I'm thinking about starting a frozen yogurt business (profit, pay, purchase)
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I am just looking for something that is easy to do, and can make money. I think yogurt store is one of the possibilities, because it does not have the grease and complexity of a restaurant, and everyone loves frozen yogurt.
Seems to me the business is simple enough for me to start a shop on my own, rather than joining a franchise. But then I have zero experience in this product or business, other than I often buy frozen yogurt when I was in college, and I love the product myself.
Any thoughts about this business？ Where can I get the machines and the flavoring ingredients, which seems the only unknown part...
I started one back in the 80s, it proved very successful and like many of my enterprises I sold the majority interest to a younger person who could benefit from a hand up rather than a hand out and retain a minority stake. We have been profitable for 33 years.
That being said, I would hesitate to do it many state's these days. However Ice Cream/Yogurt/Frozen Ice Consultants abound. I do consulting in this area, now and again, for old clients but I am not taking on new clients.
I would recommend you wet your feet by looking at the education offered by equipment manufacturers first, and then if interested travel out of town and interview a couple of owner operators. Following that I would look at hiring a consultant who specializes in your product.
I would avoid any franchise in this area as there is no USP for a frozen yogurt franchise. And you are a fool if you do not hire a consultant. The most expensive education in this area, is do it yourself.
Personally I would not do frozen yogurt again, and do ice cream. For that you would want to attend ice cream university at Penn State.
One last piece of advice, A locations often pay for themselves, but you need to factor in seasonality. We are open 4.5 months of the year with one week prep and closing on either side of the season.. Avoid triple net leases.
Last edited by GhostOfAndrewJackson; 10-12-2019 at 01:04 AM..
I started one back in the 80s, it proved very successful and like many of my enterprises I sold the majority interest to a younger person who could benefit from a hand up rather than a hand out and retain a minority stake. We have been profitable for 33 years.
That being said, I would hesitate to do it many state's these days. However Ice Cream/Yogurt/Frozen Ice Consultants abound. I do consulting in this area, now and again, for old clients but I am not taking on new clients.
I would recommend you wet your feet by looking at the education offered by equipment manufacturers first, and then if interested travel out of town and interview a couple of owner operators. Following that I would look at hiring a consultant who specializes in your product.
I would avoid any franchise in this area as there is no USP for a frozen yogurt franchise. And you are a fool if you do not hire a consultant. The most expensive education in this area, is do it yourself.
Personally I would not do frozen yogurt again, and do ice cream. For that you would want to attend ice cream university at Penn State.
One last piece of advice, A locations often pay for themselves, but you need to factor in seasonality. We are open 4.5 months of the year with one week prep and closing on either side of the season.. Avoid triple net leases.
All I know is if I have a chance I would still grab a serving today.
Never, ever conflate what you like with what the masses want. I Once started a high end gourmet pizza concept. One year later, I rebranded and made it into a a more plebeian offering. Later still I sold it, and the purchaser franchised (I made maybe a hundred thousand and he made potentially millions - he was the smarter man). I made a similar error with a hotdog concept, going with what I liked. That is what consultants are for, They have their fingers on the pulse of the market.
I have started frozen yogurt, ice cream, and frozen ice concepts. They all made money. But I would not start a frozen yogurt or frozen ice (unless their was a unique market for it) concept again and only do ice cream. For one the demographics favor it strongly, and for two it is very difficult to cross sell to frozen yogurt customers, it is relatively easy to cross sell to ice cream customers. In my ice cream, concept, fully 73% of my revenue is from cross selling and "catering". The latter is very hard to do with yogurt. And of that 75% of my profit is from the cross sells.
Never, ever conflate what you like with what the masses want. I Once started a high end gourmet pizza concept. One year later, I rebranded and made it into a a more plebeian offering. Later still I sold it, and the purchaser franchised (I made maybe a hundred thousand and he made potentially millions - he was the smarter man). I made a similar error with a hotdog concept, going with what I liked. That is what consultants are for, They have their fingers on the pulse of the market.
I have started frozen yogurt, ice cream, and frozen ice concepts. They all made money. But I would not start a frozen yogurt or frozen ice (unless their was a unique market for it) concept again and only do ice cream. For one the demographics favor it strongly, and for two it is very difficult to cross sell to frozen yogurt customers, it is relatively easy to cross sell to ice cream customers. In my ice cream, concept, fully 73% of my revenue is from cross selling and "catering". The latter is very hard to do with yogurt. And of that 75% of my profit is from the cross sells.
What gave me the idea, is that my company here in Singapore often brings in frozen yogurt catering for events or promotions, granted that it is free for staff, people still wait in long line for a small cup. Seems people still love this stuff, as I do as well.
I see Singapore has 3 other big advantages for this type of business: 1) it is very hot here year round, and 2) people are used to paying pretty high prices for imported concepts (a large cup of pearl tea which does not cost much to make can sell for USD3.5) and 3) there are lots of tourists here that might not have seen much of frozen yogurt before. Hope to get your take on this.
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