Yoguri Forever

By: Madison Howard
M&M TIPster

Are you looking for a great place to have a snack that is healthy and delicious? Yoguri may be the place for you. This frozen yogurt “mom and pop shop” has only been open for half a year. The grand opening was in December and is now popular among college students and people of all ages. “It is so good!” said a thirteen year old Canopy Studio trapeze artist.


The name is very unique. Vena Kim is the proud owner of this local shop. The name has a Korean twist because Vena is Korean. “Yo” comes from the word yogurt. “Guri” is a Korean word. Vena strives for her business to have a fresh, clean, modern, and appealing look. To accomplish this, she traveled to other yogurt shops around the country, such as PinkBerry and Yoforia. She wanted to add her own twist to her yogurt.

There are four different flavors of this frozen treat, which are mango, original, dark chocolate, and green tea. Vena chose the flavors of her yogurt by doing research. All of the yogurt is homemade, meaning Vena and her sister, Vienn, make it in the back of the shop daily with their secret recipe. They make six to seven huge tubs. The toppings bar has many different things to compliment the yogurts’ flavors. A few toppings include Granola, Strawberries, Blueberries, Fruity Pebbles, and Pop Rocks. Pop Rocks are something most yogurt shops do not have. All of the fruit toppings are local. These treats have about 115 calories for a small serving and contain pro-biotics that are good for you.

Vena was originally a Journalism major, and traveled the world. She then decided that this fad, frozen yogurt, would be fun to own. She didn’t want just a normal yogurt shop; she wanted a unique place to enjoy this treat. She bought a building on a corner spot of downtown.

She wants her workers to be personable and to make customers feel comfortable. Vena insists that her workers must greet customers by insisting their name, being welcoming, and asking if they need help on deciding what they want to eat. Workers’ ages vary from high-school students to college students. To advertise, Yoguri has a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Yoguri is just a local frozen yogurt place for now. Vena is thinking about branching out and opening more Yoguris’ around the world. She posts her ideas for expansion on a piece of paper in the back of the shop. Her biggest competitors are Suno, Ben and Jerry’s, and Planet Smoothie. Frozen Yogurt is a fad, so people are spectacle of whether it will die out or not. Vena is determined to make her yogurt shop evolve and keep it popular. She claims that the hardest part about opening a business like this is learning the ropes.

There are now twelve employees at Yoguri. Two or three work at the same time so that if it is crowded, they can be fast. Vena’s family helps, too. Her sister, mother and uncle work there and run errands that need to be accomplished. They all work hard to have a place where people can come and relax while eating frozen yogurt.

Madison is a 9th Grader at Harrells Christian Academy in Harrells North Carolina.