SECRET WEAPON: Founder of 32 Degrees Walks the Talk as Largest Great American Cookies® Franchisee

15-Unit Hot Yogurt Franchise Banks on Customization and Healthful Products as FroYo’s Resurgence

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — If the founder of 32 Degrees a Yogurt Bar had a nickel for every time he was asked if frozen yogurt can reemerge as a viable food service category, he might not need to franchise the 15-unit concept he founded in 2010. But as retail and food franchisee veteran Jeff Pizitz explained, he not only witnessed the first frozen yogurt boom and bust of the 1990s, he knows where those concepts went wrong and believes he’s learned the solutions that will help the category heat up again.

“Those concepts had pretty limited offerings, about four to six flavors per store, and they didn’t evolve much,” said Pizitz, President of Pizitz Management Group, the country’s largest Great American Cookies franchisee. “They hadn’t pushed toward the healthful aspect like you see yogurt concepts doing today, and there was no customizing your order like customers get to do now. It’s a whole different experience and customers love it.”

Pizitz got the idea for 32° after running across a similar yogurt shop that never lacked a line out the door. When he visited the store, he recognized a great opportunity he imagined was untapped nationally. To confirm his suspicion, he flew to several cities across the country to check out similar concepts and found many single-store operators generous with their business experience. Soon after he formed a plan, hired an architect, found a location and opened the first 32° A Yogurt Bar®unit in 2010.

“We were very confident that this concept would work, partly because we knew we could create a concept that would allow us to become a big player in the category,” Pizitz said. “Add in our company’s quarter century of experience in the cookie business and we could see that it is a fairly easy concept to operate. You’re basically dealing with making one product, and customers serve themselves. That’s not a complex operational plan and customers like the ’create-your-own’ experience.”

Pizitz also noted the low barriers to entry into frozen yogurt: Well-made equipment is widely available, and large yogurt distributors with wide access nationally are easily found. Those benefits, he believes, help make 32 Degrees an easy-to-franchise brand.

“Even then, we’re planning slow and steady growth without the goal of merely opening franchises anywhere we can,” he said, adding that he plans to open three to five stores in 2012. “We don’t want franchisees to fail, we want them to be successful. So explosive growth is not important to us.”

Nor is making a profit on sales of products or equipment to franchisees. As a longtime franchisee now becoming a franchisor, Pizitz acknowledges he is eager for the chance to treat his future franchisees as he would like to be treated.

“Any product we offer to our franchisees will have no mark up,” he said. “A lot of franchisors use the sale of food, paper goods and equipment to their franchisees as a profit center, but we’re not going to nickel and dime them that way. Our responsibility is to help them become successful, which makes us successful.”

ABOUT 32° A YOGURT BAR: 32 Degrees a Yogurt Bar®, is a self-serve frozen yogurt concept offering 14 individual and ever-rotating flavors of yogurt, along with 50 different and always-changing topping such as hand-cut fresh fruit, candy, nuts and sauces. Customers custom-assemble their own frozen treats, weigh their creation at the cash register and pay by the ounce. In addition to their regularly rotating selection of yogurts, 32° offers fat-free, kosher, no-sugar-added and low-sugar selections. They also host private birthday parties and special events. Founded in 2010 by Pizitz Management Group, the nation’s largest Great American Cookies® franchisee, the family-owned Alabama-based firm has grown 32° to 15 company-owned units in six states with two additional stores in North Carolina and Tennessee under construction.  They are preparing to grow their brand through franchising as well as continuing to open company-owned stores. For further information, visit its website www.32yogurt.com.