Welcome to the Louisville Restaurants Forum, a civil place for the intelligent discussion of the local restaurant scene and just about any other topic related to food and drink in and around Louisville.

Comfy Cow?

User avatar
User

Chris M

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

377

Joined

Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:10 pm

Location

The Ville

Comfy Cow?

by Chris M » Tue May 09, 2017 6:54 pm

So my last 2 trips to the Comfy Cow have been met with stores void of ice cream. 6-7 flavors tops both times. One was Cardinal Towne the other was the original Westport Village location. About a month apart. I had a friend tell me they had a similar experience at the Bardstown Road location recently. Now the Cardinal Towne shop is closed.

Should I be worried?
no avatar
User

Iggy C

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

558

Joined

Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:33 am

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Iggy C » Tue May 09, 2017 8:04 pm

Huh, I noticed the same thing at the Bardstown Road one last week. I assumed they slimmed down their offerings for Derby or something, but now that I think about that again, that doesn't really make sense.
User avatar
User

JustinHammond

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

3335

Joined

Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:26 pm

Location

Lyndon, KY 40222

Re: Comfy Cow?

by JustinHammond » Tue May 09, 2017 8:45 pm

Long story short, according to one of their Facebook posts, demand is exceeding supply.
Last edited by JustinHammond on Wed May 10, 2017 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
"The idea is to eat well and not die from it-for the simple reason that that would be the end of your eating." - Jim Harrison

https://www.facebook.com/Louisville-Eat ... 129849554/
User avatar
User

Robin Garr

{ RANK }

Forum host

Posts

22984

Joined

Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:38 pm

Location

Crescent Hill

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Robin Garr » Tue May 09, 2017 9:28 pm

What Justin said. Good for the guys in their effort to go national with online mail ordering. I just hope that scaling up doesn't lose us something good here at home. Love me some Comfy Cow!
no avatar
User

Andrew Mellman

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

1694

Joined

Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:33 am

Location

Louisville

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Andrew Mellman » Tue May 09, 2017 11:01 pm

Many have pontificated here about how terrible it is when local stores expand into a "chain" with professional management. Here's a perfect example of why entrepreneurs need professionals after the first few locations.

When we went and found only four flavors, we were told that hot weather in Spring caused the shortages.

Graters had the same weather, but no shortages. Neither did anyone else.

It's not a perfect situation. Entrepreneurs are focused on developing something new. Professional management focuses on expansion. They are totally different skill sets. Each has its place, and in the really successful expansions they work together to build something greater than the sum of the parts.

I wish Comfy well, but perhaps it's time to go professional!
Andrew Mellman
User avatar
User

Lonnie Turner

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

438

Joined

Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:34 am

Location

Highlands

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Lonnie Turner » Wed May 10, 2017 12:19 am

The supply / demand thing with the warmer than usual weather cropped up two months ago. I'm not in the business so maybe someone who is can tell us how long it takes to make more ice cream. If it was bourbon or cheese we could understand. We often go in on our way back from an exercise route to the one at Bardstown & Eastern Pkwy and figured, well, of course they know Derby is coming & so come hell or high water the board of offerings will be full again soon. Just before Derby we went in and two-thirds of the flavor board was blank. The fridge case of baked goods was equally sparse. We're going to go across the street to Lula's more as we did anyway when in the mood for frozen yogurt. We started sampling Lula's (third party, I think) ice cream when they started leaving one person only to staff Comfy Cow resulting in lines so long we walked over to give Lula's a try. This is no slam on the staff at Comfy Cow who have ALWAYS been great in trying to deal with the situation. To me, the ice cream at Lula's is pretty darned good and at this point they consistently have more flavors on hand. Sometimes capitalism works for the consumer.
no avatar
User

neal.johnson

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

209

Joined

Thu Jun 02, 2016 2:13 pm

Location

Beechmont

Re: Comfy Cow?

by neal.johnson » Wed May 10, 2017 9:02 am

Comfy cow is old news and now that they are going global, meh. It's all about Louisville Cream. Expensive but quality and originality is far superior.
User avatar
User

RonnieD

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

1931

Joined

Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:09 pm

Location

The rolling acres of Henry County

Re: Comfy Cow?

by RonnieD » Wed May 10, 2017 2:23 pm

This is always the trick when growing. You have a vision, you have standards, you have a system for getting it done. And people love you for it, and demand grows, and people want more locations and more access. But you are only one person, or maybe two or three. So you can either stretch your resources too thin, or you can bring in outside help. Stretch your resources too thin and your quality and ability to execute suffers. Bring in outside help and you risk polluting your vision. Either way you have to take a risk. Every location after the first will require some kind of sacrifice. The perfect situation is one in which you find a professional (as mentioned above) who understands your vision, loves it, and wants to provide developmental support to help that vision grow WITHOUT requiring you to dramatically change your vision. This situation doesn't exist. Growth requires sacrifice, no matter how hard you want to fight it. The best strategy is slow and steady growth over a long period of time and even that is no guarantee. Look at Yang Kee Noodle. They waited 10 years to open additional locations and they are still having growing pains.

This is such a tough leap to make, that I'm not surprised that demand is outpacing supply. Here's hoping that Comfy Cow can get it under control and rebound back better than ever.
Ronnie Dingman
Chef Consultant
The Farm
La Center, KY
User avatar
User

Chris M

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

377

Joined

Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:10 pm

Location

The Ville

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Chris M » Wed May 10, 2017 3:05 pm

Glad it's too much business and not enough I guess.

Though how a business allows its bread and butter to go so horribly neglected is beyond my ability to understand. National mail order and grocery distribution is great, but the scoop shops is what makes the brand. Especially at Derby when thousands of out of town guests come in to try this ice cream they've been hearing so much about.

Just bad business. But alas they make outstanding ice cream and the owners are good guys, so I'll be going back.

Louisville Cream is trying WAY too hard. Pretty sure whomever comes up with their flavors is stoned from morning to night. Chocolate and blue cheese ice cream is every bit as bad as it sounds. Only a truly baked person would come up with that. Or brie. Or avocado mole. Trying to make ice cream taste like savory food is lazy. And boring. And incredibly unoriginal. Make good ice cream and you won't have to try so hard to come up with "interesting" flavors.

I'll stick with the Cow. Or Homemade IC&PK. Or Graeter's. All better than LC. But to each their own.
no avatar
User

neal.johnson

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

209

Joined

Thu Jun 02, 2016 2:13 pm

Location

Beechmont

Re: Comfy Cow?

by neal.johnson » Wed May 10, 2017 3:49 pm

Chris. You seemed confused. They've never made any such flavors you claim and if you've really tried LC you would know they don't taste savory. And you make it sound like getting stoned is a bad thing. Have fun with your vanilla and chocolate ice cream from McDonalds.
no avatar
User

Andrew Mellman

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

1694

Joined

Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:33 am

Location

Louisville

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Andrew Mellman » Wed May 10, 2017 4:25 pm

neal.johnson wrote:Chris. You seemed confused. They've never made any such flavors you claim and if you've really tried LC you would know they don't taste savory. And you make it sound like getting stoned is a bad thing. Have fun with your vanilla and chocolate ice cream from McDonalds.


Check out their web site (http://www.louisvillecream.com/flavors/). It lists avocado mole, my boy blue (a chocolate blue), salted chocolate brie, et al
Andrew Mellman
no avatar
User

bob.durbin

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

70

Joined

Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:20 am

Re: Comfy Cow?

by bob.durbin » Wed May 10, 2017 4:35 pm

neal.johnson wrote:Chris. You seemed confused. They've never made any such flavors you claim and if you've really tried LC you would know they don't taste savory. And you make it sound like getting stoned is a bad thing. Have fun with your vanilla and chocolate ice cream from McDonalds.
:evil:

Neal, it seems as though you haven't looked into this company or their offerings at all. They make every flavor that Chris listed above along with a selection of other savory/sweet flavors. A quick glance at the website would have cleared up any confusion on this topic.

As far as how long it takes to make the ice cream, I actually made ice cream for Comfy Cow before the expansion when everything was produced at the Frankfort Ave. commissary. Running 2 machines at full speed production, with optimal conditions, and no issues with equipment it was possible for me to produce 7 gallons per machine per hour on average if I'm remembering correctly. One run usually took between 7-9 minutes to churn and then another 20 minutes or so to package, label, put away, clean, and reload the machine. I'm of the opinion that they got a little too far ahead of themselves when they opened the 2 new scoop shops and expanded into grocery retail and just haven't been able to meet demand.
User avatar
User

Lonnie Turner

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

438

Joined

Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:34 am

Location

Highlands

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Lonnie Turner » Thu May 18, 2017 6:47 pm

Update: The other day we were in [Bardstown / Eastern Pkwy]. Down to six flavors. The upright fridge case had empty shelves except for two cakes. And for the first time all the magazine distribution near the door is gone. Shame to see it go.
User avatar
User

Christina Firriolo

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

370

Joined

Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:39 pm

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Christina Firriolo » Fri May 19, 2017 9:48 am

My daughter went to the one on Westport road last week. I asked her about which flavors they had available and she told me there weren't many at all. I think she said around six. (I was trying to verify she went where she said she was going, and that worked for me!)
"Wine is sunlight, held together by water!" ~Galileo Gallilei
User avatar
User

Ron H

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

302

Joined

Fri Aug 26, 2011 12:10 pm

Re: Comfy Cow?

by Ron H » Mon May 22, 2017 10:10 am

Went in Tuesday evening. They were up to 8 flavors from the reported 6. Freezer case with pints was empty. The non-ice cream cold desserts display was about half-full. I don't get it at all. It's a bad look, especially at Eastern Parkway, when you're a couple of blocks in either direction from a Homemade Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen and across the street from a frogurt shop that also has ice cream.
"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2000 of something." - Mitch Hedberg
Next

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 28 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign