Saturday we got to participate in the Taste of Salt Lake at the Grand America Hotel. All the nicest restaurants in Salt Lake were there. The event raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We had out over 500 yogurts and were happy to contribute to such a great cause. Through our Keep the Change Charity we were also able to raise over $1300 for Cystic Fibrosis. We had a lot of fun. Can’t wait to be a part of it next year.
Spoon Me
Hello Fellow Spooners,I recently had the exciting experience of opening up Spoon Me’s first ‘International’ franchise! Okay, so it may not be exotic, but Calgary, Canada is a great place for Spoon Me to be. Calgary is a beautiful city of just over a million people located almost directly north of Salt Lake City. It can get pretty nasty here in the winter, but it also can be very mild. Our city has a very active, health concious population and is really going to welcome a place like Spoon Me with open arms.
Canada is very unlike the US in regards to the frozen yogurt industry. We literally have no competition. Our job now is to get the word out on the streets in Calgary and let poeple know about us and what we are. We have an unreal location, with TONS of walking traffic and shopping in the area. We are nestled between a very popular coffee shop and a neighborhood pub in an area of town called Kensington. It has been rated Calgary’s top shopping district for 8 years in a row.
Ryan Combe arrived in the midst of our first blizzard of the season and despite cold hands and sleep deprivation we were able to fully assemble our ‘store in a box’ in about 2 days! We passed our health inspection the next day and were opened that night for our soft opening by our goal date of October 15.
Now that the doors of our first store are open I can finally kick up my feet and relax, right?! Not so! Although my sister, Becca, and her friend Natalie are working out the kinks and getting the day to day operations of the store nailed down, there is still plenty to do on my end! Just 2 days after the store opened its doors, I was already looking for our next location in Calgary, and am currently working out the details for our next location! Look for Spoon Me Calgary 2 to be open some time early spring.
I have had a great time with Spoon Me so far and am looking forward to many more to come!
Jeff HansenCalgary Spoon Me Owner
Frozen yogurt is back in a big way and Spoon Me is involved in leading the charge. AllBusiness asks: Frozen Yogurt Franchises: Fad or Trend?
“Yogurt will likely be a longer-lasting trend, and I see no reason why the frozen variety should fade out sooner,” says Bret Thorn, Food Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News. Compared to other food-service concepts, frozen yogurt is low-investment, with small locations and limited menus. Franchisors are offering financial incentives to make the investment even lower.
Spoon Me recently began offering new franchisees a six-month royalty holiday, which CEO Ryan Combe says is motivating new franchisees to sign faster. “This royalty permits a margin for error, giving the franchisee a grace period allowing further preparation,” Combe explains. “In addition, when a franchisee opens multiple stores, Spoon Me offers a discount from their initial franchise fee so the cost of startup is significantly decreased.”
At Spoon Me, “We market ourselves as a lifestyle brand,” says Combe. “Spoon Me focuses on the atmosphere and personal relationships. We want people to come not just for the yogurt, but for the experience.”
Check out the entire article on AllBusiness.com
This month retail-merchandiser.com featured a great article on Spoon Me.
From the article:
“As a company, Spoon Me bucks all sorts of conventions. Its unique name reflects the youthful and vibrant atmosphere its founders, one of which is CEO Ryan Combe, have created in its frozen yogurt restaurants. Combe and his team are not just aiming for a healthy bottom line but a healthy planet and healthy communities. The company’s ultimate goal is to create a more personal way of doing business that the fast food industry as a whole has rejected.”
ranked 20 among the other 25 emerging Utah companies and was the only food and restaurant company on the list.
The UVEF takes into account several aspects when judging the Top 25 Under Five. Entrepreneurs are judged based on profit, growth, equity funding, job creation, and job quality.
We’re excited to be named to the Top 25 Under Five and feel it is tremendous validation that our brand, philosophy and products are being embraced by our customers. We feel this is a great stepping stone to our success and future growth as we plan to expand within Utah as well as to other states across the nation.
Check it out people, here is Spoon Me fan Derek sporting his Spoon Me gear on the first episode of MTV The Real World in Cancun!
Logan Spoon Me opening Thursday July 9th!
There will be live music Friday night featuring Libbie Linton, Kyle Pyfer, and Brandon Griffin.
Text SpoonLogan to 83043 for $1 off!
1309 N. Main #100 Logan, UT
It’s been a great month for Spoon Me already. Last week we opened up our new store in Harrisville and it was a major success. (pictures will follow) I was exciting to see all the anticipation for the new store up there. We have locked down a few more locations here in Utah and soon we will be spooning in every town along the wasatch front. The really cool news is that we will begin spooning internationally! We just signed a new store for Calgary with some awesome franchisees. More stores will follow in Western Canada. It gets a little cold up there, but we all know the best way to stay warm is to spoon. Ohh Yaa!!!
Top New Franchises’s Sean Kelly recently had the opportunity to learn more from Spoon Me founder and CEO Ryan Combe.
http://topnewfranchises.com/2009/05/ryan-combe-spoon-me/
Kids Love Spoon Me! If you Love Me, Spoon Me!
