On the opening day of Ice King, Miller plans to open the fifth Broadway Pizza pizzeria in the city and the second Mexican fast food restaurant Chimichanga! Investments in these two establishments will amount to about $80,000. Miller says that he expects to open all three of his formats in each such shopping mall. Ekaterina Shagalova, head of the advertising department at the Muravei shopping mall, confirmed that the center has already signed lease agreements for the opening of three of Miller's establishments: Ice King, Broadway Pizza, and Chimichanga!

Miller is convinced that the idea of a dessert cafe will be successful, since this niche is practically unoccupied in Nizhny. Baskin Robbins, which has only two cafes left in Nizhny out of five, does not fully satisfy the needs of the market, he believes. Therefore, Ice King will be popular, especially with its own ice cream production, which will also be located in the Muravey shopping center. Equipment for the future production has already been purchased. Its capacity will be about 20 kg of ice cream per hour.

Experts differ in their assessments of Miller's new project. Thus, Oleg Kondrashov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PIR Group of Companies, which owns five establishments, says that the Ice King format is aimed mainly at children, but there is no demand for such a format in Nizhny Novgorod yet. "The niche that Miller plans to develop is really empty, but it is no coincidence that Baskin Robbins, which operates quite powerfully, was unable to fully gain a foothold in our city," says Kondrashov. He believes that Miller will either subsequently abandon the idea of the Ice King chain project or will be forced to expand the range with alcohol, pastries and salads.

But the Nizhny Novgorod Baskin Robbins cafe says that their example does not characterize the market. According to the cafe's director, Tatyana Tsibareva, at first it was difficult for them to work under the franchise with Baskin Robbins because of the high royalties. Tsibareva believes that the Nizhny Novgorod dessert fast food market is capacious and says that Baskin Robbins will reopen three cafes next year, since over time the brand has become recognizable among city residents and the number of visitors has increased. According to Tsibareva, her establishments will not have intense competition with the new chain of dessert cafes.

Director of the Nizhny Novgorod “Ready Business Store” (MBS) Yuri Kuzmichev also notes that the dessert cafe market in Nizhny Novgorod is far from saturated, and considers Miller’s tactic of simultaneously developing the formats of his establishments to be justified: “There is a rapid growth of food courts in Nizhny – 10–15 cafes are located in shopping centers on one site, and it will be easier for Miller to present three of his establishments at once.”

Derek Miller Moves On to Dessert