SALT LAKE CITY, UT--(Marketwire - June 8, 2010) - TCBY, the Country's Best Yogurt, is proud of its legacy in bringing frozen yogurt to mainstream America with its proprietary flavors, great taste and healthier for you frozen treat offerings. Today, TCBY looks forward, not back on history, excited to take a giant step into a future it believes will prove fruitful for the industry's largest frozen yogurt company. Featuring a refreshing modern store design and a self-serve model, the soon-to-be 30-year-old pioneer is looking vibrant and relevant with its new prototype served with a simple, yet contemporary new brand identity.
Offering a pre-opening peek at its prototype and new brand identity, TCBY is showing the industry, future franchisees and consumers its high expectations for the new store prototype by opening its first corporate store with the new look and self-serve model. Anticipating a July opening in its hometown of Salt Lake City, TCBY expects its core customer and existing franchisees to respond favorably across the country. More important, it's looking to expand its appeal to a broader consumer base as well as increase franchisee interest in hopes of generating a record year for franchise sales.
"We feel like the tone of the experience, energy, and choice self-serve offers the consumer is not only a dramatic departure from our current experience, but a departure from the category as a whole," says Timothy Casey, CEO of TCBY. "Today's announcement is the culmination of tremendous strategy, research and creative execution by our internal team and agency, StruckAxiom, to bring this trifecta -- concept, design, and brand identity -- to a realization. More important, it's symbolic of the new TCBY, a pioneer ready to infuse and lead the movement around a growing frozen yogurt category. Today is one of many steps in that direction."
Self-Serve Prototype
TCBY believes its size and infrastructure give it a competitive advantage to scale the new prototype aggressively as demand grows. According to VDC Research, TCBY enters the market during a growth spurt where investment in self-serve solutions is expected to grow from $3.2 billion to $5.8 billion by 2013. Possibly more relevant is a post-recessionary culture that is embracing the independence and convenience of a Do-It-Yourself mentality that's playing an important role in the economy's financial recovery, particularly for the retail and restaurant industries.
Store Design
With a distinct color palette and welcoming social lounge, the new store design boasts a clean, progressive personality with smart functionality for both consumers and employees. Mindful of the concept's vision, TCBY has created a self-serve customer experience that is both accessible and attractive. Upon entering the store, customers are greeted by 10 to 16 soft-serve flavors boasting 98 percent fat free and sugar free frozen yogurt and sorbet options. After choosing their favorite flavors, guests approach an extensive toppings bar brimming with fresh fruit, granola, and a variety of dry and hot toppings to finalize their creation. Pricing is done by weight at $.39 per ounce.
Brand Identity
TCBY tapped Salt Lake City-based StruckAxiom to develop an innovative prototype design, which the company feels will be relevant for many years to come. To accompany the contemporary store design, it seemed only fitting to refresh the brand identity throughout the store experience.
TCBY requested a simple, yet empowering logo that would remain a recognizable, iconic depiction of the company's trademark acronym. Along with Foster Research & Consulting, StruckAxiom conducted focus groups on TCBY's behalf to gauge consumer sentiment on the refreshed logo. Consumers felt the new logo and identity were clean and simple, and spoke to freshness, health and relevancy. TCBY will incorporate variations of the updated logo on in-store and outdoor signage, packaging, employee uniforms and marketing collateral.
"From conception to roll out, TCBY has empowered us to explore boundaries and blend art with commerce while creating an experience that will resonate with existing and new customers," says Brent Watts, Executive Creative Director at StruckAxiom. "It's ok if customers walk into the new store and recognize, 'this is not your parent's TCBY.' It's designed to be cross generational."
Contact Information:
Media Contact:
Christy Olliff
Trevelino/Keller Communications Group
colliff@trevelinokeller.com
404-214-0722 ext. 117