Snomu Frozen Yogurt Cafe opened in Beijing, China ten months ago. We spoke with the founder, Kelvin Yu, to learn more about his brand and his experience launching a new frozen yogurt business in China. Kelvin has a foodservice background; he was the owner/operator of a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. That experience helped him incorporate drinks into his frozen yogurt shop and build a new brand focused on customer service and quality products.
Q: Tell me about your concept. Why did you select frozen yogurt?
Kelvin: Frozen yogurt first interested me 5 years ago when I first tried it in Boston. I was fascinated by the concept of a guilt-free treat that didn’t compromise flavor. That’s why I wanted to introduce this healthy treat to China’s consumers, providing them not only with frozen yogurt but also a selection of frozen yogurt drinks and oth
er frozen yogurt oriented desserts.
Q: What interested you in opening a store in Beijing?
Kelvin: From the start I wanted to introduce the benefits of frozen yogurt to all of China and Beijing was the best place to start. People from all over China come to Beijing to attend fairs and taste new things. Beijing is the best place to get advice from others as well as meet with potential franchisees.
Beijing is also a very ideal place to test my concept and products. Due to the large population and wide use of apps, social media and the internet, it’s easy to gather a lot of feedback from my customers and see how they feel about our brand.
Q: Tell us about the menu
Kelvin: For frozen yogurt we have two sizes of cups and customers can pair their frozen yogurt with 2-3 toppings. For our topping lovers, we usually recommend our frozen yogurt parfait that contains 5 toppings.
For drinks we have a wide selection of smoothies which combine fruits with our frozen yogurt. We also offer different flavors of homemade sodas that we add frozen yogurt to. More recently, we have added different flavors of milk and yogurt.
For desserts our most popular three items are frozen yogurt panini, frozen yogurt cookies and frozen yogurt puddings.
Q: What has it been like to develop your concept and launch?
Kelvin: It has been a lot of work. First picking out a good location was a very time-consuming task. We had a brand identity already but converting our concept into designs was a very difficult job as well. It took a lot of work from our entire team and from friends that we met in Beijing to help build our brand.
I have been in the frozen yogurt business here in China for 10 months now. During the first 7 months I focused on running my own shop in a mall on the east side of Beijing. In August, I was in a position to help others run a profitable business like my own, so I started franchising and now have two shops.
Q: What obstacles have you had to overcome and what advice would you give?
Kelvin: I believe picking out a location will be one of the hardest tasks for a prospective store owner. I recommend that prospective frozen yogurt shop owners should not take on this task on their own. Reaching out to people who have expertise in researching a location and talking to the people in the mall who deal with renting is one of the fastest and safest ways to begin. Also I would advise to first start small so that owners don’t face a huge financial burden.
Marketing your product will be different here [in China] than in America or Canada. Customers in China use different apps ( Wechat, Weibo, Meituan, Dazhong,etc). Familiarizing yourself with these apps will be extremely beneficial. These apps not only serve the function of Facebook and Yelp but also provide a new payment option. Chinese customers prefer to scan a shop’s QR code and pay for their frozen yogurt directly through their app. It’s very convenient, efficient and also helps to advertise your store.
Q: What is the frozen yogurt scene like in China?
Kelvin: There are actually many differences compared to the frozen yogurt scene in America and Canada.
- Product: The taste of most frozen yogurt here in China is actually quite different. It is contains much more sugar and water than the frozen yogurt in America and usually doesn’t taste authentic to people who have actually had it there. This is also why I wanted to introduce true frozen yogurt to the customers here. At first customers had a hard time believing that our product was authentic and healthy but through time more and more people are realizing what actual frozen yogurt is.
- Size of the shop: Frozen Yogurt shops in China are usually much smaller and focus on to go orders.
- Type of shop: Because frozen yogurt is still relatively new to China, the self serve format doesn’t work at all. Customers prefer finished products that look appealing.
- Flavors: Also because frozen yogurt is new, customers are not quite accepting of other flavors as of this moment. They usually stick with original.
- Toppings: Customers are actually quite health oriented here and tend to like only fruits on their frozen yogurt.
- Start-up cost: The start up cost of opening a shop is much lower than in the US but the rent is usually higher, especially in malls.
- Northern vs. Southern China: When opening a shop in southern China, customers like to have the option of accompanying a drink with their treat. If the shop sells drinks it is much more likely to attract customers.
Q: Where do you hope to see your brand in 5 years?
Kelvin: In 5 years I hope our brand can become a leader in our area here in China by providing healthy products to customers country-wide and providing exceptional support to those who also believe in our brand.
Snomu Contact Information:
Phone Number: 4000-500-187
Wechat: snomufroyo
Address: Beijing East District ChongWenMen Glory Mall G-36
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