TREVOSE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 25, 2025--
Mini Melts USA, the leader in premium beaded ice cream, is expanding its footprint in the convenience store sector through a new distribution partnership with Royal Farms, a regional favorite known for its high-quality food and unbeatable service. Beginning today, Mini Melts’ signature frozen novelty treats will be available in nearly 300 Royal Farms locations across Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, making it easier than ever for on-the-go consumers to enjoy a spoonful of fun.
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“As Mini Melts continues to grow its presence in the convenience retail space, partnering with a brand like Royal Farms is a natural fit,” said Dan Kilcoyne, president and CEO of Mini Melts. “Both of our brands are committed to quality, innovation and delighting customers, and we’re excited to introduce Mini Melts to even more consumers looking for a fun and delicious frozen treat during their daily routines.”
The launch of Mini Melts at Royal Farms arrives just in time for spring road trips, fueling long drives, snack breaks and laughter-filled backseat debates. Whether it’s a quick stop for a refreshing treat or a roadside refuel, Mini Melts delivers spoonfuls of fun on the go. Royal Farms locations will feature Mini Melts grab-and-go freezers, offering six fan-favorite flavors with a bundled price of two for $7.00.
“We’re always looking for new ways to enhance the Royal Farms experience, and Mini Melts are a fantastic addition to our lineup of grab-and-go treats available year-round,” said Eric Price, director of retail operations for Royal Farms. “Their creamy taste and bite-sized fun make them a great choice for customers of all ages. We’re excited to offer this refreshing snack to make every visit to Royal Farms even sweeter.”
Mini Melts is rapidly expanding its retail presence, with Royal Farms representing the latest milestone in the brand’s c-store growth strategy. This expansion follows Mini Melts being recognized — for the third consecutive year — as a Bain & Company Insurgent Brand in 2025. With a footprint in more than 35,000 points-of-purchase nationwide, Mini Melts continues to solidify its position as a top-performing frozen novelty brand, boasting three of the top five ready-to-eat frozen novelty items and delivering unmatched sales velocity in the category.
Stay tuned for future partnership developments, including exclusive perks for ROFO Rewards members. For more information on where to find Mini Melts, visit minimelts.com.
About Mini Melts USA
Founded in 2004, Mini Melts is one of the fastest-growing ice cream novelties in the U.S., offering a premium beaded ice cream experience made with 14% butterfat for unmatched flavor and quality.
Mini Melts is distributed through a variety of channels, including automated kiosks, grab-and-go freezers, and custom serving carts and huts, all equipped with -40°F cryogenic freezers to preserve the perfect temperature for a uniquely enjoyable melt-in-your-mouth experience. Beloved flavors like Cotton Candy, Cookies & Cream and the non-dairy fan favorite Rainbow Ice are enjoyed across more than 35,000 locations nationwide.
Mini Melts is headquartered in the Philadelphia Metro Area, with a manufacturing facility in Norwich, Connecticut, and distribution centers strategically located across the U.S. For more information, visit minimeltsusa.com or follow along on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
About Royal Farms
Royal Farms is a renowned operator of fast and friendly neighborhood convenience stores with over 300 locations. Royal Farms opened its first store in Baltimore, Maryland in 1959. Today, the chain has locations in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Royal Farms has been satisfying customers’ hunger for Real Fresh food served Real Fast. The Royal Farms Kitchen is well known for its Always Fresh, Never Frozen World-Famous Royal Farms Chicken that is lightly hand-breaded and pressure-cooked in Trans Fat Free cooking oil to golden brown perfection. Royal Farms Western Fries are hand-cut from fresh Idaho potatoes, hand-breaded, and cooked right in store. Most locations are open 24 hours, 365 days a year. For more information about Royal Farms, visit: royalfarms.com.
Complete lineup of premium beaded ice cream flavors from Mini Melts USA
ROME (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the Vatican could be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks, taking up the Holy See’s longstanding offer after Pope Leo XIV vowed to personally make “every effort” to help end the war.
Speaking to reporters in Rome before meeting with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican point man on Ukraine, Rubio said that he would be discussing potential ways the Vatican could help, “the status of the talks, the updates after yesterday (Friday) and the path forward.”
Asked if the Vatican could be a peace broker, Rubio replied: “I wouldn’t call it broker, but it’s certainly — I think it’s a place that both sides would be comfortable going.”
“So we’ll talk about all of that and obviously always grateful to the Vatican for their willingness to play this constructive and positive role,” said Rubio, who also met Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister.
The Vatican has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality and had long offered its services, and venues, to try to help facilitate talks, but found itself sidelined during the all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.
Pope Francis, who occasionally angered both Kyiv and Moscow with his off-the-cuff comments, had entrusted Zuppi with a mandate to try to find paths of peace. But the mandate seemed to narrow to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia, and the Holy See also was able to mediate some prisoner exchanges.
During their meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Rubio thanked Zuppi for the Vatican's humanitarian role, citing in particular prisoner swaps and the return of Ukrainian children. Rubio “emphasized the importance of continued collaboration under the new leadership of Pope Leo XIV,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Leo, who was elected history’s first American pope on May 8, took up Francis’ call for peace in Ukraine in his first Sunday noon blessing as pope. He appealed for all sides to do whatever possible to reach “an authentic, just and lasting peace.”
Leo, who as a bishop in Peru had called Russia's war an “imperialist invasion," vowed this week personally to “make every effort so that this peace may prevail.”
In a speech to eastern rite Catholics, including the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine, Leo begged warring sides to meet and negotiate.
“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace,” he said.
The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, repeated the Vatican’s offer to serve as a venue for direct talks, saying the failure of negotiations in Istanbul to reach a ceasefire this week was “tragic.”
“We had hoped it could start a process, slow but positive, toward a peaceful solution to the conflict,” Parolin said on the sidelines of a conference. “But instead we’re back to the beginning.”
Asked concretely what such an offer would entail, Parolin said that the Vatican could serve as a venue for a direct meeting between the two sides.
“One would aim to arrive at this, that at least they talk. We’ll see what happens. It’s an offer of a place,” he said.
“We have always said, repeated to the two sides that we are available to you, with all the discretion needed,” Parolin said.
The Vatican scored what was perhaps its greatest diplomatic achievement of the Francis pontificate when it facilitated the talks between the United States and Cuba in 2014 that resulted in the resumption of diplomatic relations.
The Holy See has also often hosted far less secret diplomatic initiatives, such as when it brought together the rival leaders of South Sudan in 2019. The encounter was made famous by the image of Francis bending down to kiss their feet to beg them to make peace.
Perhaps the Holy See's most critical diplomatic initiative came during the peak of the Cuban missile crisis when, in the fall of 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered a secret deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba that were soon detected by U.S. spy planes.
As the Kennedy administration considered its response, with the threat of nuclear war looming, Pope John XXIII pleaded for peace in a public radio address, in a speech to Vatican ambassadors and also wrote privately to Kennedy and Khruschev, appealing to their love of their people to stand down.
Many historians have credited John XXIII’s appeals with helping both sides step back from the brink of nuclear war.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks to the media during a meeting with President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, pose for a photo at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, meet at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, pose for a photo at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
