Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurants’ parent, Lake Forest-based Parlour Enterprises Inc., and Irvine-based Creamistry separately said they will begin franchising.
Farrell’s has eight locations, including three in Orange County: Brea, Buena Park and Mission Viejo.
It said it would franchise beyond California and internationally.
Creamistry has one site in Irvine and plans to open a second company-owned store in Cerritos next month, with franchises to follow in Corona, the Belmont Shores area of Long Beach and Rowland Heights.
The original Farrell’s was founded in 1963 and closed in 1990. A different company tried to revive it in the 1990s, and Parlour began opening locations under license in 2001, securing full rights to the name in 2009.
Farrell’s restaurants are known for a celebratory atmosphere and large portions of ice cream, such as the Zoo Sundae and Pig’s Trough Sundae.
Creamistry sells ice cream infused with liquid nitrogen, which is said to make the ice cream softer. It recently began serving coffee from Chicago-based roaster Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea.
Owner Jay Yim opened the Irvine store in September.
