Sprinkles Frozen Yogurt

Sprinkles Frozen Yogurt

By Melissa Mixon Friday, 28 August 2009

Jackie Jackson and her family were looking for a change of pace in 2007 when they decided to sell their home in the Sacramento area to start a self-serve frozen yogurt shop in northwest Austin.

The decision to open the shop may not have seemed like an obvious pick at first. The family’s background was in engineering and computer programming, and the only firsthand experience any of them had with running a frozen yogurt store was when Karen, Jackie’s daughter, worked at an ice cream shop in high school.

But the Jacksons had frequented a frozen yogurt shop in California—where patrons built their own desserts—and they liked the idea so much they decided to bring it to Austin after their son moved here.

“It was kind of scary [to open the shop], but we took that big plunge and opened the door and turned on the sign,” Jackie said.

The Jacksons own Sprinkles Frozen Yogurt, a self-serve shop that has the neighborhood friendliness you would expect out of a family-owned business.

The shop opened in May 2008 and has already become a part of the community by hosting fundraisers for schools and sports teams. It is also a popular hangout for teenagers on weekends.

The store boasts six different flavors of yogurt, four of which are rotated each week, and 50 different toppings, from cheesecake bites to Gummi Bears, and—for the more health-conscious—fresh fruit.

“We get parents that tell us their kids have been wanting to come in all day,” Karen said.

Each frozen yogurt is weighed, and customers are charged 39 cents per ounce, meaning the average price for a small frozen yogurt comes to about $2 to $3 depending on the toppings, Jackie said.

But some customers fill their creations with so many toppings that they end up paying $13, Jackie said.

“I’ve seen people get a quart and fill it with yogurt and fill it with toppings,” she said.

The shop employs about seven people, though the Jacksons do the bulk of the work.

Each family member has used his or her own educational background and interest to contribute to the day-to-day workings of the business.

Jackie, whose degree is in mathematics, works in the shop, handles its accounting and schedules fundraisers while her husband, George, a registered civil engineer, does all of the shop’s maintenance work.

Their daughter Karen, whose degree is in business administration, manages employees and inventory and orders the yogurt and toppings.

David, the Jacksons’ son, is an electrical engineer and microprocessor designer who created the store’s website and develops marketing materials for it with his wife, Karen.

After working with frozen yogurt each day, one has to wonder whether it has ruined the family’s appetite for ice cream and other frozen treats.

“No, I don’t think so,” Jackie said. “I have ice cream in my freezer at home.”

Discounts

Sprinkles offers a 20 percent off discount on any frozen yogurt purchased by employees of the University of Texas and Austin Community College.

The shop also has a punch card that, after nine trips, allows you to get a frozen yogurt for free.

“We have people come in and say, ‘I don’t care about any of my other cards, but I can’t lose my Sprinkles card,'” Jackie said.

Sprinkles Frozen Yogurt, 10700 Anderson Mill Road, Ste. 105, 506-8736