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RECIPE OF THE MONTH - JULY 2001

RECIPES OF THE MONTH
Hogi Yogi/Teriyaki Stix
SHERBET BLAST
 
CALIFORNIA ROLL
   

Cooling Down at Hogi Yogi

It’s too hot to cook. Cold, icy drinks taste good, and ice cream, sherbet and yogurt are good ways to cool down from the inside out. What do you do? Head to Hogi Yogi where you can be as creative as you like in concocting a cool sensation out of ice cream, yogurt or sherbet. If you can’t decide on your own, no doubt owner Carter Frank can give you some good advice.

Carter has years of experience at serving people. He grew up in Salt Lake amidst a family involved the hotel and restaurant business. He started learning the business as a child when he was put to work in the family businesses. Today, he’s the only one left in the food service industry, but he is completely content with his life’s work.

Carter moved to Moab in 1995 to open the Hogi Yogi franchise. He thought Moab was a good business location and a good place to live.

“I was right on both counts,” he says. “Moab has been very good to me as a business place and I love living here.”

Carter says he feels especially fortunate because of the all the local support he gets. “I feel really thankful that I have so many local customers who come back day after day.”

In return, Carter does whatever he can to support the community. “It’s nice to be a part of a small community. It’s part of what’s so great about living in Moab,” he says.

In 1999, Carter expanded his business to include Teriyaki Stix. “The two restaurants really complement each other,” he says. “In the summer time people want fast, cool foods, so they come to the Hogi Yogi side for a sandwich. On rainy, cooler summer days, and in the fall and winter, they come to Teriyaki Stix for a hot bowl of food. The two restaurants really balance each other out. It’s just about perfect.”

All of his 20 employees are trained on both sides of the restaurant and he rotates them so they have opportunity to work at Teriyaki Stix and Hogi Yogi. Managing the two businesses is easy because they are on the same property.

“I can share advertising and labor costs, so it’s very cost-effective,” Carter explains.

Of course, those are details that are in the background of a restaurant. What most people see – and really care about – is the food. His customers buy more turkey sandwiches than any other sandwich, but he was hard pressed to come up with a bestseller in the yogurt combinations.

“There are so many combinations. We have chocolate yogurt and vanilla yogurt. Then you can add cookies, candy bars, fruit, nuts, marshmallows….anything you want.”

The most unusual yogurt combination he ever made was vanilla yogurt and olives. He was able to accommodate his customer because he served sandwiches and yogurt and had the olives handy. He’s only sold one of those, however.

“Probably our most popular blend is cheesecake flavors. Cream cheese, graham crackers and fruit. Blueberry cheesecake is a big one.”

He likes to see people experiment with different combinations and says they are usually surprisingly good. One local customer favors vanilla yogurt, blackberries and Snickers bars.

Beginning July 1, Hogi Yogi will be offering Sherbet Blasts. These delightful coolers combine yogurt, sherbet and fresh fruit. What a great way to start the day! And your day can start pretty early at Hogi Yogi. The restaurant opens at 10:00 a.m., but there’s always someone there by 8:00 a.m.

“We’re happy to take care of anyone as soon as we’re in the store. It’s usually just folks stopping in for cold drinks or smoothies that early in the morning, but if visitors to Moab are setting out for a day in the parks and they want sandwiches to go, we’ll make them and send them on their way.”

At Hogi Yogi, they aim to please — whether they see you every day or only once in a lifetime.
Hogi Yogi is located at 396 S. Main. They are open daily from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. For more information or to place an order, call 259-2656 and be sure to mention you read about it in the Moab Happenings.

© 2001 Moab Happenings. All rights reserved. Reproduction of information contained in this site is expressly prohibited.

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