Article

TCBY testing meal replacement concept

Corporate stores now offering Yovana-Simply Yogurt product.

September 28, 2010 by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

Since 1981, TCBY has been offering its interpretations of yogurt.

The company essentially has presented a lower-calorie, lower-fat version of ice cream, both hand-scooped and soft-serve, with innovative flavors such as cotton candy, pralines and cream, and vanilla chocolate chunk. It has sold smoothies made with real fruit and fruit juices, and has included numerous toppings to keep it exciting – from sprinkles to fresh blueberries.

Now, TCBY is diving into something a bit more unique. With the opening of its second corporate store in Utah, the company has begun testing a prepared-daily, fresh yogurt product with the goal of breaking into the breakfast and lunch meal replacement segments, while also offering consumers a healthy option to meet their demands.

The proprietary product, called Yovana-Simply Yogurt, is made with twice the amount of calcium, protein and fiber as most store-bought products, and also features a pro-biotic and pre-biotic formula consumers have come to expect from their yogurt.

The impetus of creating the product was quite simple.

“We wanted to provide something that tasted great and had more nutritional value than (what) you can buy in grocery stores,” said Tim Casey, CEO of TCBY.

With an increased saturation of similar products on grocery shelves, the timing seemed right. The product has been in development for more than two years with a meticulous objective of including the right nutrient profile, as well as a diverse flavor lineup.

“Consumers love fresh yogurt because it’s nutritious. They want pre-biotics and pro-biotics, and they want vitamins, calcium, protein and rich dietary fibers. Yovana has all of those things,” Casey said. “And we’re also bringing with it flavor innovation people expect from TCBY.”

It is still too early in the test phase to pinpoint exactly what flavors will be available – but vanilla and blueberry are the initial offerings.  Others will follow based on consumer feedback from the test stores in Salt Lake City.

“We need to make sure we know what the consumer wants before we move forward. We know what the most popular flavors are – blueberry, raspberry and strawberry – but we also think new flavors may better meet demand. One of our core competencies is flavor innovation. You see it in our hand-scoop and soft-serve lines and we plan on bringing that same expertise to this new product,” Casey said.

Initially, the company was going to introduce Yovana as a stand-alone brand, but then decided it would better fit in the TCBY store line-up.

“We were looking for something that worked as fresh and this filled that profile for us. So now consumers are able to see TCBY as all-things yogurt – frozen, fresh and soft serve,” Casey said.

Additionally, the introduction of Yovana could potentially better position TCBY as a breakfast destination. Getting more involved in the daypart seems like a good move: In June, market research firm The NPD Group concluded that breakfast accounted for nearly 60 percent of the restaurant industry's traffic increase over the past five years.

“We are seeing an emerging – and evolving – trend as more consumers are eating breakfast and lunch outside of the home, and this is a great meal replacement item,” Casey said. “Yovana is much more nutritious than other offerings and, especially if you add fresh fruit, we don’t think anyone is better suited or positioned to provide this great of a solution for the breakfast daypart.”

As such, there have been many requests at the test stores to open earlier. Casey also said franchisees outside of the test market are experiencing “pent-up demand” for the new product, but the company is going to take its time with the launch, having no set dates yet for a broader rollout.

“Consumers will help drive when and where we go with this. After the test, we’ll do a pilot and when we feel like we’ve done a great job meeting and exceeding consumers’ needs, we’ll go to the franchisees,” Casey said.

To gauge customer feedback, Casey himself has visited the test stores daily to ask and observe. TCBY also has a variety of other systems in place for feedback – both qualitative and quantitative – from consumer panels to social media outlets.

Casey doesn’t expect Yovana to be a direct competitor to grocery store yogurts, but he does believe it provides a distinct advantage both for its nutrient profile and its social aspect.

“We’ve been around since 1981, so we have to be very, very careful with this brand and really look at what consumers are looking for. Consumer needs are better met when they have more options, and Yovana gives them one more way they can enjoy the TCBY experience in a comfortable environment,” Casey said. “Purchasing yogurt in a supermarket is very pedestrian; simply a part of the shopping process. We can make it an experience.”

About Alicia Kelso

---

None

Connect with Alicia: