WILMINGTON — A European-style dessert shop made famous on “Shark Tank” is opening a Wilmington location in early spring next year.
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Crispy Cones is a soft-serve style ice-cream shop inspired by a dessert popular in the Czech Republic called “trdelník.” The company, founded in 2018 from a small canopy tent on a roadside in Rexburg, Idaho, became a hit after its “Shark Tank” debut in March 2023. Crispy Cones has eight locations that have opened in the last year — none yet in North Carolina. The 120 Market Street location — formerly Jimmy Johns, located between Fork n Cork and Ibiza — will be its ninth.
The exact date the Wilmington shop will flip on the open sign has not been finalized, but franchise owner Christi Stem says it will likely be late February or early March. Stem hopes to “work out the kinks” of the new shop in time for the Azalea Festival, which has the parade, street fair and multiple events located downtown.
“ What got our attention is that, even though only Barbara Corcoran ended up investing [from ‘Shark Tank’], they were all very much enjoying the ice cream,” Stem said. “And we were kind of looking for an adventure.”
Stem, a divorce attorney for 30 years who lives in Johnston County, plans to move to Wilmington full-time with her husband upon opening the shop. The goal is to keep the franchise in the family with her sister-in-law as the general manager and her husband as the co-owner.
The company has 86 franchise units under contract currently and 39 of them will be opening in 2025.
Jeremy Carlson founded the company after a visit to Prague, Czech Republic; he lived there for two years as a missionary for his church. During that time, he discovered the 300-year-old dessert and brought its recipe back to the states.
“I was best friends with locals and they helped me,” Carlson said. “They taught me how to make it.”
Originally from modern-day Transylvania — historically, Hungary — the dessert is a booming business in the Czech Republic, often sold along the street sides of Prague for locals and tourists alike to take on-the-go. It’s made from pastry dough, almost like a doughnut, wrapped chimney cake-style around a baking stick — called a “trdlo,” in Czech — and slow-roasted on a spit over hot coals. The pastry cooks soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, and is rolled in sugar or crushed cookies. The inside is often filled with soft-serve ice cream, but can also include a spread like Nutella and fruits or other dessert toppings.
Starting in his aunt’s kitchen during his freshman year of college, Carlson began perfecting the dessert. In his version of trdelník, the dough cooks in a rotisserie, rather than slow over hot coals, and Carlson allows it to rise longer during the proofing stage, so the texture is softer.
“One thing that the Czechs and the Hungarians do that I didn’t love was, they don’t proof them as much as they should be,” Carlson said. “They’re kind of, like, hard. I didn’t love that, so I changed that within the recipe.”
Carlson first introduced Crispy Cones in a side-street canopy tent and eventually grew to a trailer where he introduced the gourmet soft-serve. The ice cream is now patented by the company, as its recipe contains a higher fat content than typical soft-serve.
The menu includes three flavors — vanilla, chocolate and swirl — and seasonal and weekly specials. For example, current locations are offering gingerbread cone and eggnog ice cream for the holidays.
The Czech cones are covered in cinnamon and sugar, with an inside spread of Nutella, peanut butter, cookie butter or strawberry jam. Toppings are also available for the ice cream — Oreo cookies, graham crackers, cookie dough, strawberries, almonds, and more, including sauces and other spreads.
Carlson opened his first two shops in Logan, Utah, and Rexburg, Idaho, before he and his wife, Kaitlyn, took the idea to “Shark Tank” in March 2023. Carlson recalled a six-month vetting and application process that cut 35,000 applications down to 168 to appear on season 14.
“We did it not thinking we’d get picked — we did it for fun,” Carlson said. “We just kind of went that route and shot for the stars and said, ‘What the hell? Let’s just see what happens.’ And here we are.”
Asking for a $200,000 investment for 10% equity, the couple accepted Barbara Corcoran’s offer of a $200,000 investment for 20% stake.
“We wanted to partner with Barbara Corcoran,” Carlson said. “She’s a franchising expert and has got a wide network — a really wide network — and a really good reputation. She’s been a great partner to us.”
The company had 11 franchises in the works when it first appeared on the show, with one franchise signing an agreement that very day. This was a concern for the sharks, as the business hadn’t made a profit from its two initial locations that had opened that year.
Stem jumped on the idea of opening a franchise after seeing “Shark Tank” and reached out the day after the show. Carlson replied to her email, saying all franchising was put on hold during the transition of Corcoran coming on board.
“ Basically, Barbara Corcoran got involved and said: ‘Hold up guys. You don’t know what you’re doing. Slow down. We’re not selling any more franchises ‘til we get this thing streamlined and it’s going in the right direction,’” Stem recalled. “So she jumped in.”
Carlson explained no franchises were sold for six or more months. Instead, processes were put in place to build a stronger company foundation, including the training, operations and support systems.
Stem and her husband flew out to Crispy Cones headquarters in Rexburg in January of this year to meet in person, try the product, and visit the storefront. The Wilmington franchise was officially sold in March 2024.
Stem said they were waiting for the perfect downtown Wilmington location.
“We had said from the beginning: That’s where we really want to be,” Stem said.
Trdelnik is often served late into the night in Prague. Keeping with that tradition, the Market Street shop will have afternoon and evening operating hours: Monday through Friday, noon to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sundays, noon to 10 p.m.
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