Fiji Yogurt

Fiji Yogurt

From Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the idea of the self-made man is a driving force in our capitalist society. Fredrick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, John Rockefeller, Ross Perot, Bill Gates, the stories of how these individuals, through persistence, drive, and ambition, rose from simple, humble beginnings to attain levels of wealth or fame far beyond what anyone would have guessed from their original circumstances are threads in the tapestry of the American dream.

While every headline in the media discusses the economic downturn of the last few years, with recession, unemployment, and bankruptcy blazoned across the front pages, there are still some individuals who stubbornly defy the doom-and-gloom predictions. Seeing opportunity where others failed, Fiji Yogurt, located at 1010 University Avenue, stands as an example of the triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit.

The story of Kyle Miholich starts humbly. As a 21 year old student at the University of San Diego, Kyle, like many people, had always wanted to own his own business. He had imagined that something near a campus would be an ideal location, but hadn’t taken the idea any farther than a dream. His girlfriend at the time was constantly craving frozen yogurt so the two would often drive together to get it, but the nearest location was several miles away.

Getting fed up with the trips, he began to do some research into yogurt. That was when the loosely formed thoughts that had been mixing around in his head began to chill and thicken. Deciding to learn everything about the business first, he asked several shops if he could apprentice with them for a few weeks for free to learn about the business and what was needed to start his own company. Kyle found one place willing to help him in North County San Diego, and after working for two weeks, was ready to begin.

Spending all his graduation money, asking for personal loans from friends and family, and maxing out several credit cards, in October 2007 he began construction on his first location, called Froyo, across campus from USD. With the help of his twin brother Cory, and roommate Rafael Navarro, he finished the store. A quick success Froyo broke even by its second day and Kyle made his investment back within a year.

Friends wanted to open another Froyo store with Kyle in Point Loma. The problem was that trademark laws do not allow any name that describes part of the process of manufacturing, and Froyo was too close to "frozen yogurt". Kyle and Rafael began brainstorming with a basic idea, wanting a two word name with yogurt as the second. Fiji Yogurt.

Through this process and contributing to the success of what came to be Fiji Yogurt was the resurgence in popularity of frozen yogurt. Similar to the rises in popularity of coffee shops and donut stores with the spread of Starbucks and Krispy Kreme in the 1990’s, the frozen yogurt store Pinkberry opened in 2005 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles and within four years had almost 80 stores nationwide.

Rafael Navarro now owns the Hillcrest Fiji Yogurt, their fourth location in San Diego, and is the companies Director of Design, Marketing, and Franchise Sales. He describes the trouble he and Kyle had choosing the name, "the names were being taken up as fast as we could think them up, that’s how fast shops were opening." Something about Fiji Yogurt stuck out to them, and that was all it took. In the summer of 2008 the second location was opened, a third in Mission Gorge that fall. By winter Fiji Yogurt Hillcrest had opened.

Rafael had known he wanted to open his branch in the Hillcrest/North Park area, "it’s a different environment than our other stores, there is more of a community, and more people just like to chat and hang out here."

Fiji Yogurt has several advantages over the competition, with five other frozen yogurt shops being within approximately two miles of their Hillcrest location. First, unlike Pinkberry, which is opening a store at 3795 4th Avenue later this year, Fiji Yogurt is self serve. From freshly sliced fruits and berries, breakfast cereals, ground candy bars, and six different types of chocolate, dark hot fudge, creamy caramel, or other syrups, Fiji has over three dozen toppings to choose from in any combination with their ten different flavors of yogurt.

With the self serve style the customer is in control. You sample yogurt flavors till you find what you want, then get as much as you want, put whatever you want on it, and the cost is based on weight per ounce. Raphael explains that what makes their selection so different though is their choice in manufactures. "Most [frozen yogurt] stores use one manufacturer for their entire selection, we use over six; since each manufacturer makes all the flavors, and we picked the best from each one. We also make some of our own by hand."

Each location is different, representing the communities they are in with local artist’s work featured on the walls. The floors, counters, tables and chairs are all unique with spur of the moment furniture choices made by each owner, rather than the cookie-cutter approach other franchises use. Customers regularly come from as far away as North County to enjoy Fiji’s most popular flavors, tart taro and funfetti.

With an emphasis on environmental friendliness the stores use low-energy lighting, they recycle the water that is used in the machines as coolant, and all their containers are made of 100% recycled paper. Fiji Yogurt has a promising future, as they expand the franchise to other counties and prepare to start selling smoothies and shakes made from fruit and frozen yogurt.

Donating free yogurt at community events like Pride and the Blood Bank Mobile along with schools and hospitals, Fiji Yogurt continues to grow in popularity. With Rafael’s creativity and artistic designs helping to mold and standardize Kyle’s idea, the small group of friends, all under 25 years of age, defy the market’s recession with their success.

Fiji Yogurts recipe for success is a simple philosophy; a better product, cheaper prices, and better customer service while letting the customer choose what they want. That is what sets Fiji Yogurt apart from the competition. The entrepreneurial spirit has not died with the economy, but continues in this younger generation of self-made men as they write the next chapter of the American dream.