Mandy Calara wants to take his Chicago-based frozen yogurt brand, Forever Yogurt, out of the Windy City and into the sun and fun of Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive. Calara recently purchased an ice cream kiosk next to Fat Tuesday for his first Florida location.

Offering an odd clash of healthiness and hedonism, Forever Yogurt may distinguish its brand by offering alcohol-mixed smoothies and shakes on its menu, coupled with a variety of gluten-free, low-fat and nonfat yogurts. But the mix is all in the experimental stages, he said.

The Business Journal spoke with Calara about his plans for expansion and how the company will adapt to the South Beach lifestyle. The following has been edited for clarity and brevity:

SFBJ: What did you look for in selecting a South Florida location?

Calara: We looked at areas that are in dense populations or have high walking traffic. It’s an area where we have had the best performance in our Chicago stores. The area we want has to have a young demographic between 21 and 25 years, and be considered as a place where people hang out during the evenings. Ocean Drive is that high-traffic area that we’re looking for.We look for the best of the best, and we’d like to be on Lincoln Road, but it’s too expensive for us.

SFBJ: Do you plan on expanding to any other areas in South Florida?

Calara: We’re considering Española Way, but there’s another frozen yogurt vendor there. We’d like to open at Mary Brickell Village because that’s an ideal area for us to open a store. All in all, we will probably open up three to four locations in Miami Beach and two or so in other areas like West Palm Beach. Our goal is to set up some good-performing stores so that we can begin franchising in those areas.

SFBJ: How do you separate yourself from the large number of frozen yogurt places?

Calara: You definitely have to separate yourself from the other brands. There are a lot of self-serve frozen yogurt concepts out there. What we’ve done, and what we’re going to continue to do, is pay attention to the spaces that we build. We want to create an ambiance that appreciates the area that we’re in. Sometimes we try to integrate some elements of the former location into the new one.

SFBJ: What are you going to do with the Ocean Drive location?

Calara: There is not a whole lot you can do with this space since it is an exterior kiosk. We can just change the existing awning, furniture and kiosk that are already there. It’s not a space that you can walk into, so all we can really do is make it more colorful, so it fits the Art Deco requirements of the area.

Written by Shaun Bevan for the South Florida Business Journal

full article here

Forever Yogurt, a Chicago-based purveyor of frozen yogurt, is also coming to the West End in the near future. Forever Yogurt offers customers a range of flavors, including several based on popular Hershey’s candies.

It will be the first Minnesota franchise for the business, though the company’s website seems to indicate three more—all in undisclosed locations—are on their way to the state.

Written by Ryan Gauthier for St. Louis Park Patch.

full article here

Forever Yogurt, a three-year-old Chicago-based frozen yogurt company, is holding a grand opening at Village Crossing Shopping Center in Niles this Saturday.

The chain is also scheduled to open at Touhy, Prospect and Northwest Highway in Park Ridge later this summer.

Forever Yogurt is a self-service store serving 16 flavors and a myriad of toppings. Pricing depends on the final weight of the treat.

Co-founder Ahmad Yilmaz said his company takes pride in not opening cookie cutter stores that are the same, but embracing the unique character of their neighborhoods.

The company’s second store opened in Chicago near the Belmont Avenue Red Line CTA station. Inside that store, a mock CTA train serves as the backdrop for yogurt stations and customers sit on actual seats that once were in CTA trains.

The Niles store features the village’s iconic Leaning Tower on Touhy Avenue as its theme.

Plans for the Park Ridge store theme are still in the works, Yilmaz said.

The Niles store employs between three and five workers, but will rise to between 10 and 15 workers during the height of the summer.

The store held a soft opening on Friday, Apr. 26.

Written for JournalOnline
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Written by Brian Ward for Foodservice Equipment Reports

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Frozen yogurt, commonly referred to as “froyo,” has had fans eagerly lining up the past few years. Unlike other frozen treats, it’s considered healthy too.

The frozen treat has taken off across the U.S. and is so popular that suppliers are continually franchising out to keep up with the demand. One the most successful and most popular frozen yogurt stores is Chicago-based Forever Yogurt.

Walk through any Chicago neighborhood and you are bound to see more than one person holding a pink cup and spoon with the company’s recognizable logo, particularly in the hot summer months.

Forever Yogurt has garnered praise not only from its own customers, but from local media as well. Time Out Chicago awarded the company with its “2012 EatOut” award while the Chicago Reader awarded it their “Best Frozen Yogurt” award last year. Even popular coupon site Groupon put the company on their “Groupon’s Best of 2011 Chicago” list.

According to an article from U.S. News, between the fall of 2010 and 2011 frozen yogurt shops increased from 3,624 to 4,764, an increase of 30 percent. Frozen yogurt shops have also made close to 6 billion a year and the number of shops opening has only continued to increase.

Another thing that sets apart Forever Yogurt from other frozen yogurt chains is its unique yet simple self-serve premise. Instead of entering and waiting to be served, customers instead simply walk in and grab a pink standard sized cup. With it, you proceed to the stations that hold different flavors of frozen yogurt. Put your cup under and with the simple pull of a lever you put in as much yogurt you want.

With that done, you make your way to the toppings station with items such as candy sprinkles, coco flakes, Reese’s Pieces and chocolate chips. With nearly 60 toppings to choose from, there’s something for everyone – but it doesn’t end there. Right next to the toppings is an assortment of fresh fruits; your limit is only the size of your cup.

After you’re done, you simply proceed to the counter where an employee measures the contents of your cup and gives you the price. And with that, you are left to enjoy your own frozen concoction.

So what are the ingredients that make up frozen yogurt, and how healthy is it really? According to the company’s brochure (available to customers in-store), Frozen Yogurt contains “live and active cultures that aid with digestion.” There are also varieties that fall under categories such as non-fat, low-fat, no sugar added and non-dairy – most flavors are gluten-free.

Probiotics, a healthy strain of bacteria, is what gives frozen yogurt most of its healthy properties. The probiotics “streptococcus thermophilus” and “lactobacillus bulgaricus,” in particular, are what produce lactase in frozen yogurt which gives it its positive digestion properties.

However, just like any other food, when it comes to health, portion is key. According to David Katz, a nutrition expert at Yale University, you should always try to minimize the amount of yogurt and increase the amount of fruit while keeping toppings to a minimum.

New yogurt flavors are constantly introduced and flavors are constantly rotated in the different store locations. There have been over 80 flavors since Forever Yogurt opened its doors.

But the franchise is slowly branching out beyond simply serving frozen yogurt. More recently, the store has begun offering hot chocolate drinks during the winter for those looking for something warmer.

The combination of different flavored yogurts as well as the simple self-serve customization idea behind the business has proven extremely successful. There are currently eight locations in Chicago, but with business booming there are already plans to open 15 more locations across the state of Illinois.

But Forever Yogurt is setting its sites even further. It already has plans to franchise in other states including Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, New York and Florida. There are even plans to open multiple locations in Panama.

Allison Barinholtz, a DePaul student and self-confessed “foodie,” also has a soft spot for frozen yogurt.

“Especially for someone with a ‘sweet tooth’ like myself, frozen yogurt is a fantastic option for a refreshing breakfast or snack,” said Barinholtz. “Forever Yogurt has brightened many of my mornings with a light and tasty treat. The option to customize your order gives the customer freedom to make their froyo as hearty or healthy as they desire. This is something I crave any time of the year, whether it’s freezing or blistering outside.”

Written by Milos Markicevic for the DePaulia
full article here

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Unlike most chains, every Forever Yogurt shop tries to be a little different and reflect its surroundings, says co-founder Mandy Calera.

That’s the reason the store, which opened last Friday in Village Crossing Shopping Center has images of Niles’ Leaning Tower, which is just a few blocks to the west on Touhy Avenue.

The chain’s first store opened in the Chicago neighborhood of Wicker Park, followed by locations in Andersonville, Lakeview, Boystown and the Gold Coast, as well as St. Charles and Naperville. Next up: Evanston, Lincolnshire, Highland Park, Elmhurst, Oak Lawn, LaGrange and Schaumburg.

Calara, who manages operations while co-founder Ahmad Yilmaz handles marketing and branding, said they were able to do the ambitious rollout with the help of a Wall street group, which is also helping them expand on the East Coast.

Calara said they liked Niles because they noticed there weren’t many frozen yogurt shops in the area, and because the busy Village Crossing location was filled with tenants and customers, and draws patrons from Skokie, Niles and Chicago.

Niles franchisee was the chain’s electrician

Uros Kisic, who owns the Niles shop as well as one soon to open at Clark and Diversey in Chicago, is an electrician, and did the electrical work on some of the earliest stores.

“I like the way they operate and do business,” said, who lives in Norridge. “So I was just waiting for the right opportunity to invest. Since I shop a lot in Niles, I saw that this was a good location.”

Yogurt has 10 times the probiotics

The Niles store offers 16 flavors on any given day, with flavors rotating seasonally.

“We always have chocolate, vanilla, cake batter and original tart,” Calara said.

The yogurt has 10 times the probiotics required to legally call it yogurt, he said.

While some competitors use a powdered product, Calara said Forever Yogurt is kept frozen until it’s ready to thaw and put into the self-serve machines, which he believes better preserves the probiotics.

Grand Opening is May 11

On the day of the grand opening, the store will award five people free yogurt for a year, and free yogurt for a day to five additional people.

Written by Pam DeFiglio for Niles-MortonGrovePatch.
full article here

ANNOUNCEMENT! GRAND OPENING!

•WHERE: 5687 W Touhy Ave. • Niles, IL!
•WHEN: Saturday, May 11th, 2013 @ 4:00PM!

Please join us in celebrating our Grand Opening at 5687 W Touhy Ave. in Niles, IL! We will be offering the first 50 people in line The Forever Black Card, which earns them FREE YOGURT FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR! The next 50 people in line will get free froyo on that day!

Come one, come all!

• 1 frozen yogurt cup per week
• Up to $5 per visit
• Card only applies at the 5687 W Touhy Ave. – Niles, IL location
• Offer expires May 9th, 2014
• Some exclusions may apply.  Please click here for details!
• By accepting this card, you adhere to all of the rules & restrictions applicable to the giveaway

If it weren’t for a visit to see his twin daughters at the University of Colorado, David Brown might not be on the verge of opening a self-serve frozen yogurt shop in downtown St. Charles.