Mrs. Fields Gourmet Cookies, New Zealand Natural Ice Cream develop co-branded snack food franchises

Recently signing a Memorandum of Understanding, Mrs. Fields Gourmet Cookies and New Zealand Natural Ice Cream have announced that they plan to develop co-branded snack food franchises in Australia.

Mrs. Fields Managing Director Andrew Benefield explains that the product synergies between the two brands make it a logical partnership.

“Cookies and ice cream are a natural fit,” he says. “There are lots of complementary products we can develop such as ice cream sandwiches, affagatos and brownie sundaes.”

In addition, Benefield notes, the co-branded snack food franchises will help franchisees to smooth daily and seasonal sales curves.

“Ice cream is obviously a popular item in summer as are cookies in winter. However they are also complementary during the course of a single day as coffee and cookies are strong in mornings, and ice creams and smoothies are big in the afternoon,” he says.

A similar frozen goods supply chain for cookies and ice cream will allow the brands to consolidate area and floor space and reduce building costs when establishing stores in new locations, he adds.

In order to provide the snack food franchises with consistent support and communication, Benefield assures potential franchisees that they will hold a franchise agreement with only one of the parties involved, .

The first co-branded Mrs. Fields and New Zealand Natural Ice Cream store will open at The Glen Shopping Centre in Waverly, Victoria in October. Benefield hopes many more of the snack food franchises will be established in the near future.

“We are now looking at a number of new locations, and also retrofitting some existing locations in both brands,” he says.