Dude, Where’s My Fro Yo?

By my own count, there were at least 9 new entrants to the local fro yo (frozen yogurt) scene in the past three years.

New entrants include Fruezen Yoguz, Frolick and Yoguru, Berrylite, Sogurt, Yigloo, Red Mango, OiO and even J. Co doughnuts has jumped onto the bandwagon with J.Cool.

Whilst most compete on the basis of their unique flavours and the “health benefits” of their products, few recognized that the ability to survive the increasingly crowded scene lies in their ability to build a strong culture around their brand.

Here, SGE speaks to Lee Li Ping, founder on three month old fro yo cafe, Sogurt, on how she has begun laying the foundations towards building a strong culture around her fro yo.

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Creating A Culture That Appeals To Your Target Audience

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Sogurt, which is situated on the school belt along Bukit Timah Road, is positioned as a fun after school hangout place. The store’s afternoon crowd is made up mainly of students whose institutions are within the immediate vicinity. Sogurt also hopes to appeal to the families living in the area as an after dinner or weekend hangout.

A Cafe Filled With Fun

Given their target audience, the cafe has sought to create a fun culture that embraces the uniqueness of each patron’s Sogurt experience.

Their self serve concept means that patrons are able to create their own concoctions by mixing and matching from 8 different flavours and 40 different toppings. The toppings available include a variety of fruits, nuts, cereal, granola bits, and chocolate chunks.

“ All we want to do is to make you happy. That’s why we would love for you to come down and try your hand at creating your own yogurt. Use your imagination and experiment with our self-serve yogurt coupled with a medley of flavours and toppings to become your own yogurt maker.”

Deeping Brand Affinity Through Events

Customers can book the cafe for private fro yo parties and hitherto, the three month old cafe has hosted children parties and private corporate functions.

Not only do they generate more revenue (in fact Liping lets on that she earned 2 days of worth of earnings through the one night event), events also allows customers to further create their own memories at the cafe thereby deepening their relationship with the brand.

Brand Identity

From their pale pink store front which stands out amongst its neighbours to its white and pink candy striped interior, Sogurt is designed to be a friendly and happy place where “people could come and chill”. The brands promotional materials also follow the same theme of happy colours and cute illustrations – visual hallmarks that their largely teenage crowd can relate to.

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Conclusion

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Sogurt’s long term aim is for their yogurt to be “incoporated into (their customers) lifestyles” instead of being a mere “takeaway product”.

As such, Li Ping (pictured left) also places priority on providing customers with the environment to enjoy and define their own Sogurt experience.

In conclusion, while unique flavours might entice, what’s most important is building a sense of affinity with the brand. Like dating, sure you might shop around but ultimately, though others might have the goods, you will likely marry the one who shares a special chemistry with you.

We hope that Sogurt continues builiding and fueling the chemistry with their customers and wish you all the best Li Ping!

Image Credit: Yoguru, Frolick,Red Mango, Sogurt, Yigloo, Berrylite, Fruezen Yoguz, J.Cool,
OiO

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