Summer is upon us! Time for cool treats!
Original Location:
Fosters Old Fashion Freeze
999 La Brea Avenue
Inglewood, CA
Opened November 18th, 1946
The first location is still in operation
Founder: George Foster
Today: 64 locations in California
Current Ownership: Fosters Freeze LLC
After World War II, entrepreneur George Foster was seeking the ideal business opportunity. As an investment, he purchased development rights for the whole state of California from the Dairy Queen company. He originally intended to use their name and set up a series of franchises out west. When he arrived in California, he learned that the dairy industry here had enacted strict laws and regulations controlling the use of the word Dairy. ” The product that George was going to sell was ice milk and not a high enough percentage of butter fat to qualify to use the word Dairy. Soft Serve Ice Milk has a 3-6% fat content, compared to ice cream, which can have a fat content of up to 18%. George named it Foster’s Old Fashion Freeze. The motto was “California’s Original Soft Serve”. The first location in Inglewood, CA, only served dessert treats, including soft-serve ice milk, sundaes, and milkshakes.
George was extremely quick in opening new stores all over the state, which were run as franchises. Many of the locations started serving hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, and other fast food items. Their main staple was always Soft Serve, whether in cones, dishes, sundaes, or shakes. The company’s iconic mid-century modern Googie-style architecture, cool, sky-blue roofs, and walk-up windows were soon featured across the state. By 1951, George had franchised over 360 Foster Freezes across the state of California. All of the locations, up until that time, used Soft Serve mix made by Compton Dairy. In 1951, George sold control of his franchises to the Meyenberg Milk Products Company, which used their milk products for the franchises, rather than Compton Dairy’s.
“Favorite Dessert of Famous Families” was a highly popular print ad campaign featured in smaller-town newspapers around California in the fall of 1951. Movie star Harpo Marx, Radio star Andy Devine, sports and TV host Tom Harmon, and their families were just a few of the featured guests. All of the ads would state how they would often drive to the “clean blue and white stores” to enjoy Foster’s Old Fashion Freeze. Using a family picture eating Fosters Freeze in the ads solidified their love for the products.
After leaving Foster’s Freeze, George Foster began to operate restaurants at the Palos Verdes Oceanarium Park and Marineland of the Pacific before moving to the up-and-coming area of Lake Havasu on the Colorado River in Arizona. George owned about 85 acres along the river where is handled boat rentals, a bait and tackle shop, and a repair and fuel stop. He and his wife split their time between Arizona and their Bel Air mansion.
In 1984, the 8th owner of Foster’s Freeze with the Investor Group SLOBAK with CEO Cliff Hiatt. First, Hiatt relocated the company’s headquarters from Sacramento to Arroyo Grande, in the middle of the state, to be closer to the locations. Hiatt also created a smaller store called Foster’s Freeze Jr’s, perfect for a mall location. At the time, the locations sold 60% of food products and 40% of dessert products. Hiatt started focusing on the new menu's savory aspects. The new CEO began phasing out the old restaurants and bringing the new image restaurants into conformity with the company’s new look and menu. He felt it was easier to revoke a franchisee's license than to have them update their location. Adding new menu items and being consistent throughout the entire chain was his top goal. New, modern designs were introduced to enhance the image of Foster Freeze for the Franchisees. Many unit owners involved their staff and stores in community events. A very popular Pow Wow Parade and Banana Split Eating contest was held in Folsom, California, for a quarter of a century. Contestants would sign up to feast on splits for months leading up to the contest.
In 1990, 28 new image outlets had opened, and 35 of the old outlets had been closed. Success Magazine also rated the Fosters Freeze Chain as the second-best deal for franchise shoppers in the nation that same year.
With Foster’s Old Fashion Freeze being in Car-Crazed California, it was a place for teens to show off their cars on the weekends. Many of the locations sat on large, busy streets and close to college towns. The Hawthorne location was very close to the childhood home of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, where he and the other boys would sit and write songs. In the 1963 song Fun, Fun, Fun, Brian’s lyrics “she cruised through the hamburger stand now” were about Fosters. Hollywood got into the act by using the former Atwater Village location for the backdrop in Quintin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction. In 2008, prior to leaving for the Olympics in Beijing, the USA softball team feasted on Foster’s Freeze in Salinas.
In 1994, the El Pollo Loco chicken chain signed a master franchise contract allowing service of Fosters Freeze soft serve ice cream in 163 of their locations. Mark Hardinson, the director of marketing for the grilled-chicken chain, stated that sales increased from 3% to 6% at El Pollo Loco's co-branded locations that served Fosters Freeze's soft-serve desserts. In 2002, there were 122 Fosters Freeze branches, excluding the 163 El Pollo Loco restaurants that served Fosters Freeze products. Over half of El Pollo Loco's locations serve Fosters Freeze products.
In September of 2015, Sung Lee, owner of the Menlo Park/Palo Alto location, closed his business after 30 years. Rent had skyrocketed, so he and his wife were forced to close their business. The area had remained virtually unchanged since it opened. The community, like so many others, tried to save the company. For years, the building stood vacant; today it is a condo complex. The store was the last of its kind on the Peninsula, leaving the Highway 101 corridor from San Jose to Santa Rosa without a Fosters. The San Jose location retains its old-fashioned charm. In 2015, after 65 years in the business, Fosters Freeze had more than 100 locations in California.
The future is bright for this iconic California brand. Explored the existing Fosters Freeze brand and discovered that, along with the evident nostalgia for the brand, it formed a valuable addition to its local communities. Fosters Freeze sponsors local high school sports teams and displays their trophies and awards in the store. They often act as the central meeting point for classic car clubs. They’re where grandparents take grandchildren. Fosters Freeze has a deep Californian heritage and a vintage feel. To move forward, Fosters Freeze wants to make their new locations more inviting with an updated store design. Today, with over 74 locations, the motto is “Sunshine & Happiness”.
Last month, the first location outside of California opened in Thomson, Georgia.
This is a great piece of history.