Interview by Amy Henderson
Sponsored by Asana Partners
COLD STONE CREAMERY opened in Cleveland Park’s historic Park & Shop in September 2018. Shop owner Sireesh Chigurupati and his partners Jagadeep Tatineni and Anil Veeramachaneni all came to the United States from India in 2006, and all completed Master’s degrees in computer science two years later. Before they opened Cold Stone Creamery, they worked in information technology.
They chose Cleveland Park because the demographics showed a great mix of young people, renters, house owners, families, and Zoo traffic. And everyone loves ice cream!
Cold Stone’s ice cream is special because they make it in-house, unlike most ice cream stores that get their ice cream in pre-packaged tubes. There is an actual “cold stone”–a long granite slab that’s frozen—and that’s where they make the ice cream and mix the fixings that customers request.
They also own the health-conscious “Planet Smoothie” next door. Sireesh knows that healthy also means “happy,” and that whether you are downcast or elated, ice cream will always make you feel better!
Cold Stone Creamery is active in the community, and always hires high school students for summer work. Visit them at 3501 Connecticut Ave NW from 12-9PM daily (open until 9:30 on Friday and Satuday).