Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to YoLo, I Go!

Status Updates = The New Beach Airplane Message?

If you are at like me and you spend any time on Facebook, then you would have noticed a few months ago that a group of locals was planning on opening two self-serve frozen yogurt shops in our humble city. If you are at all like me, you spent the rest of the summer wishing that 1. it wasn’t so hot all the time and 2. that YoLo would open up.  Well their Collierville location opened a few weeks ago, and I just couldn’t make it all the way out there, so I was patiently waiting for the word on Facebook that came up on my news feed on Friday afternoon:

PASSED INSPECTIONS! Now getting the Erin Way shop ready to open tonight… we’ll open as soon as we can – shooting for 6pm.

So, K and I made plans to stop in after we went out to enjoy the potluck delights of cucumber sandwiches, cupcakes, mini lemon pies, homemade cheese straws, barbecue and all the other awesome stuff that our friends brought to the show. After successful razzing and jazzing, we made our way back East to try it out!

A Modern Choose Your Own Adventure

When I was little (oh yes, the dreaded when I was little story!), I got my hands on a couple of adventure books that had options at the end of the chapters like:

1. Go to the basement (turn to p. 54)
2. Go into the kitchen (turn to p. 35)
3. Throw a Molotov Cocktail through the dining room window (just kidding!).

So, I guess this was what youngins did before they (we) started playing video games. But, enough digression, one of the many cool things about YoLo is the choose your own adventure style of dessert building. “So let me get this straight? You’re putting me in charge of my yogurt destiny? I’m all over this like Johnny Utah and surfing.”

Here are the steps: 1. Get cup. 2. Fill it up. You start with 10 flavors of yogurt, and you can make swirls from the ones that are paired up. You can put as many types of yogurt in your cup as you want. You can make the proverbial “suicide” of yogurt that hearkens back to the days of youth soccer teams getting crazy at the Pizza Hut buffet drink fountain (come on, you remember).  They had some great flavors like California Tart (which I’ll get next time), chocolate, vanilla bean, and a series of fruit flavors. I put a little of each of the pomegranate, coconut, and mango into my cup.

Next, you get to navigate through the hundred or so toppings that they have on offer. One of my favorite parts of the topping stations is that the folks at YoLo have gone out around the city to bring us a number of local toppings, so you can find Makeda’s sugar cookies, Jones Orchard peaches, and Groovy Granola among others.

My Creation

Much like my main man Mean Gene Wilder, I was psyched to get up in there and make something new, something of my own. While he focused on bringing life where it hadn’t been before, I was a little more interested in making a hella-awesome dessert.

So, I said that I started with a combo of coconut, mango, and pomegranate yogurts. Then I got into the toppings below, which are two of my favorites.

I am a major, major fan of Groovy Granola’s chocolate Dark Star Granola and of Jones Orchard peaches. I don’t even know if I have eaten a peach that wasn’t grown on their farm this summer. Add those to YoLo’s awesome yogurts, and we are in business!

More than a Tasty Treat

This is my favorite part of the whole YoLo experience. While K and I were hanging out, I saw Taylor Berger, who put this whole thing together with a business partner, some family labor, some friends’ expertise, and a whole lot of hard work. This lawyer is kind of like Memphis’ resident sweets superman. When he takes off his tie and leaves the law firm, he takes on his not-so-secret identity of yogurt pioneer. As a lifelong Memphian, Taylor is just the kind of guy that we should support. After talking for a while, here are a couple of things that are worth our attention.

• The Family Lynx – Taylor and his fiance are both Rhodes grads. I met Alison working in the shop, and it was clear that she’s been putting in some serious work to make this thing get off the ground. I met Taylor’s father, a local architect and Rhodes grad, and he was behind the design of the shop.
• Local Tastes Better - Like I mentioned, Taylor and co. have worked hard to bring local goodies from all over Memphis to their topping bar, and it really pays off for a unique experience. I mean, you can get a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup anywhere (including YoLo if you want), but where else are you going to get locally made cookies, brownies, and fruit?

Basically, what I’m saying is that you should head out to Collierville or Erin Way on Poplar near Mendenhall for your next yogurt adventure. It is a fun place, the food is great, and they have great people that are worthy of our support. See you there!

-Thomas

PS. Also – high props for a great designed logo. Local is better!