Ice Cream News
Fro-yo and soft-serve chain 16 Handles targets Texas with debut in Frisco
16 Handles soft-serve
A New York frozen-yogurt chain is expanding into Texas in a big way: Called 16 Handles, it's a self-serve frozen yogurt and soft serve shop with plans to open six stores throughout Dallas, Houston, and Austin in spring 2024.
So far, Houston and Austin are still in the planning stage, but Dallas has a location with a lease signed: 15922 Eldorado Pkwy. #500 in Frisco, in a former mail-and-print shop next door to Chicago Avenue Hot Dogs, making for a convenient one-two visit where you get a hot dog and follow up with a fro-yo.
16 Handles opened its first store in Manhattan’s East Village in 2008, becoming the first self-serve frozen yogurt shop in New York City. Since then, the brand has expanded to more than 30 locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Florida, with many many "coming soon" locations penciled in as well.
Their menu is diverse with not just frozen yogurt, but also ice cream, vegan soft serve and the accompanying toppings.
There are 16 flavors such as birthday cake, butter pecan, bubblegum, cake batter, and eggnog. The vegan soft-serve is from Oatly, and includes flavors such as banana, caramel apple, and chai tea. There are 50-plus toppings and sauces, plus other frozen novelties such as cakes, cookie dough, and take-home pints.
Frozen yogurt somewhat peaked a few years ago but Yogurtland, the pioneering self-serve fro-yo chain founded in Fullerton, California in 2006, has remained successful with 250 locations around the world, including more than a dozen across Texas, nine in Dallas-Fort Worth, which has a long history with frozen yogurt dating back to the '80s.
16 Handles' largest franchisee, Neil Hershman, acquired the chain and became CEO in 2022, then teamed up with celebrity YouTuber Danny Duncan as an investor.
"We are eager to go big in Texas, and I’m ecstatic that we have had the opportunity to team up with experienced local business owners who are passionate about bringing the best dessert to their communities," Hershman says in a statement. "16 Handles is focused on scaling at the right time in the right way and bringing a lot of excitement around frozen yogurt and soft serve."
The brand has signed franchise agreements throughout the state including Magnolia, Missouri City, Austin, and Richmond. In Frisco, that's husband-and-wife Sachin and Aparna Deshpande, who have a background in tech/IT and accounting.
