FROZEN YOGURT CRAZE: Local entrepreneur has faith in product

McALLEN – A family laughed and hummed to themselves, spooning more dessert into their mouths Wednesday, as Sabita Ramchandani walked into her Orange Leaf frozen yogurt store at 601 Trenton Road on Wednesday.

Carrying a bulging bank deposit envelope, the entrepreneur looked over her clean establishment and offered an optimistic – though somewhat reserved – summary of how it has performed since opening this April amidst a local frozen yogurt boom.

“Business has been OK, and this place was like a madhouse in summer,” Ramchandani said. “But we’d definitely do a lot better with less competition.

“We have a good product that we’re confident in and that customers keep buying,” she added. “Frozen yogurt is definitely not a trend. I expect Orange Leaf to last a long while.”

Following a national trend, McAllen and surrounding cities have welcomed an abundance of frozen yogurt stores over the past year. Three such sweet shops sit within a few blocks of Orange Leaf, and none existed last December.

And though McAllen has seen a sweep of different restaurant crazes in the past, the frozen yogurt boom should withstand fickle customer preferences, said Dave Jackson, director of the Center for Border Economic Studies at the University of Texas-Pan American.

“It’s really a question of whether the market can sustain it,” he said. “There’s this general trend nationally toward healthier food and lifestyles, especially at this time of the year.

“But you can see a noticeable push toward healthier living along the border,” Jackson said. “Look at the proliferation these past couple of years with gyms. There’s quite a number of those now, and that to me would signal the yogurt craze might stay on a bit longer.”

Considering the Rio Grande Valley’s high rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, Jackson believed public and private sector initiatives toward better nutrition and fitness have finally hit home.

Orange Leaf boasts a long list of yogurt flavors with little or no fat. And though customers can add crushed candy bars or sugary syrups to their frozen creations, Ramchandani said most choose fresh fruits or nuts.

“And that’s when they’re sold, that first bite,” she said. “I see a lot of durability in this market, especially in the Valley. And maybe there are a lot of competitors right now, but those who deliver the best product will survive.”

Jackson said the increasing cost of health care might have spurred the “froyo craze” as well, convincing Valley residents to put down the ice cream and pick up a healthier option.

And despite a “tremendous slow down” in border crossings, Jackson said Mexican shoppers have been wanting and spending more money at nicer establishments, like frozen yogurt stores.

“They are making less trips but buying more per trip,” he said. “That’s why we still continue to have good returns on retail in the Valley.

“It’s not by accident we’ve had all these sushi and frozen yogurt places opening. People with money are the ones still coming, and they’re not trying to find the cheapest thing.”

Most shops like Orange Leaf charge about 30 cents per ounce. And at the Red Mango in Mission on Tuesday, Mike Canales paid more for his daughter’s frozen yogurt with blueberries and pineapple than his chocolate, brownie and cookie dough treat from an ice creamery next door.

“But it does taste fresher,” said Canales, a 46-year-old Monterrey resident who was visiting relatives in Sharyland. “I’m an ice cream kind of guy. I’d rather (my daughter) Amy eats better than me, though.

“There are so many places like this now. I just wish the options were in Mexico, too.”

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Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at nmorton@themonitor.com or (956) 683-4472.