Freezing temperatures are freezing the business at a new Evanston frozen yogurt shop.
At Red Mango in downtown Evanston, manager Halid Mohammed said fewer people are walking through the doors to buy their frozen yogurt – so few that December profits were 55 percent lower than during the summer, when lines often stretched out the door of the store at 809 Davis St.
“It’s really slow now,” Mohammed said. “When it’s snowing, nobody shows up.”
The time between mid-December and early January, when students were away on break, was the slowest point for the business, Mohammed said. He estimated about 90 percent of customers are students. The student-driven customer base, combined with cold weather, is the reason for the extreme profit decline, he said.
To combat the profit loss, the staff of Red Mango has been downsized and the hours have changed. The size of the staff has gone from 25 workers to eight, and the store now closes an hour earlier, at 10 p.m.
Even though business has slowed, it hasn’t stopped. Some loyal customers said they come back despite the cold.
Cliff Darnall entered the store Sunday afternoon with his wife, Hiroko, and daughter Ashley.
“My daughter has always loved iced cream,” he said.
Darnall explained that his daughter, a Weinberg freshman, especially liked Red Mango’s frozen yogurt. That’s why they decided to stop at the frozen yogurt shop for dessert after dining elsewhere in Evanston, he said.
“It’s a winter day, but it’s a pick-you-upper,” he said.
Hiroko Darnell said she liked the shop because it offered a healthy alternative to most other desserts. A half-cup serving of Red Mango’s original and green tea yogurts each contains 90 calories and no fat.
To keep Red Mango alive, Mohammed said the store needs to sell a lot of product during the summer, fall and spring months. Keeping profits up during warmer seasons would allow the store to keep operating during the winter.
“You use the money you make in the summer to stay open,” he said.
The shop, which opened in June, has already lasted longer than some other specialty food shops in Evanston, namely Cereality Cereal Bar and Cafe, which lasted only six months before closing its doors in May 2007.
But Mohammed said he doesn’t think Red Mango would be leaving its storefront in downtown Evanston for a while, provided business heats up with the weather.
