Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. and Cold Stone Creamery announced the expansion of the companies’ co-branding option to several hundred stores nationwide.

In October 2008, The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory concept was integrated into four Cold Stone Creamery stores and the co-branded locations have been operating for the past several months. Based on the double-digit sales gains, the two companies have decided to extend and expand their agreement beyond the “test” stage.

“We have been pleased with the performance of the four test stores, each of which has enjoyed a significant increase in same-store sales,” stated Bryan Merryman, Chief Operating Officer of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. “This was encouraging in light of the fact that the tests were conducted during the seasonally slow winter months for Cold Stone Creamery.”

“While several more stores are scheduled to participate in the market test, the impressive performance of test stores has prompted Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Cold Stone Creamery to agree to accelerate the number of stores that will be converted to the co-branded concept over the next 12 months,” added Merryman.

“The two concepts are highly complementary in terms of reputation, brand awareness and seasonality, and together create the ultimate dessert destination,” said Dan Beem, President of Cold Stone Creamery. “We see tremendous potential and hundreds of our franchisees have expressed interest in being involved.”