Yophoric Self-Serve Yogurt Opens in Chester

Shawn Rice, one of the managers/co-owners of the self-serve frozen yogurt spot Yophoric in Chester, always wanted to be an ice cream man. The only problem is that Rice is lactose intolerant.

"Isn't that funny? I am actually in pain a lot of the time because I love it so much," Rice said. "But I can't stop eating it because its so good."

Shawn Rice, along with his mother Ellen, father Wayne and sisters Dawn and Stacy opened Yophoric as a labor of love for their family. But it wasn't always a slam-dunk.

"I wanted to be an ice cream man but everyone in my family wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or something," Rice said. "But then a few years ago my father wanted to open up a business and sort of be his own boss."

Rice had seen successful self-serve yogurt places on a sojourn to Hawaii and was able to sell his father on it.

"My mother wanted nothing to do with it at first," Rice said. "But now she loves it."

Yophoric is hard to categorize. The long room is brightly lit and is adorned with couches and small tables like a cafe. The tables have Ipads attached like lamps for patrons to use and two large televisions are on the walls for customers to watch while they eat.

Past the sizable toppings counter is an overwhelming bank of soft serve machines with flavors like pumpkin, chocolate chip, strawberry, vanilla, peanut butter, coconut and many more.

Flavors sit two to a three lever machine and the center lever swirls the flavors.

"We keep the standards in stock like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry but we have new flavors coming in all the time," Rice said. "We are waiting on apple pie now for the fall."

Once a customer has their yogurt in their cup, it is on to the toppings bar.

"My personal favorite is chocolate chip yogurt with chocolate chip cookie dough bites, cake cone pieces and hot fudge swirled in," Rice said. "But people also really like the Eurotart because it is healthier. They say it is good for people on Weight Watchers and it goes really well with our fresh fruit."

Fruit, cookie dough, candy, crackers, cookies are a fraction of what is on the topping bar.

"I'm crazy about the toppings because I order them," Rice said. "So I am happy when customers tell me they like them and I am obsessed with keeping them fresh."

Once their cup is loaded, it is weighed for purchase and then enjoyed out in the cafe style setting.

"We wanted it to be homey. My mother did all of the decorating with my sisters," Rice said.

While Yophoric does have an inviting atmosphere, it is hard to miss the slight smell of cleansers in the air.

"We are very serious about cleaning," Rice said. "We scrub the place down for two hours after closing every night and I am really mindful of cross-contamination. We are always cleaning throughout the day."

Rice has a nephew with peanut allergies, so he is very aware to warn customers of what is in his products.

"We have no sugar added for diabetics and lactose free sorbet for those with issues there and the majority of our products are low fat or fat free," Rice said. "But those with peanut allergies we tell them not to touch the topping bar. We let them go in the back and take toppings directly from the box where they can read the labels."

Rice said he and his family couldn't be more pleased with their location Chester.

"We live in Flanders so this is nice and close. And Chester manages to have a great mix of small town quality and enough going on with festivals and fairs that it was just the right blend," Rice said. "And the customers have really been so kind and complimentary. I love hearing feedback, so it has been great."