Two Queensland Cold Rock stores close amid rising cost pressures

It’s an Australian institution — but there are signs trouble is brewing for Cold Rock Ice Creamery after two branches abruptly shut down.

A frustrated franchisee who suddenly closed down two Cold Rock stores this week has warned more closures are likely.

On Monday, two separate Facebook posts revealed the popular branches in Springwood and Indooroopilly in Queensland were “now closed permanently”, immediately prompting an outpouring of anguish from ice cream fans and loyal customers.

Cold Rock is owned by parent company Franchised Food Company Pty Ltd, and director Stan Gordon told news.com.au he had only discovered the closures this morning.

“I had no idea those stores were going to close … it’s not a precedent of what’s going on at Cold Rock, and in fact we’re opening stores, we’re certainly not closing them,” he said.

“I was absolutely surprised by the closure of these stores — particularly the Springwood store which is a profitable, good store.

“I’ve got no idea what’s going on.”

Mr Gordon said it was no secret that retail was doing it tough, but said Cold Rock in general was “stronger than ever”.

He said the company aimed to reopen affected stores as soon as possible and that he hoped staff who had lost their jobs could be rehired.

“We’re in the business of making ice cream, making money and having fun — people need jobs, and we’d like to continue to give them,” he said.

Mr Gordon said he wasn’t sure of the specific circumstances of the closed stores, but said while he supported penalty rates, they were a problem for the wider industry.

“There absolutely should be penalty rates, but they should kick in after a 38-hour work week.

“You can’t pay kids circa $50 an hour when they work weekends without it becoming cost prohibitive. However, that’s the system we have so we have to work around it.”

He also hit back at claims the cost of doing business with delivery platforms like Uber Eats were affecting the bottom line of franchisees.

“I agree they’re charging too much, however, that’s their cost of doing business, and stores don’t have to use those platforms,” he said.

“And they’re not losing money by using delivery platforms — they might not be making as much, but they’re not losing it.

“Cold Rock businesses are profitable...and my reports from a week ago show things are all good, so I’ve got no idea what’s happened.”

However, Don Bambry, the director of Bambry Enterprises Pty Ltd which owns both the Springwood and Indooroopilly stores, told a very different story.

Although Mr Bambry has never met with Mr Gordon, he said he’d had “numerous franchisee meetings” to voice concerns with Franchised Food Company, but that his complaints had fallen on deaf ears.

Cold Rock franchisee Don Bambry believes more closures are likely. Picture: Facebook

“The reality for me is I’ve got a business and essentially Franchised Food Company refuse to listen to the franchisees about the lack of profitability,” Mr Bambry told news.com.au.

“We’ve had numerous franchisee meetings with them where we had long debates about lack of profitability … they’ve been totally silent on reducing the cost of goods because they’re on a rebate system which means there’s no benefit to them to have cheaper costs.”

He said Mr Gordon may not know about what was actually going on in stores as the pair had never met during the five years Mr Bambry had been a franchisee.

Mr Bambry said Franchised Food Company took a royalty from orders placed through Uber Eats, which meant that for a $20 order, 30 per cent would be taken by Uber Eats. However, the royalty would be taken off the full $20 and not the amount that remained after the 30 per cent had been deducted.

“It’s in contrast to a franchise such as Subway where they take the royalty off the net figure … which is obviously a more reasonable way of doing business,” he said.

“The reality is we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”

Mr Bambry said he “wouldn’t be at all surprised” if there were more Cold Rock closures to come.

“The real surprise would be, how far away will the next one be?” he said.

He told the Courier-Mail rising costs over the past year had made the business all but impossible.

“If I go on the dole tomorrow I’m going to bring home more money that I did for the past 12 months,” he told the paper.

Are you a franchisee with a story to share? Continue the conversation at [e-mail]