User:Jaysonniizawa/Menchie's

Menchie's is a frozen yogurt franchise based in the San Fernando Valley, California. Menchie's offers self-serve frozen yogurt with a large selection of yogurt flavors and toppings. Since its start in 2007, Menchie's has become a fast growing food chain, with over 60 locations in the US and Canada.

History
Danna and Adam Caldwell founded Menchie's in 2007. The couple got their business idea from their mutual love for frozen yogurt and opened their first location in Valley Village, Los Angeles. The name "Menchie's" was coined by Adam Caldwell that came from the Yiddish word mensch, meaning good person.

Products
Menchie's customers can mix and match any combination of frozen yogurt flavors and toppings at a self-serve yogurt station. Menchie's have 10 to 16 flavors in store and nearly 100 rotating flavors, which include a range of regular, low-carb, no added sugar, and dairy free yogurts. They also have roughly 60 rotating toppings that include fresh fruit, candy, hot fudge, and much more.

All of Menchie's pricing is measured in the weight of the yogurt and toppings, with prices ranging from 30 to 39 cents per ounce. Other frozen yogurt franchises such as Pinkberry and Red Mango, do not offer self-serve yogurt and do not price by weight. Instead, these franchises price their yogurt by cup size and number of toppings, and tend to be more expensive.

Menchie's also have their own private label frozen yogurt that provides their customers with new and exclusive flavors. Having their own private label frozen yogurt allows Menchie's to create flavors for different markets, such as international markets. A few of Menchie's private label flavors are Vanilla Snow, Red Velvet, and Gingerbread.

All of Menchie's frozen yogurts include live and active cultures, meaning that they meets yogurt quality standards, and have received the Live and Active Culture (LAC) seal by the National Yogurt Association (NYA). Their yogurt flavors are also gluten-free with the exception of flavors with cake or cookie.

Nutritional Facts

 * Original Tart: Serving Size: 1/2 Cup; Calories: 100, Total Fat: 0.5g, Carbs: 20g, Protein: 3g
 * Vanilla: Serving Size: 1/2 Cup; Calories: 168, Total Fat: 0.5g, Carbs: 37g, Protein: 4g

Expansion
After opening their first few locations, Menchie's began franchising. The cost of a Menchie’s franchise ranges from $330,000 to $400,000 per store with an initial franchise fee of $40,000.

According to Chicago food industry research and Technomic Inc, there were over 32 locations in 2009. By 2010, The Menchie's franchise nearly doubled to over 60 stores in 15 U.S. States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington. Menchie's also opened two locations outside the United States in Ontario, Canada. Menchie’s have expansion goals to have locations in more countries and in every US state by the end of 2011. They have signed contracts to expand to 100 more locations in 10 new U.S. states and 5 new countries: Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Japan, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and Morocco.

Menchie's has won several awards for their success in the frozen yogurt market. In July 2010, Restaurant Business Magazine ranked Menchie's #1 on their Future 50' list rating Menchie's as the fastest growing restaurant franchise with a 748 percent growth.