California Franchise Tax Board » Cold Stone Creamery Franchise

Mr. Bad Food visited his first Cold Stone Creamery recently while attending the season-opening football game for his alma mater, Penn State University. Call it being in the right place at the wrong time.

My wife and I had headed to State College with neighbor friends of ours who, because they have a daughter attending PSU, are more familiar with the local eateries than me. After all, my glory days in Happy Valley dried up way back in 1981… the same year Americans were captivated by the first stainless steel DeLorean as well as the release of the 52 American hostages held for 444 days in Iran.

It was a good bet that the menu of restaurant choices had changed a little over the past 26 years. With our appetites fueled by a pre-game tailgate featuring Stella Artois beer and Mike’s Hard Lime drinks, we headed off for dessert at the local Cold Stone Creamery.

For novices like me, the Cold Stone experience is unique in that it involves an avalanche of ice cream and a frozen granite mixing stone. You watch as the counterworker deftly kneads together your chosen ingredients in amounts that look like they should be shared by all members of the defensive line not by a lone kicker-sized customer like me!

Forget about small, medium and large sizes. Cold Stone serves you Like It, Love It, and Gotta Have It offerings that range from 142 grams (5.07 ounces) to 340 grams (12.14 ounces). We scoffed at the smaller sizes and hungrily opted for the Gotta Have It gut-buster!

My buddy admitted an addiction to the Apple Pie a la Cold Stone concoction of French Vanilla ice cream, Cinnamon, Graham Cracker Pie Crust, Apple Pie Filling and Caramel. Lucky for him, I couldn’t find the online nutrition for his masterpiece. Turns out ignorance may have been bliss…

I did find the numbers for my choice of Cookie Batter ice cream. I wish I hadn’t.

According to ColdStoneCreamery.com, I was battered with 900 calories, 49g of fat (26g saturated, 1g trans fat), 155mg cholesterol, 570mg sodium, and 107g carbs (81g sugars). For those of you keeping score, my ice cream treat equaled 75% of my Recommended Daily Allowance of total fat, 130% of saturated fat, and 52% of cholesterol.

But folks, let me tell you… My diet may have taken a lickin’ but the overall experience was well worth it as PSU churned out a 59-0 win over Florida International.

Chew on This: The dietary damage would have been far less had I summoned a little willpower and ordered a small size or something from the Healthy Indulgences menu.

John McGran, a.k.a. Mr. Bad Food, is co-creator of http://www.BadFoodGoodFood.com and president of nargcm communications, inc. Prior to launching his own businesses, McGran served seven years as editor-in-chief of the online healthy living Web site http://www.eDiets.com where he honed his skills of writing about food in an entertainingly informative style. When he isn’t researching new foods, McGran is playing hubby to his wife Barbara and daddy to his kids, Jonathan, 10, and Caelyn, 8, at his home in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Source: www.articlesbase.com