Stewart's Shops Asks Facebook Fans to Name New Flavors

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- One upstate New York convenience retailer is tapping into social media to name its new ice cream flavors.

Last week, Stewart's Shops asked its Facebook fans to suggest names for its four new spring varieties. Each day featured a different new ice cream, beginning with rich chocolate-flavored ice cream with baked brownies and a chocolate swirl on March 3.

That was followed by mocha cappuccino-flavored ice cream with salty caramel truffles on March 4, black cherry-flavored ice cream with dark chocolate flakes on March 5, and white chocolate-flavored ice cream with raspberry-filled chocolate cups and a red raspberry swirl on March 6.

The Facebook posts drew nearly 800 replies. The Sarasota Springs-based convenience retailer will announce the final names this week. In the meantime, it rolled out its latest ice cream flavor, Spring Fling, at its stores.

Stewart's Shops, a 330-store convenience chain with locations in upstate New York and southern Vermont, began as a dairy business in 1921. In 1945, the Dake family purchased a dairy and ice cream shop that was closed during the war from Donald Stewart of Ballston Spa, N.Y. Stewart's Shops sold more than 2.5 million ice cream cones last year.