If you’ve noticed a lot of self-serve frozen yogurt shops popping up around town in the last year of so, you’re not alone. One of the more popular ones in Overland Park, Yogurtini, is owned by a Jewish man.
Perry Kessler owns the Yogurtini located at 12021 Metcalf Ave. He’s also a part-owner of Yogurtini on the Plaza in the Plaza Colonnade center as well as one in Zona Rosa.
Yogurtini offers up to 16 rotating healthy and fat-free frozen yogurt flavors and more than 70 toppings. Yogurtini only serves real yogurt that contains live and active cultures approved by the National Yogurt Association. Kessler pointed out that the frozen yogurt served at the shop is certified kosher by the supplier and the majority of the toppings are kosher as well.
It’s a self-serve shop that allows customers to make their own frozen yogurt creation. Flavors include such classics as Ultimate Chocolate, Classic Vanilla, Chelsey’s Cheesecake and Peanut Butter. Those with more adventurous palates might enjoy Northshore Pineapple Tart, Island Coconut or Green Apple Tartini. Toppings include granola, fresh fruits, candies and cereals. Specialty items include espresso beans, and even Sriracha hot sauce. The finished product is weighed and customers pay for it by the ounce.
“Our product is truly frozen yogurt and the highest quality product that we’re able to buy. Our toppings are also the highest quality toppings that we are able to find,” Kessler said.
Kessler points out that in today’s health conscious world it’s very possible to eat a healthy treat at Yogurtini.
“I get plain yogurt and I’ll top it with blueberries or mango. Or sometimes I’ll get raspberries, because they are so good. And that makes it healthy,” he said.
He first became associated with Yogurtini after visiting the original location in Tempe, Ariz., on the advice of “a friend of a friend.”
“They had a really cool concept and a great looking store,” said Kessler of his interest in Yogurtini.
After falling in love with the store, he and a business partner “met the founders (Natasha and Chelsey Nelson) and struck up a deal to provide the resources to help them go from a single store to have the ability to franchise.”
Now Kessler is both one of the franchisors as well as a franchisee. In addition to the stores he has ownership or co-ownership here in Kansas City; he also has a stake in stores in Salina, Kan., and plans to open at least two more in Colorado soon. (One other store is Lee’s Summit is owned by a different franchisee.)
Kessler has only been in the yogurt business for about a year and a half. His primary business is PKC Construction Co., a construction company based here that specializes on building retail spaces all across the country. His expertise in building restaurants helped him understand what it would take to build, and open, a yogurt shop.
“I’d been watching it from one side of the fence for decades and I finally decided to jump to the other side of the fence and try my hand at owning and running quick serve restaurants,” Kessler explained.
So far Kessler’s Yogurtini shops have been meeting and exceeding sales expectations, which he thinks is due to the “excellent locations, wonderful staff and top-quality product.”
“The response in Johnson County has been tremendous,” he said of the Overland Park store, which opened the first week of May.
“During our opening promotion, we gave away free yogurt to 1,000 customers in four hours.”