Yoga-urt Marks 10 Years as LA’s Vegan Frozen Yogurt Pioneer: “Part of a Community”

Yoga-urt has just crossed a milestone that few independent dessert shops in Los Angeles reach: 10 years in business. Since opening her first location in Glendale in 2015, founder and president Melissa Schulman has expanded the city’s only all-vegan and organic frozen yogurt chain into Echo Park, Santa Monica, and Granada Hills, where its first franchise operates.

“I don’t often get the chance to step back and reflect, since I’m usually caught up in the day-to-day,” Schulman told VegNews. “But I knew our 10-year anniversary was something worth celebrating, and what surprised me most was just how proud I felt. Proud to have built something different and innovative, something that makes so many people happy. And proud to have survived and thrived for 10 years in such a challenging industry.”

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What began as a vision during what she calls her “Yoga Bubble Year” has become a staple for Angelenos seeking a plant-based dessert that tastes as indulgent as it is nourishing. That sabbatical, she says, gave her the space to slow down and follow her curiosity. “The idea for Yoga-urt started with my passion for yoga, the name itself, and the desire to create a healthier soft serve. Slowing down that year gave me the space to follow my curiosity, and before long, I was completely obsessed with the idea. That’s when I put pen to paper and started building a business plan.”

Building something different

Schulman never set out to create a novelty dessert shop. She wanted traditional frozen yogurt flavors—think chocolate, strawberry, peanut butter, salted caramel, and more—but entirely vegan and organic. “From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to create soft serve that was healthier and at the very least have vegan options, but not just sorbets,” she says. “Once we tasted how delicious they were, the decision was clear, the entire store would be 100 percent plant-based.”

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The road to opening wasn’t easy. Schulman spent years pitching her concept, often facing rejection—even from family members. She worked full-time as a producer in themed entertainment while developing the business plan and sourcing funding, eventually securing a loan through the Small Business Development Center.

“Yoga-urt gave me the courage to put myself out there,” she says. “I had to pitch the idea to investors, apply for loans, share my vision to build a team, and ultimately convince customers to give us a try. I believed in it so deeply that it gave me the confidence to keep going.”

That confidence carried through the research and development process, where she teamed with a chef she met at a yoga retreat and a food scientist she discovered through LinkedIn. Together, they spent nearly a year refining recipes that balanced creaminess, probiotics, and freshness. The result was a menu of flavors built from almond and cashew bases, made from scratch daily, with no artificial ingredients.

“I actually developed the concept for Yoga-urt before the product itself,” Schulman explains. “I started with the feeling I wanted people to have when they walked through the door—nourished, uplifted, and part of a community—and then built the product around that.”

Staying steady through a shifting market

Los Angeles’ plant-based dining scene has changed dramatically since 2015. Schulman remembers when vegan frozen desserts weren’t widely available, and when skepticism from customers was palpable. “There’s still a bias when it comes to vegan food, and in my case vegan soft serve and ice cream,” she says. “Sometimes, people who live right in the neighborhood will wait years before giving us a chance. Often, when they do come in, you can see their hesitation. That’s why we love offering samples, because the taste really does speak for itself.”

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Over time, the market caught up. The global vegan ice cream category is projected to surpass $2.6 billion by 2030, growing at more than 10 percent annually, according to Grandview Research. But while many vegan brands have surged and receded with trend cycles, Yoga-urt has maintained steady growth. “When we first opened 10 years ago, the vegan market hadn’t exploded yet. We did it before it was ‘cool,’” Schulman says. “About five years in, the vegan market really started to take off, and while it feels like the overall market is retreating a bit now, Yoga-urt has stayed steady the whole time.”

Part of that steadiness comes from its identity as more than a dessert shop. Each location features a “heart wall” with flavor names, an inspirational quote wall, and a menu that never strays from its house-made soft serve. Sustainability also runs through its operations: almond pulp leftover from making the yogurt base is upcycled into waffle cones, pie crusts, and cookies. All three corporate locations are Certified Green Businesses. “To my knowledge, we’re the only frozen yogurt or ice cream store doing this, and I’m really proud of that,” Schulman says.

Resilience and the road ahead

The last decade has tested Schulman’s resolve in ways she couldn’t have predicted. Wildfires once left one store without power for days, forcing her to drive across Los Angeles at night trying to salvage inventory. The pandemic brought even deeper uncertainty. “The fear of losing everything, the responsibility of keeping the team safe, and the daily decision of whether we should even stay open—it was exhausting and terrifying,” she recalls. “As rewarding as it is, it’s not for the faint of heart. But every challenge has helped me build resilience, and that resilience is what carries me through the toughest moments.”

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That resilience fuels her next chapter. Franchising is now a central focus, with one Granada Hills location already in operation and more on the horizon. “We’re offering a healthier product, so it’s important that our franchisees truly value healthy living and are committed to our standards as an all-vegan frozen yogurt brand,” Schulman says. “You don’t have to be vegan yourself, but you do need to honor and respect the importance of running a fully vegan business.”

She is also eager to deepen Yoga-urt’s role in community building. A book club and movie club launched this past year, and she hopes to expand education programs for children, ultimately inviting school groups to learn how almond milk is made, how pulp is upcycled, and what plant-based dessert looks like in practice.

Looking at the milestone, Schulman says what excites her most is sharing what she’s built with more communities. “I love welcoming new partners into the Yoga-urt family, training them on everything I’ve learned, and helping to share Yoga-urt with more communities.”