Steve's Ice Cream
Encyclopedia
Steve's Ice Cream was an ice-cream parlor chain which attracted media attention and long lines when owner Steve Herrell opened his first establishment at 191 Elm Street in Somerville, Massachusetts
in 1973. 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 the company is no longer in business, its business concepts spawned other chains, such as Cold Stone Creamery
and Amy's Ice Creams
, and well-known products, including the Dairy Queen
Blizzard and Wendy's
Twisted Frosty product lines.
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 later became known as smoosh-ins. 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.
In 1977, Herrell sold his company for $80,000 to Joe Crugnale, the future founder of the Bertucci's
restaurant chain. The company was again sold in 1983. For several years the chain was co-located with the D'Angelos sub
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.
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 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.
Additionally, the name inspired computer programmers to name a function found in object-oriented programming language
a Mixin
. Inspired by the concept of using a basic flavor of ice cream and blending in a combination of extra items, the programmers applied the term to small sets of pre-written computer code that was mixed into the main core of a larger program. Mixins first appeared in the MIT Lisp Machine
object-oriented Flavors system, which was an approach to object-orientation used in Lisp Machine Lisp
.
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
in 1973. It introduced the concept of super-premium ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
and customized ice cream desserts using the mix-in
Mix-in
A mix-in is a term used to describe a dessert made of ice cream and another flavoring such as candy. Mix-in desserts are traditionally sold in an ice cream parlor and are made at the time of ordering...
. 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 the company is no longer in business, its business concepts spawned other chains, such as Cold Stone Creamery
Cold Stone Creamery
Cold Stone Creamery is an American-based ice cream parlor chain. The company, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is owned and operated by Kahala Franchising, L.L.C. The company's main product is premium ice cream, or ice cream made with approximately 12-14% butterfat, that is made on location and...
and Amy's Ice Creams
Amy's Ice Creams
Amy's Ice Creams is a privately-owned chain of ice cream shops in Texas with headquarters in Austin. The Austin Chronicle described Amy's as a "quintessentially Austin institution" which "dominates the local ice cream scene." Amy's ice cream is owned by Amy Simmons.-History:Known colloquially as...
, and well-known products, including the Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, who also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn. The name "Dairy Queen" is taken from the name of their soft serve product, which the company refers to as "Dairy Queen" or...
Blizzard and Wendy's
Wendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
Twisted Frosty product lines.
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 BarHeath bar
The Heath bar is an American candy bar made of toffee, marketed by L.S. Heath beginning in 1928, subsequently by Leaf, Inc., and since 1996 by Hershey....
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
Chocolate chip
Chocolate chips are small chunks of chocolate. They are often sold in a round, flat-bottomed teardrop shape. They are available in numerous sizes, from large to miniature, but are usually around 1 cm in diameter.-Origin:...
, he had his staff mix freshly made ice cream with candy or other confections based upon customer requests. These candy additions later became known as smoosh-ins. 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.
In 1977, Herrell sold his company for $80,000 to Joe Crugnale, the future founder of the Bertucci's
Bertucci's
Bertucci's is a Northborough, Massachusetts-based private company which runs a chain of sit-down Italian restaurants offering brick oven pizza and Italian food. It also offers delivery , take-out and private dining....
restaurant chain. The company was again sold in 1983. For several years the chain was co-located with the D'Angelos sub
Submarine sandwich
A submarine sandwich, also known as a sub among other names, is a sandwich that consists of a long roll of Italian or French bread, split lengthwise either into two pieces or opened in a "V" on one side, and filled with various varieties of meat, cheese, vegetables, seasonings, and sauces. The...
chain until D'angelo's was purchased by Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is a United States-based Fortune 500 corporation. Yum! operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet restaurants worldwide....
in 1993 and Steve's was replaced in favor of Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
. 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
The popularity of the Heath BarHeath bar
The Heath bar is an American candy bar made of toffee, marketed by L.S. Heath beginning in 1928, subsequently by Leaf, Inc., and since 1996 by Hershey....
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 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
Mix-in
A mix-in is a term used to describe a dessert made of ice cream and another flavoring such as candy. Mix-in desserts are traditionally sold in an ice cream parlor and are made at the time of ordering...
in industry terminology.
Additionally, the name inspired computer programmers to name a function found in object-oriented programming language
Object-oriented programming language
This is a list of object-oriented programming programming languages.-Languages with object-oriented features:*ABAP*Ada 95*AmigaE*BETA*Blue*Boo*C++*C#*COBOL*Cobra*ColdFusion*Common Lisp*COOL*CorbaScript*Clarion*CLU*Curl*D*Dylan*E*Eiffel...
a Mixin
Mixin
In object-oriented programming languages, a mixin is a class that provides a certain functionality to be inherited or just reused by a subclass, while not meant for instantiation , Mixins are synonymous functionally with abstract base classes...
. Inspired by the concept of using a basic flavor of ice cream and blending in a combination of extra items, the programmers applied the term to small sets of pre-written computer code that was mixed into the main core of a larger program. Mixins first appeared in the MIT Lisp Machine
Lisp machine
Lisp machines were general-purpose computers designed to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. In a sense, they were the first commercial single-user workstations...
object-oriented Flavors system, which was an approach to object-orientation used in Lisp Machine Lisp
Lisp Machine Lisp
Lisp Machine Lisp is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, a direct descendant of Maclisp, and was initially developed in the mid to late 1970s as the systems programming language for the MIT Lisp machines. Lisp Machine Lisp was also the Lisp dialect with the most influence on the design of...
.
Revival
In 2009, the Steve's Ice Cream brand was acquired by David Stein, one of the original employees at Steve's Ice Cream in Somerville. 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.See also
- Amy's Ice CreamsAmy's Ice CreamsAmy's Ice Creams is a privately-owned chain of ice cream shops in Texas with headquarters in Austin. The Austin Chronicle described Amy's as a "quintessentially Austin institution" which "dominates the local ice cream scene." Amy's ice cream is owned by Amy Simmons.-History:Known colloquially as...
- TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
based chain founded by a former Steve's employee - Ben and Jerry's
- Cold Stone CreameryCold Stone CreameryCold Stone Creamery is an American-based ice cream parlor chain. The company, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is owned and operated by Kahala Franchising, L.L.C. The company's main product is premium ice cream, or ice cream made with approximately 12-14% butterfat, that is made on location and...
- Heath BarHeath barThe Heath bar is an American candy bar made of toffee, marketed by L.S. Heath beginning in 1928, subsequently by Leaf, Inc., and since 1996 by Hershey....
- Herrell's Ice Cream - Steve Herrell's current chain of ice cream stores
- Marble Slab CreameryMarble Slab CreameryMarble Slab Creamery is a chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores that specialize in serving ice cream and a variety of other desserts. It is a franchise brand in the portfolio of Global Franchise Group LLC...