The former Twister’z location at 8308 Staples Mill Road. (Photo by Michael Schwartz)
The Richmond fro-yo war has claimed a casualty.
Twister’z Premium Frozen Yogurt at 8308 Staples Mill Road shut its doors last month. Co-owner Filippo Giambanco, 28, said a lack of business prompted the closure.
“There’s too much competition for yogurt. The yogurt business has just expanded ridiculously,” Giambanco said. “It’s not the kind of thing where someone is going to go every day to eat, and when you have 20 different locations, it’s tough to compete.”
Salvatore Mannino, left, his son and Filippo Giambanco
Giambanco and his partner Salvatore Mannino own another Twister’z in Tappahannock, which they opened in May 2012. The pair opened the Richmond location about a year ago, a couple of doors down from their family’s Roma Ristorante Italiano.
Business was steady to start, Giambanco said, but things slowed down and the store closed for winter. Sales didn’t pick up when Twister’z reopened for spring. By summer, the partners decided to cut their losses. Giambanco said he and Mannino put $180,000 into the business.
Twister’z opened amid a frozen yogurt boom that saw Sweet Frog, Bobalicious, Yapple and others looking to capitalize on the trend in Richmond.
Larger out-of-town chains jumped in the market, including TCBY and Menchie’s. And smaller brands such as Goin’ Bananas, Beriberry and Zinga have tested the waters.
Sweet Frog has 10 locations in the Richmond area. That includes a store less than two miles from Twister’z that opened around the same time.
Bobalicious has three local shops but closed its VCU area location this spring. Yapple has shops in Carytown and at Willow Lawn.
Giambanco says the Tappahannock Twister’z will remain open, but he’s happy to have a fallback plan in the family business.
“You live and you learn,” he said. “We’ll stick with what we know – the restaurant business.”
The former Twister’z location at 8308 Staples Mill Road. (Photo by Michael Schwartz)
The Richmond fro-yo war has claimed a casualty.
Twister’z Premium Frozen Yogurt at 8308 Staples Mill Road shut its doors last month. Co-owner Filippo Giambanco, 28, said a lack of business prompted the closure.
“There’s too much competition for yogurt. The yogurt business has just expanded ridiculously,” Giambanco said. “It’s not the kind of thing where someone is going to go every day to eat, and when you have 20 different locations, it’s tough to compete.”
Salvatore Mannino, left, his son and Filippo Giambanco
Giambanco and his partner Salvatore Mannino own another Twister’z in Tappahannock, which they opened in May 2012. The pair opened the Richmond location about a year ago, a couple of doors down from their family’s Roma Ristorante Italiano.
Business was steady to start, Giambanco said, but things slowed down and the store closed for winter. Sales didn’t pick up when Twister’z reopened for spring. By summer, the partners decided to cut their losses. Giambanco said he and Mannino put $180,000 into the business.
Twister’z opened amid a frozen yogurt boom that saw Sweet Frog, Bobalicious, Yapple and others looking to capitalize on the trend in Richmond.
Larger out-of-town chains jumped in the market, including TCBY and Menchie’s. And smaller brands such as Goin’ Bananas, Beriberry and Zinga have tested the waters.
Sweet Frog has 10 locations in the Richmond area. That includes a store less than two miles from Twister’z that opened around the same time.
Bobalicious has three local shops but closed its VCU area location this spring. Yapple has shops in Carytown and at Willow Lawn.
Giambanco says the Tappahannock Twister’z will remain open, but he’s happy to have a fallback plan in the family business.
“You live and you learn,” he said. “We’ll stick with what we know – the restaurant business.”
Probably not the last casualty in this market
+1. Frozen yogurt is a nice change of pace, but the market can only support so many locations. I expect the thinning of the herd has just begun.
I think a lot more will be closing soon. I don’t get the Sweat Frog craze – their yogurt is so icy and watered down to keep costs down. There are 2 places I’ve tried in the West End that I liked – Menchie’s by Anokha and a place in West Broad Village. Both of these had more of a frozen custard taste than ice milk. Red Apple bit the dust a few months ago and didn’t survive a year.
The owners of Twister’z, in my opinion, made two errors as follows:
1. Market research: Sweet Frogs was in a far superior location with name recognition and an excellent marketing strategy and
2. You can’t close for the winter when your competition remains open. All you do is send business to your competition, and obviously the customers didn’t come back.
I wonder when the Carytown situation plays out. I often think about this while walking past the two yogurt shops while licking my ice cream cone from Bev’s
I will stick with Gelati Celeste for my dairy treat needs in that part of town.
What hurt them they closed for the winter. I went there with my son after his Little Gym next door but a sign said closed for the winter. I did not go back after that.
At least they admitted they made a mistake. Yes, there will be lots more closings over the next year. Why? Too many places and not enough taste – most of these places, as pointed out above, really aren’t very good. They are a candy shop disguised as a frozen treat place.