Cold Stone Creamery is being sued by a woman they have driven nuts because - as her lawsuit claims - the popular hand-made ice cream chain's pistachio ice cream actually contains no nuts at all.
Jenna Marie Duncan of Farmingdale, New York is accusing Cold Stone Creamery of "deceptive advertising" because their pistachio ice cream may not actually contain pistachios. She came to this realization after making a purchase at their Levittown location in July 2022, at which time she "reasonably believed that the pistachio ice cream she purchased from defendant contained pistachio," according to court documents filed against Kahala Franchising LLC, Cold Stone's parent company.
However, Duncan was later beside herself when she later consulted Cold Stone's website and discovered that there were, in fact, no pistachios in the ice cream; instead, she learned - according to the lawsuit - that the taste of the ice cream was really delivered via "pistachio flavoring" consisting of water, ethanol, propylene glycol, natural and artificial flavor, Yellow 5 and Blue 1.
Had she known that the pistachio ice cream's flavor was actually provided purely through chemical additives and not actual pistachios, she "would not have purchased it, or would have paid significantly less for it. When consumers purchase pistachio ice cream, they expect pistachios, not a concoction of processed ingredients."
The lawsuit also accused the chain of using artificial flavoring in their mango, coconut, mint, orange and butter pecan ice cream as well.
Kahala Franchising attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed, although U.S. District Court Judge Gary R. Brown this week ruled that it could proceed, writing in his decision that the case "raises a deceptively complex question about the reasonable expectations of plaintiff and like-minded ice cream aficionados. Should consumers ordering pistachio ice cream at one of defendant's establishments expect that that product will contain actual pistachios? And if the answer is no, should that leave them with a bitter aftertaste?"