In our 2018 National Frozen Yogurt Consumer Survey, we asked frozen yogurt consumers to rate the importance of shop attributes. A clean interior was rated the 2nd most important attribute, behind great tasting frozen yogurt. In other words, cleanliness was rated as more important than customer service, price, offering a wide variety of frozen yogurt flavors, etc.
Cleanliness & Safety
A clean frozen yogurt shop does more than leave a good impression on customers. It’s safer in many ways. People are less likely to slip and fall and the risk of foodborne illness is lowered since food is kept at the proper temperature and contaminated food is removed. Spoons and tongs that are shared among customers can carry viruses and bacteria. The challenge of maintaining a clean shop is even greater for self-serve shops, since self-serve areas are more susceptible to contamination.
Something that’s often overlooked is that clean, well-maintained frozen yogurt machines produce superior product. The basic cleaning procedures are the same across models. Slices Concessions provides advice on keeping your soft serve machines clean. Be sure to consult your machine operation manual for how to keep your machines running and performing optimally.
For general cleaning, create daily, weekly, monthly, and annual cleaning checklists. Assign responsibility for each task and have someone initial the checklist once the task has been completed. Continuous cleaning is also necessary for certain areas. Be sure to emphasize this while training new employees. Commitment to cleanliness starts at the top and is reinforced with training.
Advice from Other Froyo Shops
We also spoke to frozen yogurt shops that have earned perfect scores from the health department during restaurant inspections, to learn more about how they keep their shops clean.
Toppings Frozen Yogurt (IG: @toppingsbr) is a locally owned and operated self-serve froyo shop in Big Rapids, Michigan (central Michigan). Shawna Conley, the owner of Toppings, feels that the best advice for cleaning is to build a good team of employees. “Training is the key and making sure either yourself or your manager is present is very important to reduce theft and just to make sure your daily duties are being done. We have made a “time to clean” checklist of things that need to be done on a daily basis and we even broke it down by the hour to remind our employees exactly what to do when! It does help for when there are slow times and everything already looks clean,” said Conley.
Also, because Toppings closes for 6 weeks during the winter, they have a winter cleaning rather than a spring cleaning. The winter deep cleaning includes “wiping down walls and cleaning our air vents.”
Woody’s Yogurt Place (IG: woodysyogurtplace) is a full-service ice cream, frozen yogurt, and fruit smoothie shop in Mill Valley, California owned by Brian Woodson (son) and Michael “Woody” Woodson (father). In business since 1998, Woody’s Yogurt Place takes pride in the cleanliness of the shop. Unlike most froyo shops, the entire staff is fully certified in safe food handling procedures. Brian Woodson said, “Cleanliness is very important. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Walk through your front door, and try to see things as a customer would. If the shop is not clean, it will impact your business. Get the shop clean and every day do 1 or 2 things to keep it that way. Make sure your staff is doing everything they can to maintain the cleanliness of the shop.”
Woodson acknowledges that this isn’t easy. He said, “the majority of my staff is high school aged, and I often have to suggest different tasks for them to do. If I don’t constantly instruct them, they dive into their phones when not busy. My staff are great and very smart, it is just that their age group would rather be in their phones, than doing anything else.”
