7/28/2010

Galactic Frozen Yogurt

"We definately reccomend the services of Marge Cirillo and the SBDC to anyone looking to start a business."

Galactica Frozen Yogurt Joe Williams and Nate Walters have been childhood friends having lived all their lives in St Augustine, FL. After graduation from high school they wanted to see the world and after living in several locations settled down in San Diego, California, where each of them worked in the food service industry. Nate married and had a family while Joe remained single. After 15 years of living in California, both decided they wanted to move back to St Augustine to be with family and friends. They were on a mission to come home and start their own business. In southern California self serve frozen yogurt shops were all the buzz. They noticed there was a shortfall of yogurt shops here in St Augustine and Galactica Frozen Yogurt was born. All they needed was a plan. They heard about the SBDC in St John’s County and called Marge Cirillo for an appointment. She helped them with a business plan, start-up costs, marketing and also gave them advice on what concessions to ask for from landlords. Marge was also responsible for getting them an interview in the St Augustine record. They would definitely recommend the services of the SBDC to everyone. The men found a store in the Epic Theater Plaza and were successful with their lease negotiations. The shop is being readied for the grand opening at the end of July. It will feature nine different flavors of self serve yogurt and 30 toppings. The store will provide the customer with a unique experience and the customer has complete control. Upon entering the customer grabs a cup and pumps their own yogurt, they control the quantity, mix the flavors, add any combination of toppings and they are charged by the weight. The yogurt is sold by the ounce so the customer only pays for how much he serves himself. These self serve yogurt shops are a growing business despite the recession and have been very successful in other markets. This is not a franchise and will definitely be a dude and dude operation. They will rely on their past experiences to run the daily operations of the store. They hope everyone will make it to their grand opening night so the community can have a taste of the fun atmosphere and amazing yogurt flavors.