The 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Your Frozen Yogurt Shop

Starting a frozen yogurt shop has a number of benefits! You don’t need a large number of employees, the product is in high demand and practically sells itself, and profit margins can be great. Making sure your business stays profitable involves avoiding the following mistakes:

1. Picking the wrong location:
Failing to consider your location carefully can kill your business before it gets off the ground.

When you are considering the location for your new frozen yogurt shop, make sure you take your clientele and competition into consideration. Ensure you are in a walkable area if you are going to rely on foot traffic as a significant part of your business. And if possible, avoid locations with other established yogurt shops nearby.

2. Failing to research:
Failing to do your research can make launching your new business significantly more expensive than it needs to be.

One area where research is particularly important is the selection of your frozen yogurt machines. The average self-serve shop has six machines; each machine costs between $9,500 and $12,000. Failing to compare pricing and deciding to go with a particular machine because you saw it in a large chain or local competitor can cost you a significant amount of money. That extra $2,500 per machine means you have to sell a lot of yogurt before you recoup the extra cost.

3. Rushing the setup:
Rushing the setup of your yogurt shop can get very expensive, very quickly. A few regular expenses associated with tight deadlines are:

• Rush fees for delivering frozen yogurt machines outside of the normal production schedule.
• Rushing construction resulting in increased costs and lower quality work.
• Unavailability of materials or items you want for décor in your shop.

4. Failing to budget:
Many new yogurt shop owners assume that their businesses will automatically be profitable because there is a significant profit margin in the sale of frozen yogurt on a per-ounce basis. Failing to properly account for rental expenses, the cost of electricity, toppings, and employees can quickly shrink your profit margin.

5. Hiring the wrong employees:
Many new shop owners assume that the cheapest employee is the right employee. Choosing to have your spouse, child, or sibling work in your shop may actually cost you money if they are not friendly, outgoing, and hardworking. Carefully consider the impression you want to make on your customers before you decide to hire a family member or friend.

There continues to be a huge opportunity with your own froyo shop. However, if you aren’t careful, you can make some huge mistakes that can cost you lots of money, your entire business, or both!