In a sluggish economy during which stores and restaurants are closing their doors with alarming regularity, there’s at least one business that is booming: frozen yogurt, particularly the self-serve variety.
While more and more families opt against expensive vacations or getaways, fancy designer clothes, or new cars, they still have some disposable income to spend on things pleasing to the senses. And studies show that few businesses are benefiting more from this lifestyle change than the yogurt business.
As a reflection of this trend, two yogurt stores have opened in the past nine months in Huntersville, and the owners of both are ecstatic at how things have gone so far. Red Mango opened last November in Northcross Village Shopping Center on Sam Furr Road, followed by Yo! World, which opened last month in Rosedale Shopping Center, joining old standby TCBY in Birkdale Village as a destination for people craving healthier alternatives to their sweet tooth desires.
Folks at all three stores say their proximity to one another hasn’t hurt business at all, and Jaci Meenach, assistant manager at TCBY, says her store — located next door to Kilwin’s Ice Cream and across the street from Cold Stone Creamery in Birkdale Village — was among the top 10 earners last month among 800 TCBY stores nationally.
“With the economy the way it is, people realize they may have to give up the boat, or the vacations or going to a restaurant for a fancy family dinner,” says Trent Barnes, co-owner of the local Red Mango franchise, which is also opening a Davidson store next month. “But people will do anything for their kids. Yogurt is a treat. It’s fairly inexpensive. And it’s good for you.”
Nutritional tables show a much lower fat content in yogurt compared to ice cream. There are also as many as eight grams of protein in an eight-ounce serving of yogurt.
All three of the local stores utilize the self-serve, do-it-yourself method of yogurt delivery, which is a dream for people like John McLellan, who along with partner Scott Dill, opened Yo! World. The self-service model allows them to operate with relatively low overhead when compared to the full-service business model.
“We’re not looking to conquer the world,” McLellan says. “We just want to make a living.”
Before opening Yo! World, McLellan and Dill thought about waiting for the economy to improve, before they realized that such a wait was not necessary.
“This is healthy and pleasurable,” McLellan says. “We trusted that this would be one of the last things Americans would give up.”
Yo! World is a one-of-a-kind store, but with a corporate feel. Originally in the market for a franchise, Dill and McLellan opted instead to design their own store, one they could eventually franchise themselves. Now, they’re having fun making up their own rules and “Yo-isms.”
They say, ‘Grab Yo cup, add Yo toppings and pay Yo bill. It’s Yo! World.”
The world, at least a small sliver of the frozen yogurt world, belongs to all three of the local stores, which have carved out their own niche in their locations and have succeeded in a business climate that has been brutal to many other start-ups.
At all three stores, there are standby flavors such as chocolate and vanilla that are always available. But up to 40 other flavors are rotated on a regular basis, some becoming wildly popular, such as white peach, raspberry and coconut.
National chains such as Pinkberry, Yo-foria, Menchie’s, Freshberry and Tasty Yo have worked their way into the greater Charlotte region, but not until recently had the trend found its way into the Lake Norman area.
Yo! World and Red Mango merely continue a trend that has made the frozen dessert market a $12 billion annual business, buoyed largely by frozen yogurt products.
“When we started this, I’m not sure what my expectations were,” McLellan says. “But now, we’ve already had people approach us about franchising.
McLellan jokes that he and Dill started their business because they wanted places where their kids would be able to work. But the aspirations have become far bigger now. “We want to be local, employ local kids, support local schools,” McMellan says. “And we are doing that. But there’s potential for more.”
