'Hybrid' Tutti Frutti Celebrates Grand Opening in Milpitas

Two of the most popular trends in the food and beverage industry today are undoubtedly designer coffee, and designer frozen yogurt.

Now, Milpitas is home to one new business where you can find both crazes under one roof - the brand-new Tutti Frutti in the McCarthy Ranch Shopping Center.

Owner Thanh Tran said Tutti Frutti first opened its doors to customers on Feb. 20 for a soft opening, but the real excitement took place earlier this week when the yogurt shop celebrated its official grand opening and ribbon cutting with Mayor Jose Esteves, complete with a raffle in which one lucky guy walked away with a shiny new iPad 2.

"That guy was so excited!" Tran said with a smile.

Though the initial concept of Tutti Frutti is a common one - self-serve yogurt dispensers with various flavors and a toppings bar where customers can load up on choices like fresh fruit, chocolate chips and more - Tran said the Milpitas location is the first "hybrid" store to open in the Bay Area.

When he says it's a hybrid, he explained, it's really two chains in one - there's the Tutti Frutti yogurt shop part of the store, and the "O My Buns" bakery side.

O My Buns is a popular coffee, tea and buns franchise that is now pairing up with Tutti Frutti in all new store locations. The concept includes a lengthy menu of coffee drinks like Vietnamese coffee, espressos, Americanos, lattes, mochas and drip coffee; warm and sweet Roti buns that come plain or filled with cream cheese or butter; loose-leaf teas like green, black, Oolong and herbal; and a long list of flavor-infused teas.

Tran said the coffee buns, or Roti buns as some call them, are very popular. In addition to the various fillings, customers can also choose from toppings like walnuts, almonds, chocolate drips and cinnamon sugar for their buns. They are baked fresh every day and warmed up in the oven on the spot when a customer orders one.

The store also sells Snow Bubbles, which are flavored ice treats, and Tran's own personal menu of milk teas.

"The milk tea part of the menu was my concept," he said.

Still, the main attraction at the store is the fresh, creamy frozen yogurt.

At any one time, Tutti Frutti has 12 flavors of yogurt to choose from, and the flavors will rotate regularly to change things up. Currently, Tran said the most popular flavors seem to be pomegranate, mango and New York cheesecake. On tap these days are also "birthday cake," rocky road, vanilla and strawberry.

"We also serve sorbets, like pink lemonade and passionfruit, for those who don't like frozen yogurt," Tran explained. "And, I plan to start offering soy-based yogurt sometime in the next month."

Customers choose the size of cup they want, visit the dispensers and pump themselves their choice of flavor, and then add their own toppings from the toppings bar. Then, their creation gets weighed and charged by the ounce.

For its grand opening, Tran says his Tutti Frutti is offering a special price of just 30 cents per ounce. Usually, the industry standard is anywhere from 35 to 40 cents per ounce, he said.

All in all, Tran - who also owns a cell phone store on Landess across the street from Seasons Marketplace, and worked for many years as a computer systems engineer for Target's headquarters in Minnesota - seems ecstatic to own his new Tutti Frutti store in Milpitas.

"I've always wanted to live in California. I love it here," he said.

Tran's wife, Tracy Le, owns the San Jose Chiropractic Spa right next door to the cell phone store on Landess.

"This is a pretty good location. So we're pretty happy," he said.

Visit the Milpitas Tutti Frutti online at www.tfyogurtmilpitas.com or call 408-934-9508. Visit the store's social media sites on Facebook at "Tutti Frutti Milpitas" and on Twitter at @TFYOMilpitas.