. swensen s type franchise industry restaurant founded san francisco california 1948 founder earle swensen headquarters 210 shields court markham ontario canada website swensens.com swensen s is a global chain of ice cream restaurants that started in san francisco california . contents 1 history 2 popular culture 3 awards 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links history edit the company was started in 1948 by earle swensen who had learned to make ice cream while serving in the u.s. navy during world war ii . 2 swensen opened his first shop at the corner of union and hyde streets along the cable car tracks in russian hill in san francisco at what had been a failed ice cream parlor . 3 although vanilla was his lifelong favorite he developed more than 150 flavors which he marketed under the motto good as father used to make . the original store sold ice cream and other frozen dessert specialties such as sundaes and banana splits with primarily take out service . later other swensen s franchisees added indoor seating and offered various types of food including sandwiches and hamburgers . banana boat ice cream swensen s mall of asia manila philippines . lamb chop with almonds swensen s singapore . swensen sold the rights to franchise swensen s ice cream factories and restaurants to william meyers and investors in the 1970s but retained exclusive rights in san francisco and continued to operate his original store which still exists today until 1994 a year before his death at age 83 . under new management the company expanded to 400 stores mostly franchise locations by the 1980s . however in the 1990s it contracted to half of that size before being acquired and expanding again mostly in asia . usa stores continued to close until only three were left one of those is the original san francisco ice cream parlor with the main restaurant in miami . today the company is owned by international franchise corp ifc of markham ontario canada which bought the franchise business from former frozen food manufacturer coolbrands international in 2006 . ifc also owns such notable brands as yogen fr z i can t believe it s yogurt icby golden swirl yogurty s dreamery and bresler s ice cream . the swensen s chain now includes about 300 franchise outlets worldwide including locations in asia the middle east the united states south america india taiwan singapore cambodia malaysia philippines vietnam thailand and laos . 4 in india the company opened its first store in bangalore at mantri mall marking the first of 80 stores over the next 5 years scheduled to open all over south india . 5 swensen s is also now open in ho chi minh city vietnam . 6 in march 2014 swensen s first restaurant in yangon myanmar opened for the first time . 7 popular culture edit swensen s was featured as a prize on super sloppy double dare and on the 1987 eure version of finders keepers american game show and was featured in the 1985 film the goonies . a swensen s store can be glimpsed in the mall sequence in the 1985 film commando starring arnold schwarzenegger . seinfeld s george costanza eats swensen s ice cream after his tonsils are fully removed in the episode the heart attack . awards edit year award 2013 top 100 restaurant restaurant brands published in foodservice and hospitality references edit http www.swensens.com about us earle swensen 83 ; led ice cream chain . ap . new york times . january 17 1996 . retrieved 19 june 2014 . alan liddle 2005 01 29 . ice cream innovator swensen dies at 83 in san francisco . nation s restaurant news . access date requires url help swensen s embarks on regional franchise expansion . asiaone.com . 2010 03 22 . swensen s ice cream enters india . deccan herald . 2010 06 10 . vietnam s got the scoop and welcomes swensen s . swensen s website . 2010 08 12 . http mingalapar.com forum index.php topic 1604 swensens ice cream shop to open in junction maw tin further reading edit rochester helen april 13 1977 . ice cream parlor revives old time delights . the montreal gazette . retrieved march 7 2013 . external links edit swensen s main usa restaurant located in miami florida swensen s singapore website in english swensen s worldwide website redorbit article on expansion in asia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title swensen % 27s & oldid 744006010 categories ice cream parlorsrestaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 1948companies based in san franciscorestaurants in san franciscorestaurants in singaporehidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no urlpages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages svenska edit links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 14 55 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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