 East and 1400 North.
“They’re two separately owned companies, but there were a lot of synergies between the two companies,” said Josh Christensen, the owner of Cold Stone Creamery and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate was started by Frank Crail. He had recently moved to Durango, Colorado and was looking for work, Christensen said. Crail started asking around town to see for business ideas, he said. Some people told him they needed a car wash while others said they needed a candy shop. Because Crail was passionate about chocolates, Christensen said he decided to open a candy shop.
Christensen said Crail worked with a partner and developed chocolate formulas. They accidentally made huge products, but later found that customers liked the larger-sized chocolates, he said. The large chocolates eventually became the staple of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
Cold Stone Creamery was closed and remodeled for a few days in December and reopened on Dec. 14 with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory added to it.
Christensen said the addition provides Cold Stone customers with much greater options. Simultaneously, Rocky Mountain customers who used to drive to the store in Salt Lake to get their chocolates and caramel apples can now get them in Logan instead, he said.
“We decided there was a need,” he said. “The closest Rocky Mountain store was at the Gateway … other than that, there’s just nothing up in this end of this state to provide high-quality chocolates.”
He said the collaboration between the two companies provides more traffic to the store, offers another option for Cold Stone’s existing customers and brings in a lot of new customers who want to try products from both businesses at the same time.
The combination of ice cream and chocolates provide for a great date night, said Christensen. He said Christmas and Valentine’s Day are huge days because they are the most popular days of the year.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that bring dates in, the guy loves the ice cream and the girl doesn’t love the ice cream, but she loves chocolates or caramel apples,” he said. “Before, they didn’t want to go out or they didn’t know where to go, (but now) they say, ‘We both come here, we both get what we want, and we’re happy.'”
Christensen said Rocky Mountain offers high quality sweets because the chocolate goes through a longer “conching” phase, which is the process of stirring the chocolate. The longer the chocolate is stirred, the better its quality, he said.
He said all chocolates are hand-dipped and local produce is used as much as possible. Rocky Mountain uses butter purchased from from suppliers in Hyrum and paper products from Salt Lake City.
James Dyer, the manager of Cold Stone Creamery in Logan said he is excited about the collaboration between the two companies.
“It seems like they pair really well,” Dyer said. “When you (have) a busy season for chocolates, it’s a little bit slower for ice cream and vice versa.”
Jenna Black, a junior majoring in public relations said all the chocolates are good, but her personal favorite is the Peanut Butter Buckets. She said compared to other chocolates, Rocky Mountain chocolates are more gourmet and less waxy. She said she likes going to the store because it’s fun to see all the different caramel apples.
“Just seeing them will make you want one because the presentation is so beautiful,” she said.
Fernanda Celestino, a sophomore majoring in communicative disorders, has worked at Cold Stone for a year. She said most Cold Stone customers who come in often consider buying chocolate with their ice cream.
“Don’t be intimidated by all the different types of chocolates and try them at least before you decide not to get them,” she said.
Becca Glover, a freshman majoring in public relations, said she first tried Rocky Mountain chocolates in Park City.
“I just love it, it’s really good, and if you haven’t tried it, you should because it will probably change the way you eat chocolates,” she said.
– nadiah.johari@aggiemail.usu.edu