USF Grad Goes All in on FroYo

Ray Perez sprinkled crushed Butterfinger bits and Reese’s Puffs on his caramel sea salt gelato and topped the treat off with hot fudge.

Sometimes, he goes for the marshmallow cream sauce.

“Everyone goes crazy for that,” he said.

In May, the University of South Florida graduate opened Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt in Wesley Chapel with his aunt and uncle Connie and Bill Rogers. It’s a self-serve yogurt shop similar to others popping up in the area. You start with a bowl, choose your flavor, add your toppings, weigh your creation and pay by the ounce.

But Perez, who studied marketing and economics at USF, is hoping Happy Cow will stand out.

“We knew that we didn’t want to be a mom and pop frozen yogurt, so we wanted to create a brand,” the 25-year-old said.

That brand is centered on the store’s logo: a cow holding a cup of pink frozen yogurt.

The walls of the shop are painted in pinks and blues, and they’re accented by brown and white counters. The smell of fresh waffle bowls wafts through the shop, and the overhead speakers play upbeat songs old and new from artists like Taylor Swift and Jim Croce. The large flat screen TV near the entrance is tuned to the Disney Channel, and there’s free WiFi.

The idea is to appeal to everyone: families, college students, young couples and older adults.

“We’re creating an atmosphere,” Perez said. “We don’t want to neglect any demographic.”

He said he also hopes the shop’s customer service and the products themselves make Happy Cow stand out from the competition.

Happy Cow has eight machines and 16 rotating flavors of frozen yogurt, sorbet and soft serve gelato, which range from caramel sea salt and cappuccino to mixed berry and white chocolate truffle. There are also 60 different toppings.

Employees are expected to help customers get yogurt samples, keep tables clean and make sure customers have plenty of napkins.

The goal is to keep customers coming back and allow Happy Cow to open additional locations.

“We want to expand,” Perez said.

Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt is located in the Shoppes at New Tampa plaza at 1646 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. For more information, visit Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt online or on Facebook.

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