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Spring Frozen Yogurt Flavor Recommendations

Spring has sprung! Shifting your flavors to match the season can help increase sales. Check out our Spring flavor recommendations below and feel free to be creative with flavor names.

APRICOT
APRICOT MANGO
BLACK CHERRY
BLACKBERRY
BLUEBERRY
BLUEBERRY POMEGRANATE
BOYSENBERRY
COTTON CANDY
GEORGIA PEACH
HAWAIIAN PINEAPPLE
HONEYDEW MELON
KEY LIME
KIWI
KIWI COLADA
LEMON MIST
LEMON-LIME
MANGO
MANGO STRAWBERRY
PASSION FRUIT
PINK GUAVA
STRAWBERRY COLADA
STRAWBERRY KIWI
STRAWBERRY LEMONADE
WATERMELON
WILD BERRY

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Frozen Yogurt Training Videos

We’re excited to introduce three new training videos available on our website. We’ve kept them short and sweet, but packed with useful demonstrations.

The videos include:

  • How to Prepare Nanci’s Mix
  • How to Add Air into Mix
  • Soft-Serve Machine Overview

You can view the videos at www.nancis.com/training

Here’s our new Intro to Nanci’s video as a teaser…

 

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Improving Your Customer Service

Customer Service is the root of many businesses, particularly the Frozen Yogurt industry. For most people, going out to grab a cup of froyo isn’t just about the smooth and creamy treat melting on your tongue and tickling your taste buds.  It’s about the experience.  Customer Service is not a transaction — it is the relationship with your customer. It’s making that frozen desert into a little cup of personal bliss for each customer.

Important basics to remember

-SMILE! Even the friendliest person in the world might come across as indifferent or fake if that is what their face says. Remember, the amount of communication between two people is predominantly non-verbal.

-BE ATTENTIVE.  No one likes to be ignored. Greet customers as they enter, and bid them farewell as they leave. On occasion your shop might be very busy — perhaps a line out the door and around the corner (good for you!) — but remember to keep checking in with the customers as they come in and as they wait. It does not matter if they are at the front of the line or just stepping into the back, their business matters.

-BE PROFESSIONAL. Hop off the counters, and wash your hands often. Quit touching your face and looking at your feet. Be confident in how you carry yourself in the workplace and show respect even when disrespected (hey it happens). Keep composed and be ready to work!

-MAKE SUGGESTIONS, GET CREATIVE. Most frozen yogurt shops have local favorites or signature flavors.  These are perfect things to suggest to new customers or returning customers wanting to try something new. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Finding weird and new ways to combine flavors and toppings reinvents the experience for customers and brings back that first-time feeling that is both exciting and mysterious.

-KEEP BUSY. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the “if you can lean, you can clean” phrase seen often in the food industry work place. As an employee, often times work can drag on, which can begin to reflect in your mood and in turn reflect out towards others. Staying on top of cleaning and regular store maintenance in between gaps in customers will not only improve business but also helps pass the time. Take a little extra time cleaning the tables or floors. Or prepare for the rush hour.

-DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS. There is nothing quite like walking into a neighborhood shop and being greeted by a familiar face and even by name. This sense of familiarity and friendliness creates a community feel to your shop. People like to feel that they are making a purchase from people, rather than a corporation or a business. You can also develop relationships with neighboring businesses and their employees. Not only can they be a great marketing resource for you, but they can be great customers as well.

Most importantly, always remember that the customer comes first. The customer is the point and purpose of a business. Make coming to your store the highlight of your customer’s day.

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Should you buy a frozen yogurt franchise?

Many entrepreneurs who want to start a frozen yogurt business start by looking at franchise opportunities. People ask us all the time, should I buy a franchise or do it on my own?

We feel that in most cases entrepreneurs are better off doing their own concepts and here’s why.

There are three main reasons to buy a franchise:
1. To buy into a brand that has strong brand equity.

Our thoughts: there are only a couple of frozen yogurt brands with national name recognition, but it is very expensive to buy a franchise and they aren’t even available in most markets. Internationally, there really aren’t any brand names.

Conclusion: you’re better off building your own brand.

2. A franchise provides step-by-step guidelines on how to start and run your business.

Our thoughts: this can make sense if your business is extremely complex or difficult to start…but frozen yogurt shops just aren’t that complicated. With thoughtful research and help from suppliers you can easily figure it out on your own.

Conclusion: you’re better off creating your own concept.

3. Gain access to proprietary products that are only available if you own that franchise.

Our thoughts: with products like Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt available, who needs a franchise product?!? In most cases, you’ll pay a premium for product that the franchisor will sell you…and it may not even be as good as other products on the market.

Conclusion: it’s not worth paying the franchise premium for your mixes. Contact us at Nanci’s to talk more about our mixes.

So unless you feel very strongly about one of these three reasons, you’re better off starting your own yogurt shop with your own brand. This gives you complete control of running the business and puts all the profits in your pocket instead of the franchisor. Read our blog article about the keys to starting your own frozen yogurt business.

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How to Make a Profit with a Frozen Yogurt Business

Frozen yogurt shops are one of the hottest retail concepts around. Many people see how simple the concept is, the low investment cost, and the high margins and think it is a no brainer. They expect to open their shop and start turning an amazing profit right away. But it’s not quite that simple. Check out the profit calculator on our website for a customized analysis for your concept.

There are several key drivers to making a profit with a frozen yogurt store. It is important to emphasize profit versus sales. You may have lots of sales, but if your costs are too high you won’t make any profit. You should think of these profit drivers as dials or levers – you can adjust the dials various ways to maximize profit.

Key Profit Drivers

Sales Revenue
  • Volume – the number of customers per day and the number of ounces of yogurt sold
  • Price per ounce
  • Sales of additional items (non yogurt items)
Costs
  • Labor costs
  • Rent & utilities
  • Product costs (yogurt mix, flavorings, toppings, etc.) – don’t forget to include the cost of free samples
  • Supplies (cups, spoons, napkins, etc.)
  • Store and equipment maintenance

 

Turning the Dials

Increase Sales Revenue

  • Get more customers. Typically this will mean more costs (like advertising and marketing), but it you can also be creative and find traffic generating ideas with no or little cost. Another way to drive more traffic is to improve your product by offering new or unique flavors and by creating a unique product compared to your competitors. Nanci’s mixes and flavors are ideally suited for this – contact us to discuss further.TippingPointCORRECTED
  • Increase the price. You can increase price and often not affect sales volume, but this is tricky because thereis an elusive price Tipping Point. When you cross it your volume will actually decrease because either customers will stop coming or they will buy less. This Tipping Point is unique to every area and every store. One approach is to keep your base price per ounce high but then use discounts and promotions to give customers a lower effective price. Remember that it is much easier to lower your price than it is to raise it.

Lower Costs

When evaluating costs there are Fixed Costs and Variable Costs. Fixed Costs are costs that are the same regardless of how many customers you serve. For example, your rent cost will be the same whether you serve 10 customers or 300.  Rent is a fixed cost. On the other hand, cups are a variable cost because you only incur costs for each customer.

  • Rent. One of the largest single costs for your store will be rent. There are a couple strategies to take when deciding on a location. For the purposes of simplicity, we’ll break it down into two strategies at opposite ends of the spectrum, even though in reality there are various strategies in between these two.

High Rent/High Volume. If the location is high rent it needs to also be a high traffic area to drive your sales volume. High rent areas may also allow you to charge more per ounce. In order for this strategy to work, you must have a large number of customers.

Low Rent/Low Volume/Low Cost. If the location is a very low rent property that means it’s probably off the beaten path and doesn’t have as much natural traffic. Generally, this would result in less traffic and lower sales volume, although there are stores that are in horrible locations and still gain a “cult following” and have lots of traffic. A low rent location may also mean you need to charge less per ounce, lowering your sales revenue. In order for this strategy to work you have to keep your costs extremely low and find ways to generate traffic in spite of your location.

  • Labor. Labor will most likely be your single highest cost. The big question here is whether or not you can run your store with just one employee. Our profit model shows that unless your store has strong volume (150 customers per day or more), you could lose money having two employees staff your shop. Of Course there are other factors to consider, like employee safety and or employee fraud.
  • Product Costs. this is also a tricky area, because your entire concept is based on your frozen yogurt mix. If you mix isn’t good, you won’t succeed. But at the same time, you shouldn’t throw money away on an overpriced product. Nanci’s solves this issue with mixes that are high-quality, premium mixes, but at a very competitive price.
  • Samples. most likely, the customers will demand free samples, but at the very least you should understand how many free samples you are giving away and how it is affecting your costs. One option is to have the sample cups behind the counter so the customer has to request one from an employee. Studies show that when shoppers make eye contact with a store employee they are less likely to steal something – I’d like to think this principal holds true for abusing the free samples as well.

The general belief in the business world, is that you don’t really make a substantial profit on food retail shops until you own three or more. Depending on your available capital, you may want to consider opening 2 or 3 shops at the same time. This will also give you immediate brand relevance and can often protect your area from incoming competitors.

Don’t forget to check out the profit calculator and feel free to call 1-800-788-0808 or email info@nancis.com with any questions.

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Increase Sales Part 3: Marketing Tips

Drive Traffic to Your Frozen Yogurt Store with Marketing

“You can have the best product or service in the world, but if people don’t buy – it’s worthless.” Noel Peebles, Marketing Expert

 

I would add to this quote that if people don’t know about it – it’s worthless.

With the increasing competition in the frozen yogurt industry and stores popping up on every corner, you have to make consumers aware of your shop. Each community is different and some marketing tactics will work in some areas and others will not. The key is to try different things and find what works for you. And remember that what worked yesterday, might not work tomorrow.

The only limit to your marketing is your own creativity. Some ideas can be expensive, but there are plenty that are not.

Here are some ideas we’ve gathered from our customers.

  • Cross marketing with local businesses. Network with gyms and other retails to place coupons or signs in their shop. Host theme nights. Create nights for special interest groups – like book clubs, girls night out, religious study groups, singles groups, etc.
  • School fundraisers with your local elementary school.
  • Coupon mailers.
  • Daily deal websites. Living Social, Groupon, AmazonLocal, or Google Deals.
  • Create a flavor contest. Have people submit their ideas for a flavor via Facebook and in store. Pick three finalists and put their flavors in your machines for one week – with their photo and name above the machine with their flavor. Keep track of how many ounces of each flavor is consumed to determine the winner. This will create a buzz and cause the finalist to get friends and family to come eat their flavor.
  • Group contests. Similar to the Create a Flavor contest above, but have groups compete against each other. This can be especially effective with sororities. The winning can get a donation to the charity of their choice.
  • Street marketing. A sign holder or a person in a frozen yogurt costume can draw attention to your shop.
  • Sponsor or advertise at local races. Just about every community has 5K, 10K, triathlons, and other races throughout the year. There are many options for advertising, including dropping coupons into the bag each racer gets.
  • Social marketing. Leverage Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites. There are many creative contests and games you can do combine social media with in-store interaction.
  • Online marketing. Create a free Google Places account, as well as other online directory listings. Google AdWords or Facebook advertising can also be effective.
  • Loyalty programs. Tools like Perka can help you put together customer loyalty programs and punch card systems.

 

We’d love to hear your ideas. Email us at info@nancis.com

 

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Increase Sales Part 2: Improve Customer Experience

Improve the In-Store Experience for Your Customers

Kids Activity Area

Most frozen yogurt stores don’t offer a great place for families to relax and enjoy their frozen yogurt. A kids area is a great way to entertain children, so parents can enjoy their time in your shop. Parents will be much more likely to visit your store, if they know their children will be entertained. Even if your shop is small, you can use a corner for some simple kids activities.

A few ideas for a kids area include:
    • Paper and washable crayons/markers
    • TV with kids movies on a loop
    • Small toys or games
    • Simple crafts
    • Video game system – like a Nintendo Wii

Live Music

Ask local musicians to play music on weekends or evenings. Many musicians will play for free or just for tips. If you don’t have room inside your shop, maybe they could set up on your patio and you could put out additional chairs.

Games

Have easy-to-play group games available for customers to use and return. Ideas include trivia games (i.e. Wits & Wagers), Jenga, Catch Phrase, etc.

Do you have other ideas you’d like to share? Email us at info@nancis.com

CLICK HERE TO READ PART 3: MARKETING TIPS

 

 

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Increase Sales Part 1: Expand Menu

Expand Your Menu Beyond Frozen Yogurt

A great way to increase sales, gain new customers, and supplement your frozen yogurt sales is to add new menu items. If you are competing with a large chain, an expanded menu can be extremely effective, because the big chains are restricted on what changes they can make.

There are two different types of menu items you can offer:
  1. Self-service menu items
  2. Full-service menu items.

Self-Service Menu Items

For self-serve frozen yogurt stores, the consistency of the self-serve concept may be very important – both for the customer experience and for in-store operational processes and employees. Here several ideas for self-serve menu items:

  • Belgian waffles. Using a rotating Belgian waffle maker, customers can make their own waffles. This concept is commonly used in hotels and works extremely well. You can charge by the waffle or even by the ounce.
  • Pre-packaged salads
  • Soups
  • Pre-packaged sandwiches
  • Cookies or other pastries
  • Oatmeal
  • Coffee

Full-Service Menu Items

  • Smoothies
  • Sandwiches made to order
  • Full breakfast. Items may include eggs, omelets, breakfast burritos, hash browns, etc.
  • Crepes

Before making any menu changes, you should check your lease agreement to make sure you aren’t prohibited from offering additional food items.

Do you have other ideas you’d like to share? Email them to us at info@nancis.com

CLICK HERE TO READ PART 2: IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

 

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The Rise of FroYo and the Decline of Ice Cream

Check out this video and article on Yahoo! Finance about the decline of ice cream and the rise of frozen yogurt.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/decline-american-treat-140930869.html

Here are a few highlights:

  • The number of frozen yogurt shops increased by 24% between 2011 to 2012, while the number of ice cream shops declined.
  • Ice cream sales are on track to hit their lowest levels since the mid 1990s.
  • Consumers are leaving ice cream because of health reasons and because it hasn’t kept up with the more innovate and fun vibe of frozen yogurt.

 

 

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How to Get the Most out of Your Machines

Frozen yogurt machines have two main jobs: 1) freeze the frozen yogurt mix, and 2) whip air into the mix. There are a few settings and components you should be familiar with on your machine to get the best performance and to make the best frozen yogurt.

Air

Air is the secret ingredient to making frozen yogurt come out smooth and creamy. If your product is coming our icy, dense, and dark in color then it doesn’t have enough air in it. Look at our blog article or our instructional video on how to get set the air.

Temperature

If your frozen yogurt comes out wet or soft, it’s because the temperature settings on your machine are not cold enough. Frozen yogurt should come out firm and stiff with no visible “wetness”. A good test of the right consistency is if you can make a curl at the peak of the yogurt swirl. If the machine is too cold the product in the hopper can freeze and the product in the freezing cylinder won’t come out (which can damage your machine).

The ideal temperature for the hopper is 36-40 degrees Fahrenheit or 2-4 degrees Celsius and the ideal temperature for the frozen yogurt as it is dispensed is 16-17 degrees Fahrenheit or about negative 8 degrees Celsius.

Parts

One of the main causes for icy frozen yogurt is worn out scraper blades. Although each frozen yogurt machine is slightly different, they all have a beater that scrapes the inside of the freezing cylinder. This makes sure no frozen ice particles build up on the edges. If the scraper blades are worn down they can’t adequately scrape the inside of the freezing barrel, making the frozen yogurt icier than it should be. The scraper blades on most machines can be pretty easily replaced and they should be switched out every month or so depending on the usage of your machine. O-rings are another part that wears out and should be replaced according the machine manufactures recommendations.