Boyhood friends from New York, Michael Sachar and Steven Fink, realized a dream 25 years ago when they opened their first Double Rainbow Ice Cream Parlor in San Francisco. "We were 11 years old when we started making ice cream in our moms' kitchens," reflects Fink. "We quickly learned what made a great ice cream great and, I must say, developed the taste buds of rather sophisticated connoisseurs for a couple of Brooklyn kids. It is so gratifying that 40-something years later we'd be enjoying the status of 'San Francisco's Official Ice Cream' by mayoral proclamation!"

Sachar adds, "We've worked hard to maintain our primary objective, which is to make an extraordinary super premium product day after day no matter what else is going on. We only use the finest and freshest ingredients money can buy and have been honored with numerous awards for our efforts, including winning the 'Best Ice Cream in America' at The Great American Lick-Off."

After owning and successfully operating their own ice cream parlors, Sachar and Fink decided to share their knowledge and increase distribution through franchising. According to Sachar, "for over a decade, the franchise concept served its purpose by putting a great group of people in business and increasing brand awareness. That accomplished and to help increase the profitability of our customers, we then decided to change to licensing and eliminate fees all together. It became time to remove ourselves from the growing 'cookie cutter' concept. Ice cream parlors and cafes are neighborhood businesses. Owners are individuals. A 'clone' store eliminates flexibility to reflect the personality and nuances of a neighborhood. It just made more sense to give the owners flexibility with their own advertising dollars. Brand loyalty was by then positioned securely enough that local promotions could be much more effective than national or even regional campaigns. Today our licensees still get personal help with training, recipes, store layouts, marketing and brand materials but without all the restrictions."

"We are rapidly expanding our National presence by positioning ourselves as the franchise alternative for existing and new ice cream parlors. We currently sell our products in over 200 locations, including ice cream parlors and restaurants which can be found as far as Hong Kong."

"In addition to our ice cream parlors we also have national retail distribution for specialty and natural food markets, which has boomed since the introduction of Double Rainbow Soy Cream, our non-dairy frozen dessert made from organic soy. And for over a decade are proud to be sold in Trader Joe's." Today Double Rainbow enjoys a well-defined position in this arena, as well.

"Although we have the resources to accommodate both National and International demand, we have avoided creating layers of management that can stifle communication and creativity, " says Sachar. "If a customer wants to talk with either Steve, me or any department decision maker, there are no levels of 'gatekeepers' to go through."

Double Rainbow is also known as 'the company with a big heart,' donating around 5000 scoops of ice cream a week to charitable causes.

Year after year we receive accolades for our products. One of the most recent can be found in the September/October 2001issue of Cook's Illustrated. Their article, Big-Name Vanilla Ice Creams Fail to Sweep Tasting names Double Rainbow the second best, beating such giants as Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Daz. Their well-trained tasters responded well to the "clean," "fresh" flavor of Double Rainbow.

And how does Double Rainbow respond? "Now that makes us proud."