How a Self-Serve Frozen Treats Shop Stayed Afloat During the Pandemic
Being a part of an industry that relies on hot summer sales is hard enough without a global pandemic hindering them in what should be their busiest time of the year. It is no secret that COVID-19 has been hard on all businesses, but food service took a big hit that no one could have anticipated. Business owners were forced to adapt and change protocols just to stay afloat and Tutti Frutti in Rosenberg was no exception.
As a franchise that relies solely on self-service, they had to completely rework their day-to-day operations. Some machines are marked with out-of-order signs to space them out more than usual. There are social distancing signs on the floor marked where you can safely stand if more than 1 person is in the store and several other standards were put in place to do all they can to keep their customers and workers safe. The store closed for a short time to re-train staff and find the best way to continue new practices that they could possibly keep long term.
“We took a lot of cues from the stores in Texas as far as contactless service, ” said Randy Olivares the general manager of the Tutti Frutti chain, which is based in California. He sadly said that many stores weren't able to recover but, he was very impressed with the different ways the stores were changing things to stay open safely.
While many stores have sadly closed during this time many have been able to operate through to-go only or by introducing new standards such as plexiglass barriers and required masks. In addition, signs were placed throughout the store to inform customers of the new ways to get your frozen yogurt.
Owner and manager Tam Luu said she closed the shop while she tried to figure out how to operate during a pandemic. The first thing she cared about was her employees. She gave everyone the choice that if they were comfortable still working there they could, and then figured out a schedule after that. They started practicing the new standards while being open for to-go only such as installing plexiglass by the registers to protect the employees and customers. Mandatory mask signs were put up and they even began to offer masks to sell to customers.
Their toppings bar is usually self-serve with the spoons staying in the same toppings all day and being washed nightly. This was obviously a problem, so they have a clean spoon bucket for customers to scoop out their toppings, and then a dirty bucket to put it in once they are done. This means that spoons are washed much more frequently, and you are always guaranteed an untouched spoon when getting your toppings. Toppings containers are switched out frequently and washed daily to try to prevent any spread.
With such a small storefront their dine-in has always been a bit of a space problem and with social distancing, it cuts that space down even more. The plus side to this is that fro-yo is portable and very to-go friendly, unlike the offerings at larger restaurants. Smaller businesses have always had to adapt more than bigger businesses due to them having fewer resources. Many small businesses during this time have shown their resilience by staying open and even helping out other small businesses. There are even Facebook groups that highlight and encourage people to go to small businesses to try and keep them in business.
Rosenberg’s Tutti Frutti has managed to stay open so far and hopefully will continue to thrive under better circumstances. But only time will tell.
