1. 6 • The Eastchester review • January 30, 2015
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Eastchester
THE
REVIEW
Bronxville home to Haagen-Dazs rebirth
By JOHN BRANDI
Staff Writer
Locals craving something
sweet in the village will be
treated twice, as Bronxville’s
longtime Haagen-Dazs fran-
chise on the corner of Kraft
Avenue and Park Place was
exclusively selected for a re-
modeling with the design now
being mimicked across the
country.
The ice cream shop, which
has been a neighborhood sta-
ple for 30 years, was due for
renovations last year, the own-
er Irfan Mandani told the Re-
view. He didn’t hesitate when
the call came from corporate
asking him if he wanted his
store to be the prototype in a
series of redesigns. The store
was officially premiered to pa-
trons on Saturday, Jan. 24.
“[I was] really excited,”
Mandani said. “[I] had been
with the brand for almost nine
years, and coming up with
this new design, Haagen-Dazs
having amazing ice cream,
[we are] backing it up with
this type of design and making
it even better for the guest ex-
perience.”.
This will be the first rede-
sign for the ice cream fran-
chise in the U.S. since 2006.
Justin Chafe, marketing
manager for Haagen-Dazs,
said the vision for the redesign
started from a “blank slate”
and the company followed a
“journey map” to take into
consideration a guest’s expe-
rience at one of the ice cream
shop’s locations.
The brand focused on three
key goals for its new look:
simplify the ordering process,
create a tasting station to sam-
ple new flavors and minimize
the “ordering pressure” so the
experience is more enjoyable.
To remove the pressure,
guests will first be prompted
to a taste station, where a large
flavor board fastened to the
wall will display which flavors
are in stock. Here, patrons will
sample flavors and still get
that visual element, as the fla-
vor board show’s the realistic
textures that make up the ice
cream, like chocolate chips.
Tom Kowalski, the lead de-
signer responsible for bringing
the vision to life, said the flavor
board is so important because
people still need to shop with
their eyes. Though gone are the
days where ice cream sat up
front in cartons for the custom-
er to see, this has made room
for the second station, the cre-
ate station, or what Kowalski
calls the “toppings theater.”
added that it took six weeks to
construct the design.
Meanwhile, Kowalski said
there will be some “quotable
elements” to each design so
customers recognize it as a
Haagen-Dazs location. For ex-
ample, the same pattern of tiles
will be used throughout all the
newly remodeled stores.
Still, the Bronxville location
also represents an experiment
in getting it right for the presi-
dent and the company. Though
a model of “kitchen-friendly”
is incorporated into the ice
cream-making process, mean-
ing using ingredients a person
would find in their kitchen,
Uremovich said there’s still
some things to sort through.
“We’re still struggling with
a few things, to be quite blunt,
colored sprinkles are hard to
find all natural but kids love
them, so go figure,” she said.
“So we still have a few things
that we’re working toward, and
it’s not going to happen over-
night. And it’s part of a longer
plan for us. This is the first
shop where we can do all that.”
This new design will spread
to approximately 10 shops that
are slated to open and another
10 flagged for renovations this
year. The next location unveil-
ing following Bronxville is in
Newport Centre in Jersey City,
N.J. This will be the first mall
location to feature the new de-
sign. Haagen-Dazs operates
210 locations in the U.S., all
of them franchised, and of that
number, 125 of them are in
malls across the country.
CONTACT: johnb@hometwn.com
Since customers have al-
ready had the opportunity to
experience the new Haagen-
Dazs ahead of the official
launch last Saturday, the de-
signer said the taste station,
which is a bar with two stools,
has been a popular feature
during that time. Mandani said
since Dec. 23, foot traffic in
the store has reached roughly
2,000 to 3,000 visitors.
“The aesthetics reflect
the old-world traditions and
craftsmanship at the heart of
the brand,” Kowalski said.
“You can see this in classic
details like the tin ceiling, the
carved wood stools and the
ice cream cone-shaped syrup
pulls which give the space
substance within a contempo-
rary setting.”
The final stage urges cus-
tomers to pick up their ice
cream and enjoy the payoff.
Dawn Uremovich, presi-
dent and general manager of
Haagen-Dazs, echoed Chafe’s
sentiment about the guest ex-
perience. She said it took al-
most two years of competitive
research and exploring other
ideas, like a macaroon shop,
for the redesign.
She said Bronxville holds a
special place for the company
because it has been around for
so long. The company started
in New York and the Bronx-
ville franchise represents a
“home base” for the company.
Mandani was also coopera-
tive and open to change which
makes for a great partnership,
according to Uremovich, who
The Haagen-Dazs, on the corner of Park Place and Kraft Avenue in
Bronxville, was exclusively chosen to be redesigned, an effort that
will be launched nationwide later this year. The last time a Haagen-
Dazs was redesigned in the U.S. was in 2006. Photos/John Brandi
Five animated boards hang in the shop that showcase the store’s
products which employees like Nayeem Taher can make for
customers.
Some sweets will still be on display, shown here, and this will be
a main focal point for those entering the newly renovated Haagen-
Dazs in Bronxville.
The ice cream shops 24 flavors are now featured on a flavor board.
In the past, Haagen-Dazs customers could look down and see their
sweet treats in the carton.