The opening of Lola’s Frozen Yogurt downtown provides customers with another local choice of a treat.
Julie Skeldon, daughter of owner Lolly Skeldon, is the store vice president. Together, the duo has expanded their business to multiple locations, with their newest addition located downtown on South Main Street, which opened March 17. The store is open Monday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Skelton said.
“We have a lot of customers that go to Perrysburg and it was the smartest business decision we could make,” she said. “We were going to go north, but with so many of our customers based here, we decided going south was better.”
Pinkberry, a well-known frozen yogurt store located on campus, has set prices for their yogurt. Lola’s is a self-serving restaurant and their prices are determined by weight. It offers 10 flavors at a time with the ability to mix and match.
The process consists of: customers walking in, grabbing either a 24 or 32 ounce cup, getting as much frozen yogurt and toppings as they please, and at 43 cents an ounce, the weight determines the final price.
“We have over 95 toppings,” Skeldon said. “We really wanted to have a huge fruit selection. Typically on hand, we’ll have anywhere between 36 fruit toppings. We try to stay really healthy, but you have to still have chocolate.”
Lola’s uses non-fat or low-fat milk for their yogurt, Skeldon said. As opposed to ice cream, which is typically made from heavy cream, frozen yogurt is low in fat and calories.
Graduate Assistant Sarah Dewitt said she first heard about Lola’s from a friend in her program before the business opened their new store.
“I really like it, I like the number of options and all of the fruit and granola toppings,” Dewitt said. “I like the plain, original flavor. I put a lot of fruit and usually some brownie bites on it to spice it up.”
Each machine has two flavors on either side, with the ability to mix both in the middle. Carried on from their Perrysburg location because of popularity, Weightwatcher points and calorie counts are written next to the flavors, Skeldon said.
Sophomore Chase Leedy went to Lola’s for the first time a couple weeks ago. What he likes about Lola’s is the size of the cups and amount of toppings available. Leedy said he will probably be going back to Lola’s over Pinkberry because of the price.
“I think you get more for your buck at Lola’s,” Leedy said.
While Lola’s has only had their doors open for a month, the store is planning on having a variety of other options besides yogurt. An alternative or addition to yogurt available is bubble tea, a drink with a milk, green tea or black tea base with the option of adding tapioca balls called “boba.”
“We will have a little kiosk where you can actually just do it yourself,” Skeldon said. “We’re going to experiment with bubble tea and frozen yogurt together.”
The store is planning a grand opening in the summer as well as events and activities for that week. By the end of the year, Lola’s hopes to have another shop open, Skeldon said.
“We’re really fortunate and grateful,” Skeldon said.
