Location, Location, Location- Froyo Franchise

“Picking locations for a frozen yogurt business is very tough the most critical success factor for a frozen yogurt business after having enough capital is location, location, location. I think we did a very good job at the time we where looking. Back in 06 and 07 the economy was still very strong and there where hardly any spaces in the 1000 sq foot range, some of the best locations had no vacancy’s and/or after deciding on a space you find out the city won’t allow you to put food related use in or there is not enough parking or the landlord did not want to negotiate better terms. Both of our locations have allot of parking which is great for easy access, they are in high car traffic areas and there is no real competition close. Plus I located the stores near where I already live and work which was important to me.
The best location would be very dense living area with high foot traffic, easy parking would be a plus but not as critical I would also highly recommend putting the store some place where the weather is hot or consider serving coffee and Tea. (which is a more complicated business model) If you are in area that gets cold you definitely need to have a high foot traffic with allot of people living close by. This is why I think Pink Berry and Red Mango in Manhattan can survive and thrive in the winter there are over 1.6 million people in Manhattan there is a very small percentage of people that want to have frozen yogurt on a cold day you have a better chance of those people that like cold food on cold days finding your yogurt store in an area of 22.96 square miles. The biggest problem with high foot traffic is you need to have more capital (money) to pay the much higher rent for the ideal locations and allot of times it is more difficult to build in those areas (as Red Mango found out in San Francisco when the neighborhood did not want them)
My advise do your home work when looking for a location spend allot of personal time at the desired locations, talk to all the other store owners in the area, talk to potential customers in the area and find out if the landlord and Realtor if there is a traffic study. also being next to businesses that draw people is helpful at our Larkspur location we are close to Bed Bath Beyond and Starbucks In San Rafael we share the parking lot with home Depot and Jack in the box. Most importantly be patient and look at allot of spaces before chosing (at least 100) http://frozenyogurtblog.com/
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