Meet Natasha Nelson of Yogurtini — Natasha and her popular and creative company are based in Southern California, the perfect location for an entrepreneur who best describes herself as “a true beach girl” and who is constantly inspired by the youthful and creative culture of the south west’s famous beaches.
Natasha is one of the most inspiring female entrepreneurs we have ever interviewed at RetireAt21.com.
You founded self-serving frozen yogurt company Yogurtini — what drew you to this unusual niche market?
My sister and I have been frozen yogurt fanatics since we were kids. We were both living in CA but in different cities, we were always visiting different yogurt shops and texting each other when we would find a new flavor we liked. When we would return home to Arizona to visit family and friends we were not satisfied with the choices we had. We had the same idea at the same time, which we often do. So, I wrote up a business plan, we started researching, became yogurt experts after a year and Yogurtini was launched.
Yogurtini is expanding across the U.S. — with a healthy profit. What has allowed you to grow so quickly in such a short space of time?
We were surprised how quickly we were profitable. It always comes down to having the best yogurt in town, we hear it over and over. After 944 Magazine readers voted us “Best place to chill”, College Affair voted us “Best Sweet Spot” and we were nominated in The Phoenix New Times for “Best Frozen Yogurt” we knew we had hit the mark. Our reputation was spreading like wildfire and within a few months we had many offers from investors who saw potential in our business and people asking about franchising. After about 9 months of going through the franchise registration process we have hit the ground running.
What next for Yogurtini? Where do you see the business in say 5 years time?
Our franchising program has started off so well I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see us with 100-300 stores in the next five years nationally. We have the team, inspiration and personal drive to make this happen.What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Personally, a prayer my father gave me during a hard time about accepting things I cannot change and changing the things I can. I believe it is called the serenity prayer.
Photo by Yogurtini.