New frogurt: Bloop plops down on Pantops
-
Charlottesville Bloop owners Eric Dalton and Brian Lambert plan on bringing some tasty fun to Pantops mountain.Dave McNair -
Bloop's brand of yogurt serving machines, complete with video displays where the name's of the flavors are listed.Dave McNair
Like a cool dollop of twisty soft-serve ice-cream falling slowly in circles from the machine as it shapes a mound on a crispy sweet cone, Charlottesville's newest self-serve frozen yogurt joint has settled down on Pantops mountain. Taking a cue from the success of self-serve yogurtery Sweet Frog, a budding franchise called Bloop Frozen Yogurt had a Grand Opening on Saturday, May 19.
"We're self-serve like Sweet Frog, but are much more focused on the health conscious side," says owner Eric Dalton. "We don't use syrups. If you get a strawberry frozen yogurt, its made with strawberries. And our yogurt features live, pro-biotic cultures."
Dalton, a Charlottesville resident, helped open the first of three Bloops in Lynchburg. Less than a year ago, he and his wife, Brittney, along with business partner Brian Lambert, started making plans to open their own Bloop in Charlottesville. They will also be opening another store in Greensboro, North Carolina. But they plan on making Charlottesville their home base.
The Daltons also hope to bring a charitable focus to their new brand. Having adopted four children themselves, they will be giving away free yogurt to area foster kids, and their "Cup 4 a Cup" initiative sends 5 cents to the Charity: water every time someone buys a cup of yogurt, which will help the non-profit provide clean drinking water in developing nations.
As a marketing pro, Dalton helped establish the franchise Panera Bread in Charlottesville, but this is the first time he's set out on his own.
Saturday's event, in that new and architecturally interesting development across from the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Luxor Commercial Center, was a fun family one. There was a bounce house and balloon guy there, prizes and games, and 20 lucky people had a chance to win free frozen yogurt for a year.
11 comments
Is it just me, or is "Bloop" a very unappetizing name for a fro-yogurt place? or for any food place, for that matter?
Thanks for the article. We were over at Darden Towe today and popped up to Pantops to check this place out. Super cute and very friendly staff. My daughter is a yogurt fiend and she said it was the best she has had. I highly recommend the wet walnuts!
@Corkie - I sort of agree on the name but is is catchy and when you see it in the shop - it works. Plus, kids on the soccer fields were actually yelling "Go to Bloop!" this afternoon.
They should call it Che bloop.
thanks for the article about this new charlottesville business. but you know what might have been helpful? the exact location. i suppose i could drive around pantops for an hour trying to figure out where exactly this joint is. but i'd rather not.
@MightHorse - last paragraph: " in that new and architecturally interesting development across from the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Luxor Commercial Center"
There is always the idea of using Google.
I'm not sure if the mention of an "architecturally interesting development" on Pantops was meant sarcastically or not, but someone looking for a place matching that description could easily get hopelessly lost.
The name of the shopping center suggests that anyone hoping to find it be on the look out for an Egyptian theme. Maybe the yogurt is near the sphinx?
"As a marketing pro" what was the marketing research behind the name "Bloop" really?
How many frozen yogurt does this place need? 2 Arches, 2 God frogs, this place, Ben & Jerrys and a few others already.
The Luxor is the dumbest name yet for a development here in my little town....It's be OK if you could play blackjack there, though....That would be sweet.
@ThomasK- maybe it was to make people question the name on a message board, thus spreading word-of-mouth advertising?
this place was AMAZING! We took our children on Saturday and went for a return visit on Sunday. The yogurt was really good and the staff was so friendly. The owner, Eric Dalton, came up to us and thanked us personally for coming in. Now THAT'S good customer service. We will be returning soon!
I am disappointed there are so many frozen yogurt options but not many ice cream options. Sweet Frogs replaced maggie moos, so I think that leaves Cville with only Ben and Jerry's and Chaps maybe? There is Kohr Bros but that kind of falls under the alternative category.