Frozen yogurt stores fight for supremacy in Richmond

Tommy Lopez
Multimedia Editor

How many frozen yogurt locations can Richmond support? That’s the question raised by the recent influx of frozen yogurt shops.

Two locations opened this summer near campus that sell frozen yogurt: Sweet Frog at 815 W. Cary St. and Bobalicious at 308 N. Laurel St.

Cold Stone, which sells frozen yogurt along with ice cream, is at 939 W. Broad St. Additionally, two more fro-yo stores will be opening soon near campus.

Yogi, which is based out of Indiana, is currently under construction at 404 N. Harrison St., the previous location of Rumors Boutique. Crave, a Fredericksburg-based chain, will be at 1311 W. Broad St, a location formerly occupied by a Very Berry location.

Though these stores offer different flavors and toppings, they all have essentially the same product and most use a self-serve process. Moreover, they all have similar prices.

The fro-yo frenzy is causing particular competition in Carytown. Yapple Yogurt opened a store in June that is only separated from Sweet Frog by a small alterations store.

“Why would someone put a yogurt shop right next door to another yogurt shop?” Sweet Frog Regional Manager Adam Silverman said, recalling his first reaction to hearing the news.

Sweet Frog has over 60 stores and plans to have 200 by the end of the year.

“You deal with competition just by doing your best,” Silverman said. “We have a pretty solid product here in Richmond and people kn0w us very well so we’re pretty confident that we will be OK.”

Yapple Yogurt started in Philadelphia. There are six stores, two of which are in Richmond. Regional Manager Joey Cuda says parking availability was the biggest reason for the move next to Sweet Frog.

“Carytown has a lot of issues with parking sometimes,” Cuda said. “It’s hard to get a spot. In a lot of places it’s just street parking, so we decided to move across from the Cary Square because there’s a lot of available parking there.”

As far as the competition goes, Cuda points to capitalism.

“Our philosophy is we’ll let the customer decide … we have a great product, we have a great team, we have a great service and we’ll let people decide which one they like. If they like Sweet Frog, they can go to Sweet Frog. If they like us, they’ll choose us.”

The laws of supply and demand are affecting both sides.

“Naturally, you’re going to lose business. It’s just the way it is. Especially with something right next door,” Silverman said. “It’s not like it’s so unique that people are just going to go to Sweet Frog when something just like it is right next door.”

However, both Sweet Frog and Yapple Yogurt say their sales have still been steady.

“Our sales have been really good so far this year. We’ve been happy with how our progress has gone in Virginia,” Cuda said.

There are two stores that sell frozen yogurt in Willow Lawn: Yapple Yogurt, which just opened on Aug. 24, and Zinga. In Short Pump, the original Sweet Frog, which opened in 2009, competes with Verry Berry as well a local store, Mix It, opened nearby in mid-April.

Check out The CT’s food review of Yapple and Sweet Frog here.