When Damien Breen was a child, he raided produce from his mother’s refrigerator and sold it door to door.
He’s still selling stuff door to door, only now it’s organic yogurt. Breen, who founded Frog Frozen Yogurt Bar in early 2012, started delivering his yogurt in August from his walk-in store in Hollywood.
For minimum $10 orders, Frog delivers to homes in a three-mile radius using cars equipped with freezers. Customers order on Frog’s website.
The move to home delivery came both out of necessity and to differentiate Frog Yogurt from other frozen yogurt chains like Pinkberry and Yogurtland.
“One of the challenges we had was the location,” said Breen, 36. “Parking in Hollywood is a nightmare. That was the only complaint from our customers. It took over a year for us to negotiate parking on our own property.”
Frog is also one of the only local frozen yogurt stores that delivers; Pinkberry does curbside delivery for customers who drive by some of its L.A. stores and it delivers to homes out of some of its New York stores.
Besides expanding to a delivery system, Breen is looking to franchise out stores. Though Frog only has its Hollywood location right now, he said that he’s looking to sell five franchises in the state in the next year. He’s also exploring selling a franchise store in Virginia and two as far as Italy.
Like many frozen yogurt operations, Breen is looking to separate Frog from the competition by offering unique or hard-to-find flavors and recipes, including goat’s milk and cinnamon graham cracker yogurt. In the lab now are such flavors as avocado, chili mango and even red wine.
The variety is what turned Chris Fuentes into a frequent customer.
“There’s something if you don’t like dairy. There’s something if you are weight conscious,” Fuentes said.
That’s exactly what Breen, who used to work in the entertainment business, had in mind. He also wanted to make use of another past experience as a fitness instructor.
“I’m more aware of what I put in my body,” Breen said. “Being in California, we’re always on the cutting edge on the diet trends. People want to treat themselves but don’t want to put junk in their bodies.”
– Justin Yang
