Phillip Chang stepped down as chief executive of Irvine-based Yogurtland Franchising Inc. at the end of last year, but he’s not slowing down.
The only thing that’s different these days is his focus, which has shifted from running a frozen yogurt empire to helping others.
“It is a really big turning point for me,” Chang said. “As a first-generation immigrant … that was all my focus—success, success, success—the American dream, that’s what I wanted to have. And when I got up there, I found I was so selfish. It was all about me, my family and the people around me. So now I want to go back, contribute my talent and finances. I want to give back to the community and especially those Christian missionaries that I’ve been supporting.”
Success is often defined as having money, fame and power, Chang, who was one of five recipients at the Business Journal’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards, said during his acceptance speech at the Hotel Irvine Jamboree Center on March 18 (see related stories, pages 1, 4, 6 and 8).
He invited guests at the award ceremony to use “money, fame and power” as tools to “reach out to others.”
“I hope a lot of people join me,” he said. “When you feel you’re successful, I think it’s about time to drop it and do something with a bigger meaning.”
And that’s the irony of the whole thing, he said.
“It’s like [if you’re an athlete], when you’re at the top, it’s the sweetest, and that’s why it’s the hardest to leave.”
Chang, 50, speaks from experience. When he left day-to-day leadership of the company, Yogurtland had 265 locations, and 100 more are currently in development.
Systemwide sales, which include franchises, added up to $150 million last year. The corporate share was $45 million.
Boba
The yogurt chain originated in 2006 as an addition to Chang’s Fullerton-based Boba Loca Inc. business.
“Boba tea was popular only within the Asian community,” he said. “I wanted to come up with something that the mainstream can accept, so I picked frozen yogurt.”
He made the yogurt portion of the lone boba drink shop “self-serve, pay-by-weight,” a model he saw at a salad bar in New York that gave the “customer full control.” He also provided fresh fruit as toppings, something he said no one else offered at the time.
Frozen yogurt, the supplement to his main line of business, took over sales after just a couple of months.
“Customer evangelists were bringing their friends and family and showing them how to do it,” Chang said. “They were doing all the marketing for me.”
He decided to focus only on yogurt sales and opened the first Yogurtland store in Irvine in 2007. The brand’s name was inspired by a popular Orange County destination.
“We were at Anaheim, Disneyland was a mile away, and we wanted to bring back childhood memories and joy,” Chang said. “With yogurt, you can have fun, running back and forth, putting on anything you want, all the candy. Or if you want to go for the health, get the tart and some fruit only.”
The store opened in May, and in June alone it made $200,000—annual revenue for an average yogurt shop, he said.
“We had 2,000 customers a day. My monthly goal of $80,000 was pretty ambitious, which adds up to yearly sales of almost $1 million,” Chang said. “First year, it had $2.4 million in revenue.”
Competition
The success snowballed from there but so did the competition.
“Copycats will happen,” he said. “I knew I had to compete, so I planned everything ahead. Any business is the same; (you have to preserve) that brand integrity. It’s so critical; you want to do your best. We were always a couple of years ahead of the game. We have always had enough … people that can handle an additional two years of growth. Our franchise support is also always in control. That’s why everybody sees each of our stores has good management and all (are) uniform.”
Chang was also prepared for the next stage of his life, in which he’ll support Christian missionaries full time.
It took him 2 ½ years to plan his exit strategy, he said.
Yogurtland is in the hands of its new chief executive, Huntley Castner, while Chang remains chairman, taking on “big-picture strategic planning.”
Chang is also “talking to foundations” and trying to “decide my exact role, where I can contribute the best,” he said, adding that he wants to bank on his strengths as an entrepreneur.
“I see my role more as a brain, as strategic planning and making an organization that can grow,” Chang said. “If I go to Africa, very, very deep in the forest, I can impact only one small town, but if I serve as a good administrator of that organization, then I can make a lot better planning and better support, and I can send a lot more people out there.”
Does he miss getting up and going to work every day?
“Yes, sometimes I miss it,” Chang said. “But I have big joy in doing this right now.”
