Size matters

When you're at home, how do you determine the amount of ice cream you scoop out into your bowl?  If you're like most people, you probably count by scoops.  That's what we do here, our sizes are determined by how many scoops they contain.  So for example: a kid's cup is one 3 oz scoop, a small is 2  3oz scoops (6 oz total) and so on up to the large, which contains 4 scoops.

For some reason, this is very confusing to customers.  I can't count how many "size" conversations I have with customers daily.  They say they want 2 scoops, so I point to the small cup and say, "So you want this size?"  "No I want the large."  That's 4 scoops.  Their scoops at home must be pretty big!  Imagine when I have someone say they want 1 scoop and then point to the large cup! 

And then there are cones!  Boy those things are uber confusing!  We make cones in various sizes, correlating with our cup sizes; so we have a kids cone to hold 1 scoop, a small cone to hold 2 scoops, etc.  But try to explain that to a customer and their mind about melts.  Our franchise policy is to speak with the customers in cup sizes, not number of scoops.  So when they want their ice cream in a cone, we used to ask, "What size would you like?"  Then a conversation like this would ensue: "I want a cone."  "Yes, but what size would you like?"  "I want it in a cone!"  "Right, we can put the same amount of ice cream that goes in the cup into a cone.  So I can put a small, regular, or large into a cone for you."  "But I don't want a cup, I want a cone!"  "I can put the amount of ice cream that goes in the cup into a cone, all you have to do it tell me what size you would like and I will put it in a cone."  "BUT I WANT A CONE!!"  That is almost verbatim the conversations we've had with customers.  So now we just ask how many scoops they would like.  Apparently it's rocket science.

Once we have mixed their choice of mix-ins, we ask "Cup or Cone?"  if the customer has not already indicated which they prefer.  My favorite response is for the customer to tell me what size cup they want.  So for example, if they order a small, they say, "I want it in a small cup."  Like my question was dumb or as if I wasn't listening when they ordered.  I can put any ice cream size in a cup or cone, and the amount of ice cream correlates with the cup or cone I use, so once they tell me the size they want, they don't have to tell me what size container to put it in.  Oh the joys of ice cream and the general public.