# Whence the explosion of self-serve fro-yo shops? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215 "2013-02-13T20:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/61 "2013-02-15T14:57:02Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I already copped to misusing ‘pyramid’ in this context. It’s more of a shuck on the packager/pseudo-franchise seller. Yeah, I gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/62 "2013-02-15T16:36:10Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > If you’re non-religious, areligious or not of the professed religion, religious identification in a business name is going to steer you elsewhere even if it’s not a matter of overt prejudice or dislike. As I said above, I have gone both to Sweet Frog and to the Falun Gong Chinese place. Neither corresponds to my own religious orientation, but neither impinges on it either. Why should I, or anyone who doesn’t actually have a gripe with Christianity per se, be steered elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/63 "2013-02-15T23:59:07Z")
> [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](#): > > It’s better than a Blizzard at DQ, so why not? Sacrilege! Nothing is better than a Blizzard at DQ. I think – it’s been years since I’ve been to one. ☹ But, yeah, no explosion here. We’re just now getting an Olive Garden only 30 minutes away and not 70. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/64 "2013-02-16T00:16:30Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > As I said above, I have gone both to Sweet Frog and to the Falun Gong Chinese place. Neither corresponds to my own religious orientation, but neither impinges on it either. Why should I, or anyone who doesn’t actually have a gripe with Christianity per se, be steered elsewhere? If you’re not, fine. Extensive marketing research shows it to be the case, a double-edged sword: you have to decide which edge serves you better, the attractiveness to one group vs. the perceived rejection of others. I’d bet businesses that make an issue of being Mormon do bang-up biz in SLC, not so much in other places. Or you can avoid the whole problem by not putting a (wholly unnecessary) religious front on a secular business. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/65 "2013-02-16T00:35:10Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > If you’re not, fine. Extensive marketing research shows it to be the case, a double-edged sword: you have to decide which edge serves you better, the attractiveness to one group vs. the perceived rejection of others. I’d bet businesses that make an issue of being Mormon do bang-up biz in SLC, not so much in other places. > > Or you can avoid the whole problem by not putting a (wholly unnecessary) religious front on a secular business. That reminds me of an episode of Big Love where the owner of a large Utah hardware store was going to run TV commercials. He hired a consultant who showed him exactly how to use props and other devices that would send a signal to the Mormons in the audience that “I’m one of you” but that wouldn’t be recognized by non-Mormons. It was actually very clever and I can say that I would never have recognized the clues on my own. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/66 "2013-02-16T04:30:13Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Sacrilege! Nothing is better than a Blizzard at DQ. I think – it’s been years since I’ve been to one. ☹ Have you tried the McFlurry at McDonald’s? It’s like the Blizzard, only right-side up. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/67 "2013-02-16T05:01:38Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Have you tried the McFlurry at McDonald’s? It’s like the Blizzard, only right-side up. Thanks for the tip. I think the closest I’ve come is the shake (Frappe maybe) with pulverized chocolate chips in it. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/68 "2013-02-16T18:51:25Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > two of these shops right next to each other… They have been co-existing now for almost a year. How they haven’t run each other out of business yet, I don’t know. It seems obvious to me how they haven’t run each other out of business:There must be enough demand at that location. The demand could be met by one shop with, say, 12 yougurt machines. Or two shops with six machines each. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Ludovic > The froyo franchises are cursed to fail unless they put together a solid business plan. I’m curious: How do you put together a solid business plan for a new thing? If you are a mom-and-pop couple who want to open the first froyo place in town, and you have no way to measure the public’s demand for your product? Other than your gut feeling…(“hey, there’s a high school nearby..good for walk-in traffic. There’s a shopping center across the street , lots of mothers with kids there, maybe they’ll stop in”, etc.) Sure, you can compare yoghurt shops in other cities; but maybe in your city there are 10% more snowy days, or 10% fewer teenagers with driver’s licenses, or 20% more Baptists, and your location is a strip mall next to a liquor store. You can estimate your fixed expenses precisely, but estimating your income seems like it would be very imprecise and not quantifiable. Mostly a gut-feeling, let’s-take-a-risk-and-see-if-capitalism-really-works type of thing. (now you can see why I’m not an entrepreneur—no guts 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215/69 "2013-02-16T19:18:15Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I’m curious: How do you put together a solid business plan for a new thing? If you’d ever written a business plan, you’d know the answer. One of the points of a business plan is to set up the methods you’ll use to evaluate success and profitability, and how long your reserves will last in any given period of non-profitability. Without doing that and the other simple exercises that help establish the viability of the business and how you will respond to different scenarios, throwing all your savings at opening day and crossing your fingers means you might as well just take an expensive vacation on the money. It’ll be blown either way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-explosion-of-self-serve-fro-yo-shops/650215.md?page=3)