East Coast meets EFY

It all starts with an idea; an idea to go a step above the rest. Sopra Brands had that idea and now almost two years later, that idea was brought to the East Coast. Yeah it is just frozen yogurt, but like Momma Karen always says "if you are going to do something, do it right."  So after countless hours of work and numerous creators, EarthFruits Yogurt was born.
This is not an infomercial and I'm not trying to sell anything... unless you're interested in a franchise! There are so many people who make and have made EarthFruits Yogurt a reality.  But since this is what I have been eating and breathing lately, I thought I would give a behind the scenes look at building the EFY brand.
The past year, the team has been preparing for this summer and fall. With multiple stores opening up nationally and internationally, we have been on the countdown leading up to the first franchise opening in New Jersey. Preparing for an opening is kind of like those great scenes in Braveheart when everyone is preparing for battle. Except that the likelihood of fatal injury is relatively low.  It is funny how much work goes into a 1700 sq. ft. yogurt shop.
Many years ago, my buddy Craig and I opened a convenience store called The Market at the Gateway mall. The initial store was smaller than a prison cell, with a second kiosk opening later. We thought such a small business would be easy to run and that it would basically take care of itself. Man, were we wrong. I learned a valuable lesson with that venture- no matter how small and simple a business is, if you want it to succeed, you have to work it and live it.
So as we prepared to open the franchise store in Hillsborough, NJ., we tried to comb over every detail of the operation, the training program, the marketing and also the construction that was already in progress.

Finally it was time to head to New Jersey, it was showtime. I have had the honor of being involved in quite a few restaurant/store openings in my career, but I still get nervous. It is guaranteed that not everything will go to plan, there will be delays, there will be heated words and one thing is for sure... you are about to work your ass off. But there is something so gratifying and dare I say, addicting, in watching a project come together. 

When we arrived the store was coming along nicely, but now the final  countdown was on and also the delicate dance of trying to prepare the store for an opening, around contractors trying to finish their projects. Never an easy task, now add New Jersey bravado to the contractors and you have controlled chaos!
This was a new store design for us, so we were all excited to see the swatches of colors and patterns come together.
Most frozen yogurt concepts throw some paint on the wall and buy some plastic furniture and call it good. We decided we wanted this to be a beautiful, relaxing place for people to hang out ...and buy some yogurt!

A crucial part to any opening, is the initial training of the new staff members and also the franchisee. The success of the brand is dependent on instilling the same standards and passion that the franchisor has for their concept into the trainees. The staff members are the people on the front-lines of your business. They are the ones talking to your customers and actually running the brand. I had been preparing for this training for over 5 months. With the help of some very talented people, we created an entire training program full of Power Points, manuals, instructional videos and quizzes.

I have to give kudos to Jim, the NJ franchisee.  He did an excellent job in hiring and providing me with some quality trainees.

One of the sections of the training covered knife skills and the proper way to cut and prepare our fresh fruit selections. We decided to film a video of me demonstrating the correct techniques. This was a nerve-racking experience for me but thanks to our talented graphics department (Juan), the video turned out awesome.







Watching people watch you on television is definitely a weird but kinda cool experience. Luckily my few witty jokes landed and they didn't seem bored out of their minds.

Once the staff had the basic fundamentals down, it was time to practice what they had learned. They did a great job and luckily we had no knife accidents... whew!

  

With the staff trained, it was time to prepare for the opening and put the finishing touches on the store! A good detailed cleaning and numerous walk-throughs to ensure nothing had been missed and we were ready to go! (I make it sound so easy.. not the case. Thank you to so many people)

Ten days after arriving in New Jersey, we opened the doors to the public. I think everyone had a feeling of relief, excitement and an overall sense of accomplishment.  That is the addicting part of opening new concepts, that rush you get when you see it all come together, especially when its comes together so well!

Yeah Jim's first customer was our director of operations, but Jeff's money is as green as the next guy's!

Congratulations to the entire Hillsborough team, you guys rock!