After doing two posts, I realized the need for a standardized system to review sampled shops. I am doing this to keep my system consistent, fair, simple and easy to understand. The first part of my system is composed of four criteria. Those criteria are further broken down into “sub criteria.” After sampling a shop, I will assign a weighted numerical value to each category and plug those numbers into my formula. The “sub criteria” themselves will not be used to compute the main criteria weighted value. They will only be subjectively considered. Example: Under the “Menu” criteria, the “Amount of Flavors” sub criteria and “Healthy Alternatives” sub criteria will be used to create a numerical value for the main criteria, “Menu.”
Criteria
1. Menu
a) Amount and range of Flavors: Ice cream can be a relaxant after an exhausting day and a social bonding experience. Large menus with a range of flavors can appeal to the masses and bring relief to people after a long hot summer day.
b) Healthy Alternatives: Given our society’s growing awareness of health, ice cream shops can appeal to larger crowds by having frozen yogurt, non-fat frozen yogurt, hard frozen yogurt, and non-fat ice cream, or some variety of these. It would be a shame to sentence lactose intolerant people to a cruel life of no ice cream. Ice cream shops can stand out by making efforts to cater to lactose intolerants.
c) Toppings: The amount and range of toppings will be considered in the numerical rating for the menu category. The amount of candy and fruit based toppings will be considered along with any original ones a shop may create.
2. Value
a) Ratio: Value is a criterion that should be understood as a ratio of dollars to the amount of ice cream.
b) Proportion: Some people like the their ice cream to equal the size of a volcano and some like smaller amounts. No ice cream lover likes feeling ripped off though. Therefore, the amount of ice cream served to customers should always be proportionate to the price paid for it. As price increases, so should the amount of ice cream.
3. Location
a) Ice cream is not just an eating experience, but a social bonding experience also. I prefers ice cream shops located in a culturally rich area, near restaurants and beaches. I have come across some exquisite ice cream in very rural places though. Good ice cream can be located anywhere.
4. Quality
a) Texture: The texture of ice cream varies with the type you order. Regular hard ice cream typically has smooth surface and slight ripples. The same applies to hard frozen yogurt. Non-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt varies among shops. Some shops make it with extremely smooth surfaces and others serve it similar to regular ice cream. This makes it hard to differentiate. Soft serve ice cream is usually smooth and light, easy to put a spoon into, and easily licked into a tight swirl.
b) Richness: Richness is a factor decided by the eater, but there are some basic guidelines. Ice cream’s richness varies with the flavor. The more a flavor feels sticky in your mouth, the richer it feels.
c) Sweetness: Possibly the most important factor in ice cream is sweetness. Who doesn’t like the taste of anything sweet? Sweetness is a subjective criterion. Some think there is no limit to the amount of sweetness a sample should contain and others believe too much sweetness is overwhelming to the taste buds.
d) Mixings: This factor is tough to judge because some eaters have different mixings and topping preferences, but there are some guidelines. An eater should never think: “My ice cream should be here somewhere under the toppings.” Too many pieces of mixings and toppings erases the effect of the ice cream, and the eater gets expensive candy and hot fudge.
Ice cream shops use different methods to put mixings into their flavors. Some put them near the top of the ice cream surface, and others deeply integrate them into the flavor.
e) Taste: The final taste of ice cream is completely subjective given that all humans have different taste buds. If it tastes bad to you, it tastes good to others. Rule of thumb: A flavor tastes good if you are left craving more.
Weighted Formula Rating System
To assign a final numerical rating to a shop, I have (with my father’s assistance) created a weighted formula. The scale ranges from 1 to 100, 1 being absolute crap, and 100 being perfect. Below is an explanation of my formula.
Quality: 45 points
Menu: 25 points
Value: 20 points
Location: 10 points
Quality + Menu + Value + Location = Final Rating out of 100.
I hope this helps readers understand my review system. If you have any comments, please leave them below on the comments section. Also, my reviews are completely subjective. Feel free to disagree with them and send me all the hate mail you want. If you believe a review of mine is flawed, go sample the shop for yourself and form your own opinion. Thank you.
