Crack Batter

It's now our third month of business and things are steady but just barely.

I'm now at the point where I can guess the weight of most yogurts within 50 cents of the total price just by sight.

Our top five toppings are:

Diced strawberries, Crushed Reese's peanut butter cups, popping bobas, sour worms, and marshmallow sauce.

However, the one thing that will bring our store to a screeching halt should we run out ... is the Cake Batter yogurt.
 
I don't know what YoCream is secretly putting in it, but people will get NASTY when we're out.

On Sunday a mini storm rolled through and brought down a tree on the power lines in the back of the shopping complex. Everyone in the center was out of power for over 5 hours and we ended up throwing out some of our product due to spoilage concerns.

So in the 2 hours we were out of Cake Batter while waiting for the product to thaw after we removed it from the freezer... 

-we had a half dozen people walk out and say they were going to drive 20 miles to our competitor
-a dozen decided they just weren't going to get any yogurt
-one person threw their half-filled cup on the floor and just walked out
-one person swore at my employee and threatened to leave her friend at the store (since she was driving) if he still got a yogurt when she couldn't get any because we were out of her flavor.

 
And that is why I am officially renaming this flavor to "Crack Batter".

K and L are for Kiwi Loco

Kiwi Loco is a Self-Serve Frozen Yogurt retail store similar to Pink Berry, Red Mango, Yogurt Land, and Menchies.

The difference is, Kiwi Loco is family owned and operated. My husband's parents own half the license agreement and some of his siblings own stores throughout Southern Idaho. Soon, I'll be opening a Kiwi Loco with my husband here in Florida. Our Grand Opening should be on May 4th if all goes well.

I'm certainly feeling the crunch of stress, and will likely have to drop out of the A-Z Challenge since there's been too many surprises (See post for "I"), which have been eating up my normal blogging time.

Kiwi Loco, Idaho Falls, ID

 Here's a little blurb about our self-serve yogurt stores in case you haven't been to one. The key marketing strategy is: the customer is in complete control. 

1. Mix it.  Kiwi Loco rotates through over a hundred different flavors --12 at a time. It's just like those soft-serve cones you see at buffets. Except our machines are the Cadillac of ice cream dispensers.
Kiwi Loco has over 70 toppings ranging from candy to fresh fruit and there's no limit to what you can put on it, or how much you can put on. (Though do try to keep it in the cup. When it spills on the floor, that's product loss.) 

2. Weigh it. Using a state certified food scale (and yes, tare is already calculated for the weight of the cup) the creation is weighed. Prices usually range from 39 cents to 44 cents an ounce. (Average cup is 3-5 dollars.)
 
3. Eat it. (duh...) 

Putting my amateur graphic design skills from fashion design school to good use--but not in the way I imagined.

My dream was to become a career novelist, and my husband has always supported my writing. Now it's my turn to help him achieve his dream.

If you love frozen yogurt and have done the self-serve experience before, leave a comment with your favorite flavor and topping combination.

I is for "I'm going to scream I'm so Infuriated."

I actually had a different topic planned for today, but because of an emergency circumstance yesterday, I'm changing it.

The back story is that my husband an I are opening a self-serve frozen yogurt and custard store. (I'm saving the details on this for the K-L days.)

I spoke with our contractor and the guy we ordered our restaurant equipment through and I thought we agreed he would ship the large refrigerators on the 9th so that they would arrive sometime after Wednesday.

Well... they arrived yesterday.

I absolutely was not expecting to have 2000 lbs worth of stuff to move in and they charge by the weight and there's an expensive re-delivery fee if they store the stuff a few more days. Plus we're the driver's last stop and he's just itching to get rid of these things and go home.

So I'm all by my 110-lb lonesome self and I have to suddenly get these fridges through the front door.

I call my husband and my friend and ask to borrow her husband. (Caroline, I am so watching your kids for a night and paying to send you to dinner with Carl!) My contractor is the best guy ever and even though it's his evening off, he comes back in to help at 6:00 when my husband and my friend's husband get off work.

By the way, here's the dimensions of these fridges:

Height: 79 1/8"
Width: 29 1/2"
Length:  78 1/8"
Weight: 615 lbs

The front door is 84 x 36. (Actual measurements 83 1/2 x 34) Too bad the castors for the fridges are  five inches tall.

I had to buy PVC pipe and cut it into 3 foot lengths. The guys then rolled the fridges off the pallets, through the front door, and we used my car jack to lift them high enough to put the wheels on.

That's when we get it to the next doorway (he one leading into the kitchen) and I realize that while I insisted the doorway be cut 7' like the front door--it's also still too short to wheel the fridges through. (BTW we have not one, but TWO of these fridges.)

So... since we're still in the dry wall stage, I think our contractor is going to just cut the header and make the door taller. Much less stress for everyone--except the dry wall guy.