June 30, 2024

Stepping into an Endless Summer

Who would’ve thought that getting into the Frozen Greek Yogurt business would turn life into an eternal vacation? June was packed with a production run in Dallas, a Dairy Convention in Houston, a weekend in New Orleans and a trip to New York for the Fancy Foods Show.

As you may imagine, having to keep everything frozen on the road presents a unique set of challenges. Fortunately, people have been more than happy to clear out a bit of room in their freezers in anticipation of my arrival, especially when I leave behind a few pints. But when an ice chest loaded with TruJoy and dry ice clogged up the baggage scanner at Austin Bergstrom, the TSA agents were not quite so gracious. Yes, I was that guy who held up the line while TSA while they had to fish out a box of Frozen Greek Yogurt with a gaff. All’s well that ends well and this was certainly less humiliating than a full body pat down from TSA.

It’s only June, but it’s starting to feel like we are catching a wave to an endless summer!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

If you’ve been reading along, you have probably noticed that timelessness is a recurring them at TruJoy Yogurt. And what could be more timeless than the pairing of Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip? We believe in using Simple, Natural & Timeless Ingredients, so why wouldn’t we make flavors that are simply timeless too? Here is a bit about what makes our Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip so special!

We start by blending our Frozen Greek Yogurt Base with salted & roasted Peanut Butter. The salt in the peanut butter balances nicely with the tangy yogurt and roasted peanuts add depth. We then freeze the mixture and add Dark Chocolate Chunks as the mixture comes out of the freezer and into our funky orange pints. Our Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip truly is a multidimensional eating experience!

One of the most common compliments we receive is about the Chocolate Chips – people seem to love them! We tried over 20 different Chocolate Chips before we found one that met both our rigorous standards and tasted just right. Hard work, I know! You may be wondering what is so special about this chip? Aside from being made with premium cocoa, it has an extremely low melting point. This is because the Chip is made using Coconut Oil. The low melting point makes it extremely difficult to work with, it wants to melt at room temperature! But this low melting point is why you get to fully enjoy the richness of the chocolate, even in its frozen state!

Dreaming up New Flavors!

During our production run at the beginning of this month, we had some fun dreaming up new flavors. As TruJoy Yogurt continues to establish itself as an elevated frozen dessert brand, more of these dreams will come to life.  We finalized some recipes for flavors that we hope to release later this summer. But perhaps my favorite experiment was the ‘Anthony Orchard Special’ – Madagascar Vanilla Bean with Chocolate Covered Pecans. The pecans were grown and harvested by my grandfather, then enrobed in chocolate by my uncle and finally frozen into TruJoy Yogurts Madagascar Vanilla Bean.

And the most beautiful thing about these pints – everything would’ve gone to waste. The pecans were too small to be sold commercially and the Frozen Greek Yogurt was ‘bled off’ when we were priming the freezer. Let this be a little metaphor for life - even though the pieces may not perfect, with a little bit of love & creativity you can turn anything into something truly beautiful!

Launch with New@KeHE

A few months ago, we were accepted to the New@KeHE program which helps emerging brands grow their distribution with independent retailers. We officially launched with New@KeHE this month and it has been a tremendous success – All seven of our flavors are available to retailers across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. With this program, we have added a couple of dozen new independent stores in new and existing markets.

Serving new customers in rural areas where healthier options are limited is a priority at TruJoy Yogurt as we believe that accessibility to healthier options is critical to making the healthy choice easy. I am incredibly grateful for the work the team at KeHE have put in to help us reach these new customers. Not to mention the days of delivering TruJoy from a Toyota 4Runner (or calling on Mom…) are now over! Though I will miss stocking freezers and have fond memories of getting to know the people that work at the stores, I am excited to have more time now to work on growing our footprint.

We are now exploring opening new distribution centers with KeHE – updates to come, but hopefully soon you will be able to find our Frozen Greek Yogurt wherever your travels lead you!

Truly & Joyfully,

Charlie

The Lagniappe

At the Fancy Food Show, I was lucky enough stumble across the Seed + Mill booth, a New York based Tahini and Halva company. I use their Tahini almost daily at home for everything from Aubergine with Tahini Yogurt to Za’atar Pasta Salad. At the show, Seed + Mill had something new - Chocolate Sesame Sauce.

I had an extra pint of our Madagascar Vanilla Bean so I ran it up to the Seed + Mill booth and we drizzled it with some Chocolate Sesame Sauce. The Tahini in the sauce adds earthy depth and richness that is the yin to the sweet chocolate’s yang. It was no surprise that the Chocolate Sesame Sauce paired perfectly with our luxurious Frozen Greek Yogurt. I highly recommend upgrading your chocolate sauce game at home!

Seed + Mill’s Chocolate Sesame Sauce is a shining example of a product that makes the healthier choice the easy one by using nutritious and natural ingredients to make something that you can indulge with in lieu of the chocolate sauce we all grew up with. And the funny thing about eating products made with simple & premium ingredients… it tastes better!