Frozen Yogurt Chain Gets Niles Touch

Unlike most chains, every Forever Yogurt shop tries to be a little different and reflect its surroundings, says co-founder Mandy Calera.

That's the reason the store, which opened last Friday in Village Crossing Shopping Center has images of Niles' Leaning Tower, which is just a few blocks to the west on Touhy Avenue. 

The chain's first store opened in the Chicago neighborhood of Wicker Park, followed by locations in Andersonville, Lakeview, Boystown and the Gold Coast, as well as St. Charles and Naperville. Next up: Evanston, Lincolnshire, Highland Park, Elmhurst, Oak Lawn, LaGrange and Schaumburg.

Calera, who manages operations while co-founder Ahmad Yilmaz handles marketing and branding, said they were able to do the ambitious rollout with the help of a Wall street group, which is also helping them expand on the East Coast.

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Calera said they liked Niles because they noticed there weren't many frozen yogurt shops in the area, and because the busy Village Crossing location was filled with tenants and customers, and draws patrons from Skokie, Niles and Chicago.

Niles franchisee was the chain's electrician

Uros Kisit, who owns the Niles shop as well as one soon to open at Clark and Diversey in Chicago, is an electrician, and did the electrical work on some of the earliest stores.

"I like the way they operate and do business," said, who lives in Norridge. "So I was just waiting for the right opportunity to invest. Since I shop a lot in Niles, a saw that this was a good location."

Yogurt has 10 times the probiotics

The Niles store offers 16 flavors on any given day, with flavors rotating seasonally. 

"We always have chocolate, vanilla, cake batter and original tart," Calera said.

The yogurt has 10 times the probiotics required to legally call it yogurt, he said. 

While some competitors use a powdered product, Calera said Forever Yogurt is kept frozen until it's ready to thaw and put into the self-serve machines, which he believes better preserves the probiotics.

Grand Opening is May 11

On the day of the grand opening, the store will award five people free yogurt for a year, and free yogurt for a day to five additional people.

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