TCBY in long-term deal with Lone Star Yogurt to open 200 stores

Salt Lake City -- On the heels of a new self-serve prototype, TCBY, announced an agreement with Lone Star Yogurt to open 200 stores over the next 10 years with area developer.



Lone Star Yogurt plans to open its first TCBY self-serve store in January in Lone Star’s hometown of Tyler, Texas. It has committed to open another 24 TCBY self-serve stores in East Texas, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston in the next 18 months.



“With frozen yogurt operators continuing to outpace their ice cream counterparts within the U.S. frozen dessert segment, TCBY’s announcement to open 200 new stores comes as no surprise,” said Darren Tristano, executive VP at Technomic. “With many American consumers continuing to look for healthier alternatives to traditional desserts, frozen yogurt will likely continue a positive growth pattern for years to come. As a well-established brand with decades of history, TCBY will have a leg up within the yogurt segment.”



Self-serve model driving interest

Since testing the self-serve model in both corporate and franchise-owned stores earlier this year, coupled with a new store design and brand identity, TCBY is on track this year to achieve its best franchise sales numbers in more than a decade. While the self-serve model seems to be giving the entire industry a boost, TCBY’s foray into self-serve and its competitive advantages in taste and health attributes, make it the formidable player in the industry again.



“We are making an important statement with a deal of this magnitude,” explains Tim Casey, CEO of TCBY. “We have seasoned area developers and franchisees who believe as we do that TCBY is once again the fro-yo brand of choice among franchisees and consumers. We feel like we have always owned taste. Today we have the most relevant store model in self-serve, coupled with a modern design that’s resonating with our customers who have experienced it in our prototype stores. Not only will we carry tremendous momentum into 2011, but we anticipate the release of some significant category innovation to support record growth.”