An independently owned frozen treat shop opened for business last winter in San Luis Obispo, becoming the third downtown frozen yogurt shop.
Teaberry Frozen Yogurt Café, owned by Cal Poly alumnus Tom Stennett, opened its doors in December.
“(It’s) a new type of yogurt shop to hit the SLO area,” Stennett said.
Teaberry specializes in tart yogurts, soft-serve gelato and soft-serve custard, according to Stennett.
“We strive to provide superior products as well as a clean and comfortable environment to enjoy them in,” Stennett said.
The café’s name is modeled after the teaberry, which is a type of berry formed on the wintergreen in the northern U.S. and Canada, Stennett said.
“Having tasted this new type of (frozen yogurt) in other areas, we were anxious to bring it to the Central Coast before the chains did,” Stennett said.
Stennett’s sister, a Cal Poly graphic design alumna helped get the store up and running. She designed the interior of the shop, suggested the name and also came up with the shop’s logo.
“Our original vision of probiotic iced teas on our menu really had something to do with the choice of names as well,” Stennett said.
Teaberry already appears to be a hot spot for customers of all ages, despite only being open for four months.
Unlike most other yogurt shops, Teaberry mixes fresh Greek yogurt into its other tart-flavored yogurts.
“All of our tart yogurts are nonfat — all natural — yogurts made with pure cane sugar and no artificial sweeteners,” Stennett said.
Along with frozen yogurt, Teaberry also serves espresso, tea, smoothies, shaved ice, iced tea and taffy.
The café’s strawberry and mango smoothies are made using their tart Greek yogurts, fresh fruit, ice and Naked Juice, Stennett said. Their mochas, lattes and frappés are also readily available.
Teaberry employee Naomi Whittenberg said Teaberry has a lot of varieties of frozen yogurt as well as a lot of toppings. According to the Teaberry website, it served sandwiches at first, but because of such popularity with their frozen desserts, sandwiches are no longer available.
Stennett said Teaberry is still a smorgasbord of low fat yogurts with roughly half of Teaberry’s sales being tart yogurts, and the other half gelato and custard.
“Our gelato is only 7 percent butterfat, which is roughly half the fat of local ice cream shops,” Stennett said.
Unlike the other frozen yogurt shops in town, Stennett said there’s already a plan in process for a booth at the San Luis Obispo Farmers’ Market.
Teaberry has also expanded the number of soft-serve gelato flavors. Since opening, Teaberry has offered new flavors such as Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie gelato and lemon bar gelato.
At least one of Teaberry’s gelato flavors already appears to be getting a lot of hype.
“The Oreo cookie gelato is our most popular flavor so far, followed closely by coffee gelato and some of our tart Greek-style yogurts such as pomegranate and original, (a plain yogurt tart),” Stennett said.
Psychology sophomore Kelly McBride has already visited Teaberry numerous times since its opening four months ago.
“(Teaberry has) really unique toppings that other places don’t have,” McBride said.
According to McBride, many of the unique toppings you often don’t see at other frozen yogurt shops include peanut butter pretzels, dark chocolate acai, Teddy Grahams and Nutella.
“The (yogurt and gelato) flavors are a little bit more fruity-based, and they taste a little bit sweeter (whereas) other places taste more dairy-like, milky and creamy,” McBride said.
Teaberry is the third frozen yogurt shop to be located downtown. Stennett said this is all about, “location, location, location.” According to Stennett, heavy foot traffic as well as great advertisement is a great way to get a new business like Teaberry going.
“I hope to create a good income for my family, as well as bring something new and exciting to our area,” Stennett said.