Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Business
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Lincoln Avenue may get an ice cream headache this summer By William Jeske Summer officially began a couple weeks ago, and three Willow Glen businesses are waging a Cold War on Lincoln Avenue to take advantage of it. The competitiveness between chain vendors - owned by parent companies with deep pockets - and independent business owners is already broiling, so when it comes to whipping up strategies to cool down Lincoln Avenue pedestrians, somebody's going to get creamed. Chris Carris, owner of the Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company, installed a small freezer in late June. He said he decided to offer ice cream when the Dolce Spazio Gelato closed and the Baskin-Robbins on Willow Street was in ownership transition. Though Carris can choose from up to 12 flavors from his supplier, Armani's Ice Cream in San Jose, his small freezer only allows him to offer seven flavors at a time. "My main business is coffee," Carris said. "I'm mainly selling ice cream as a supplement to the pastries." A sound business strategy, since the nearby Baskin-Robbins reopened under new ownership a few weeks ago. "There's plenty of room for everybody. I'm just glad I'm on this side of the corner," Carris said, referring to his coffee shop's location a quarter-mile away from Lincoln Avenue and Willow Street. It's at the corner of those two streets that Jeff Mullen opened the Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt Company on May 26. "I saw an opportunity," Mullen said. "I wanted to work for myself. I did want to get out of the corporate world. And this is a really good community. When I did the research, there were no ice cream shops and no yogurt shops on Lincoln Avenue. That was September of last year. And I felt like - with the combination of the demographics and the fact that there were no other dessert places around - this would be a good place to have a shop." The corporate world, however, is just where partners-in-scooping Michael Levine and David Belardi want to be. They just reopened the Baskin-Robbins on Willow Street. "I wanted a successful business," Levine said. "Baskin-Robbins' been around for 47 years. So, to open a business under your own name is tough." Maybe so, but for Mullen, a brand name wasn't the way to go. "I really wanted to get away from a chain name, you know, like a yuppie yogurt. "It was important to me that people understood that we were going to focus on the product and getting it as good as we possibly could," Mullen said. "In other words, if you went to get a cup of coffee, would you go to a roasting company or would you go to Bill's Coffee Shop? To get a good cup of coffee, you'd go to a roasting company. That's how I see it. Apparently, that's how the executives at Baskin-Robbins headquarters see it, too. Levine said that under company orders, he will need to purchase a coffee machine from his own store's profits and be ready to serve brewed beverages in the fall. Baskin-Robbins serves ice cream and yogurt. But Levine isn't concerned about other businesses. "I'm not worried about those cutesy-wutesy independent businesses. They don't have the selection to compete with us," Levine said. "Besides, a lot of our business is in special orders for cakes." Levine stresses. "Cake's the most profitable part of this business. In a way, we're more like a bakery." In order to operate a Baskin-Robbins, Belardi underwent a six-week training course: five weeks in Southern California and one in Boston. The course involved training in managing, supervising, janitorial duties and, most important, cake decorating. "It's affected business a little bit," Mullen said of the Baskin-Robbins reopening. Right now, Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt Company can only serve four flavors at a time, two of which are always chocolate and vanilla. But Mullen says that in a couple of months he'll be able to provide six flavors at a time, when PG&E provides more power to the small shop. More power, Mullen claims, will also allow for more products, "where you can make your own yogurt. You'll pick a fruit flavor, a type of candy or candy bar, and then add plain yogurt. And you grind it all together. We're just not there yet." He may not need to be there yet, he claims. "There's been a strong following for yogurt," Mullen said. "After we opened, I'd say about every third customer thanked me for putting a yogurt shop here." |
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