What do sloths, serval kittens, armadillos, piglets, baby kangaroos, macaws and frozen yogurt have in common?
They’ll all be playing a part in the latest promotion FroYo Café and Sweets, 819 Canal St., is holding to market their brand at a city wide Scavenger Hunt on Sunday, December 13, 2015.
“Not only is this a great marketing event, but we get to support and bring awareness to the Barn Hill Preserve’s Macaw Rescue Program,” Katherine Sutton, operating partner of FroYo Café and Sweets, said. “This event is geared as an outreach to locals, to bring awareness to something in Louisiana. And this is a fun opportunity for the Barn Hill Preserve that conducts outreach all over the U.S. It’ll also be a great experience for tourists who sign up, because the Scavenger Hunt will help them learn all about the city.”
Sutton, a small business owner, said marketing often feels like a full time job. She said she spends at least 2 hours a day working on promotions. And while her FroYo shop is located in an enviable neck of the woods, near the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets, she still needs to find ways to track down customers.
“When tourists are in town we have a lot of business, but if the tourist traffic is light, business definitely goes down,” she said.
But on Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., registered Scavenger Hunt participants will horde the sweet shop and mingle with Barn Hill Preserve’s menagerie which will migrate all over the city to become part of the city wide hunt.
It costs $10 to sign up, and participants will score points at each stop the hunt takes them. Sutton wouldn’t let the cat out of the bag and divulge where the Scavenger Hunt leads, but she did share that more points can be earned by engaging in the contest’s social media component. Tagging locations and animals along the way will increase your chance of winning.
Prizes will include a 2 night stay at the Wyndham Hotel, a tour of Barn Hill Preserve in Ethel, LA, free Dominos pizza for a year, free smoothies and yogurt for a year, and a city sightseeing bus tour.
All proceeds from the hunt, and event T-shirts, will benefit the Barn Hill Preserve’s Macaw Rescue Program.
“I started with a passion for taking in owner-surrendered macaws to let them free-fly, so they have a forever home where they are cared for and loved,” Gabe Ligon, President and Founder of Barn Hill Preserve, said. “There is a significant need since macaws can live up to 80 years in captivity which makes them susceptible to becoming homeless during their life span and leading for the need to expand their Macaw Facility to make room for those macaws still needing a home.”
FroYo’s Sutton hopes her covey of customers, families and businesses will get involved, monkey around and support the flighty cause. She said it will be a great team-building exercise and a perfect excuse for office employees to come together and celebrate the holidays.
The Barn Hill Preserve sponsors multiple mobile components including school programs, summer camps, mobile birthday parties, a mobile zoo and taking animal ambassadors on tour.
Barn Hill Preserve, currently at maximum capacity, hopes money raised at the Scavenger Hunt will expand their macaw initiative to take in more macaws that need forever homes.
While the exotic animals will be on view at the FroYo Café at the beginning and end of the hunt on Sunday, Sutton’s other store promotions are ongoing. She said her most effective local marketing so far has been the creation of VIP cards that award customers a 20% discount. For tourists, Sutton said she sees a good return on coupons placed in New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau publications.
Sutton also came up with a secret shopper program where undercover customers earn a free yogurt, ice cream or smoothie by squawking about the store’s food and service. To push internet awareness, Sutton gives a 50% discount when customers post a photo of their King Cake Croissant™ or any of their products to their social media pages.
FroYo opened in November 2012 (under RPM FroYo), by Richard Mueller Jr. and his operating partner Sutton, and has raised the bar by bringing frozen yogurt, ice cream and healthy smoothies to New Orleans all under one roof. They transitioned into a Café and Sweet Shop when they started serving the King Cake Croissant™ which is sold as original or crème cheese filled. With sorbet, gelato, ice cream, Aunt Sally’s Pralines, coffee and hot waffles made fresh upon request, FroYo stands out by serving endless creamy combinations with 8 yogurt machines offering 24 flavors, including holiday flavors Eggnog, Pumpkin Spice, Apple Pie and Peppermint Twist, more than 100 unique and fun toppings and 18 real fruit and protein smoothies.
FroYo Café And Sweets
819 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70012
(504) 522-3684
www.facebook.com/FroYoCafeAndSweets
