Yolé franchisee eyes 100 sites

The master franchise holder of Yolé, the no added sugar ice cream and frozen yoghurt brand, has confirmed five prime London sites, with a plan for 100 over the next seven years.

Salman Qureshi and business partner Malid Nawaz will open in Lakeside shopping centre next week, followed by sites in 12 New Row, Covent Garden; 74 Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho; Westfield London and Canada Place, Canary Wharf.

The partners, who operate under MNSQ Group, will run the Yolé stores themselves, before moving on to sub-franchising for wider expansion.

They also have nine Subway stores in West London, and three Wok & Go sites – with a further five lined up for this year, in Canning Town, Hounslow, Wembley, Swiss Cottage and Leicester Square.

Yolé, which uses plant-based natural sugars, and has plant-based ice cream and frozen yoghurt, has around 30 stores in the Far East, and is currently expanding in the US, Spain and Portugal.

Qureshi told MCA he sees potential for 25-30 sites in London alone, including kiosks.

He said: “In the UK, there isn’t really a market leader for ice cream, there’s no one who is really dominating the market. We thought this was a really good opportunity.

“We wanted to bring the brand in to premium locations to give it that presence because I believe if something can work in London, the rest of the UK is much easier

“What everyone really believed in was the idea of it being low calories. Everyone is becoming more and more health conscious, every brand is shifting towards plant-based products and less sugar. The healthy aspect is really attractive, and no one is really doing a sugar free dessert.”