The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
A taste of success
Madison Froyo Shop becomes popular place during challenging first year of operation
When Kimberlee and Mallory Clemons initiated plans to open their new frozen-yogurt business last year, they had a strong preference about where they’d choose a location.
Kimberlee and her daughter Mallory are Madison Township residents, and believed that their hometown was an ideal place to launch the Madison Froyo Shop.
“We really wanted to stay in Madison because we love this community,” Mallory said.
The business recently marked its one-year anniversary, having opened at 2709 Hubbard Road in December 2019.
Along with having hometown ties, Mallory said that she and her mother believed that Madison Township was based within a larger region where their shop could operate profitably.
“We just decided together that Madison was ready for some frozen yogurt, and there’s not a business in Madison, Perry or Geneva like that,” she said.
“We wanted to provide a place where families could come and have an experience, and create their own unique bowls, and have a little fun and create memories while doing it.” — Co-owner Kimberlee Clemons
Madison Froyo Shop gives customers an opportunity to select from a variety of flavors and toppings as they personally assemble frozen-yogurt bowls to suit their individual tastes.
“We wanted to provide a place where families could come and have an experience, and create their own unique bowls, and have a little fun and create memories while doing it,” Kimberlee said.
The shop offers 10 individual flavors of frozen yogurt, and that number increases to 15 thanks to machines that allow customers to twist two flavors into a single blend. Salted caramel pretzel and cookies and cream are two of the best-selling flavors, Mallory said.
There are 40 different toppings available to embellish a buyer’s yogurt treat.
In addition, the shop features a lineup of specialty bowls with a set mixture of frozen yogurt and toppings.
One example is the Chocolate Lover Bowl, which consists of dairyfree chocolate frozen yogurt, brownie bites, mini chocolate chips, hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles. Then there’s Strawberry Cheesecake Overload, which brings together cheesecake frozen yogurt, cheesecake bites, strawberry sauce, yogurtdipped pretzels and rainbow sprinkles.
The shop rounds out its menu with items that include Froyo floats, made with root beer; Froyo bars, which resemble Popsicles but consist of frozen yogurt; and Boba tea.
Mallory said Madison Froyo Shop began offering Boba tea in August.
“It’s a Taiwanese-based drink,” she said. “You get to choose your tea and your flavor, and then the Boba is little popping juice pearls ... they give you extra flavors as they pop in your mouth.”
Kimberlee and Mallory decided to launch the Madison Froyo Shop upon hearing that a business called Froyo Shop, located elsewhere in Lake County, was for sale.
After making the acquisition, they gained the rights to the business name, and then began searching for an ideal location.
“So when it came to looking for buildings, we kept going from vacant building to vacant building,” Mallory said. “But, we definitely tried to search to stay in Madison.”
Finally, they found and settled on a place located in a small plaza on Hubbard Road, just south of the Route 20 intersection.
“We got the building in August and started doing the renovations and things like that,” Mallory said. “We projected to open in October and it just kept getting pushed back. Then that’s how our opening date came in December.”
Kimberlee and Mallory became business owners for the first time. But they have a strong background of working at businesses that serve food and drinks to customers.
“We have a combined experience of 18 years in the food service industry,” Kimberlee said.
About four months after opening Madison Froyo Shop, Kimberlee and Mallory confronted the challenges of operating a business successfully during the novel coronavirus pandemic. “We were looking around (during the initial surge of COVID-19) and seeing what everybody was doing, how everybody was adapting,” Kimberlee said. “We looked at delivery services and hours of operation. And then we applied what was working.”
Like other restaurants and places that serve food in Ohio, their shop was able to serve customers through pickup, curbside and delivery service from midMarch through May under Ohio Health Department rules designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
While Madison Froyo Shop’s dining room has since reopened, delivery service remains a popular option, Mallory noted.
“We’ve delivered to everywhere from Ashtabula, to Geauga County, to throughout Lake County,” she said.
The shop also strives to be a community-minded enterprise that conducts events such as food drives to benefit the Madison Food Center and toy collections for the Salvation Army.
“We do a lot of collaborations with charities,” Kimberlee said. “It’s near and dear to our heart to give back to this community.”
Looking back over a challenging, but rewarding, first year of operation, Kimberlee said she and Mallory are grateful for the warm welcome that Madison Froyo Shop has received from customers, many of whom have become regulars.
“I think they like having us here, and we like being here,” she said.