Frozen Yogurt fans or for those who've never tried the tart-flavored frozen yogurt

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Tough economy. The Chipotle FINALLY opened, but the other stores are slow going. With the over saturation of yogurt stores, competition is fierce. We are brainstorming our value proposition and hopefully will try to develop a unique experience. Since we never wanted to be self-serve, we feel that we should strive to create a comfortable, cozy atmosphere for our customers. Therefore we're brainstorming new ideas, product concepts/menu, tactics, etc. possibly... Cantaloop Cafe??

Open ideas from IHB'ers... What exactly draws you to 'hang-out' or want to spend time/money at a food/drink establishment?
 
cantaloop said:
Tough economy. The Chipotle FINALLY opened, but the other stores are slow going. With the over saturation of yogurt stores, competition is fierce. We are brainstorming our value proposition and hopefully will try to develop a unique experience. Since we never wanted to be self-serve, we feel that we should strive to create a comfortable, cozy atmosphere for our customers. Therefore we're brainstorming new ideas, product concepts/menu, tactics, etc. possibly... Cantaloop Cafe??

Open ideas from IHB'ers... What exactly draws you to 'hang-out' or want to spend time/money at a food/drink establishment?
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An item/sauce/flavor/whatever that I can't get elsewhere. I also don't like self-serve, so no worries there. You guys do have a good variety of toppings, which is good. However, there have been times that I wanted that "unique" flavor of yogurt again so I could experiment with the wide variety of toppings, but you guys weren't serving it anymore when I came back. You might have had a different "special" flavor, but it was still disappointing to have to come up with a new combination idea. If the thing I was craving isn't available, I'm not as likely to come back.

I don't hang out in a place unless there is entertainment. And it's hard to read a magazine when both hands are involved with the process of eating the melting yogurt and your tables are so low. I tried.

Do you guys post topping suggestions with your new flavors?
 
cantaloop said:
Tough economy. The Chipotle FINALLY opened, but the other stores are slow going. With the over saturation of yogurt stores, competition is fierce. We are brainstorming our value proposition and hopefully will try to develop a unique experience. Since we never wanted to be self-serve, we feel that we should strive to create a comfortable, cozy atmosphere for our customers. Therefore we're brainstorming new ideas, product concepts/menu, tactics, etc. possibly... Cantaloop Cafe??

Open ideas from IHB'ers... What exactly draws you to 'hang-out' or want to spend time/money at a food/drink establishment?
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1. free wifi

2. interesting views of passing pedestrian traffic
 
I have never been to your shop, I live close and promise to try it soon. I don't know if you have smoothies, but they are a huge hit with my kids, especially those that have yogurt in them.
 
cantaloop said:
Tough economy. The Chipotle FINALLY opened, but the other stores are slow going. With the over saturation of yogurt stores, competition is fierce. We are brainstorming our value proposition and hopefully will try to develop a unique experience. Since we never wanted to be self-serve, we feel that we should strive to create a comfortable, cozy atmosphere for our customers. Therefore we're brainstorming new ideas, product concepts/menu, tactics, etc. possibly... Cantaloop Cafe??

Open ideas from IHB'ers... What exactly draws you to 'hang-out' or want to spend time/money at a food/drink establishment?
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Hi Cantaloop,

I think you can probably expand your product line to serve both yogurt and coffee, plus some light snacks like cake slices. The additional equipment cost would be a lot less than a kitchen.

You also have sufficient space to host a small art gallery. In Costa Mesa, there are places where independent artists display their work on some weekends. I'm no sure if the local demographics work for this, but you could host small art gallery events for local artists and bring in some people. I'm not sure if the shop owner gets to collect a % of the sale, but I'm sure the visitors would at least buy some coffee and drinks.

To distinguish your shop from others, you could also do a theme, like "Cosplay light" -- not on the same scale as Royal/T in Culver City, but you can hire some guys & girls who enjoy cosplay and dress up as anime/game characters for work. Just go to Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con this summer to recruit a few.

samus-aran-cosplay-22.jpg
 
You should speak with the new landlord and renegotiate the rent down.

$3.49 NNN for 1,400sq./ft is extremely high given the economy.

The nail place next to you is struggling as well.

They may have vacated the space already.

It’s in their best interest to keep you.
 
tenmagnet said:
You should speak with the new landlord and renegotiate the rent down.

$3.49 NNN for 1,400sq./ft is extremely high given the economy.

The nail place next to you is struggling as well.

They may have vacated the space already.

It’s in their best interest to keep you.
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Agreed. Based upon the Loopnet leasing comps I ran he shouldn't be paying more than $2.50/sf per month NNN on that space.
 
Thank you everyone for your feedback and comments.

1) We actually did receive temporary rent relief based on the delay of the new pad. We are paying extremely high rent based on the 'potential' of the center. So you're absolutely correct. Until we start to see more volume due to the retail mix of the center, it doesn't make sense to pay such high rent. I just hope that we can permanently renegotiate our lease after the temporary relief is over. Rent is definitely a high cost item for us.

2) We've sunk a lot of money into the store already. We've debated about purchasing more yogurt machines, but each machine is over > $8k. So we're thinking of branching into possibly Boba drinks or speciality drinks. Also, mompi, we've bounced the idea of bringing in small pastries or baked items as well. All of these new products may be introduced shortly. I need to bear in mind that there's a Camille's (similar to Panera) which is coming in the new pad. So I don't want to go head to head against them. Also we've hosted art shows, b-day parties, and special events at our place in the past. They've been semi-successful, but it's hard to continue to replicate and a lot of work to pull off. BTW -do people still buy coffee anymore? Given how bad starbucks is doing, I am hesistant.

3) tmare: We do serve smoothies (which are all yogurt-based). We have 3 set smoothies, but we'll be adding a 'create your own smoothie' soon. Basically the idea is you pick any 3 'topping' fruits from our fresh fruit bar and we'll blend it for you.

4) Marketing; We've decided to take the plunge and market into Clipper magazine for the next 3 runs. Last year we did ValPak and it was semi-successful. This year we thought Clipper would be more suitable due to their pricing and target demographic. We'll be offering coupons and advertising our anniversary Free Yogurt day. (Date is tentatively May 13th for free yogurt). We've also been accumulating 600+ emails from our customers and will be regularly sending out promos/offer.

5) Daily specials: We're rolling out daily specials starting next week. i.e. Medical Mondays - FREE size upgrade on any yogurt purchase when you show your medical employment badge. We have a lot of daytime medical people. Tuesday: Kids Night - Receive a FREE kiddie loop when you purchase a single loop or larger with toppings. Wednesday: Receive an extra punch on your Cantaloop Punch Card from 5pm-8pm... etc. etc. etc.

6) caycifish: Thanks for the suggestion about posting combo toppings. Actually I just had an idea about the combo thing which I'm going to share with the team. If it works out, you'll see A LOT of combo suggestions in the future.

Final thoughts: I believe the yogurt craze is shaking out. It will be challenging for us to compete in the standalone frozen yogurt business (based on just the yogurt concept alone). Therefore we'd like to create a place that's unique, cozy, and has a certain vibe to it. That's why I suggested Cantaloop Cafe. This weekend I'll be conducting a brainstorming session with the team and employee leads. We hope to walk away with some new ideas and ways that we can delight our customer, offer tasty desserts/treats, and provide a relaxing, stress-free atmosphere.
 
cantaloop said:
usctrojanman29 said:
cantaloop said:
tmare said:
Thanks for all of the info. We'll be by this week. Wishing you the best of luck.
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Thanks - if you come by, please be sure to use this. Any bit helps. Just print the page.

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Are you at the store weeknights after 6pm?
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Depends which night. I used to be there a lot, but I just became a Dad last month.
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Let me know which weeknight you are working and I'll drop by after work from Brea since it's kinda on my way home.
 
My whole family stopped in for smoothies and yogurt a few weeks ago, thanks for the coupon. We enjoyed it very much, I like to vibe of the place. We'll be coming back!
 
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