Marble Slab Creamery (Marble Slab) is an American chain of ice cream shops owned by FAT Brands. Its corporate offices are in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. There are more than 391 stores in various countries, all independently owned and franchised.

History

Marble Slab, which began as a single unit operation called Cones & Cream, was founded in Houston by chefs Sigmund Penn and Tom LePage in 1983. They were inspired by Steve Herrell of Herrell's Ice Cream in Boston, who pioneered the mixing approach to ice cream toppings. In 1986, Marble Slab became the first ice cream treatery to use a frozen granite slab to blend mix-in toppings into the ice cream.Franchise Solution
Marble Slab Creamery -The Freshest Ice Cream On EarthTM
, Franchise Solution, Retrieved on 2008-03-27 Later that year, Marble Slab was bought by Ronnie Hankamer of Texas, who laid the groundwork for the brand's franchising concept. In the late 2000s, Marble Slab expanded beyond its southeastern presence and has been recognized as a fast-growing franchise. In 2007 it was ranked in ''

Entrepreneur Magazine ''Entrepreneur'' is an American magazine and website that carries news stories about entrepreneurship, small business management, and business. First published in 1977. it is published by ''Entrepreneur Media Inc''., headquartered in Irvine, Cal ...

s Franchise 500 (#93), Fastest-Growing Franchises (#72), and America's Top Global Franchises (#75). As an independent company it had its headquarters in the Westchase area of

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. After the NexCen acquisition, initially the brand's headquarters were in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia. In July 2010, NexCen announced the sale of its franchise business to Global Franchise Group, LLC, an affiliate of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. Global Franchise Group is now owned by Lion Capital LLP and Serruya Private Equity.

Ownership changes

In February 2007, Global Franchise Group purchased Marble Slab Creamery taking the company off the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

, since its acquisition the chain has been a franchise brand with MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery and Great American Cookies. On June 28, 2021, Global Franchise Group announced that it would be acquired by FAT Brands, owners of Fatburger and Johnny Rockets. The acquisition was completed on July 22.

Products

The chain specializes in serving homemade

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

. The chain serves a variety of other desserts including ice cream cakes, sundaes and milkshakes as well as smoothies.

References

External links

Official website
{{Restaurants in Houston Ice cream parlors Companies based in Fulton County, Georgia Companies based in Houston Fast-food franchises Restaurants in Houston Restaurants established in 1983 1983 establishments in Texas 2007 mergers and acquisitions