How the Owner of a Frozen-Yogurt Store Has Survived in a Volatile Industry
She opened her first self-service outlet when it was a hot trend. Then things crashed.
Veronica Tessler has seen the best and worst of the frozen-yogurt business.
When she opened her self-service yogurt shop in 2011, the dessert treat was one of the hottest food trends in the country. Several years later, though, the industry crashed. Hundreds of outlets—mostly franchisees—closed their doors.
Over that decade, Ms. Tessler’s independent shop, Yotopia, took a lot of pounding. A second location failed, and fluctuations in sales mean she doesn’t pay herself a consistent salary. What’s more, sales have never gotten back to the $750,000 they hit in her first year—but her revenue stayed strong and steady during the downturn, far outpacing the industry’s average…