By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
ChilaBerries: 170 ways to top a yogurt
Yogurt--Chilaberries-Pic-1a
Manteca restaurateur Jeff Liotard gets some revenge on wife Tevani during an open house of the family’s ChilaBerries Frozen Yogurt business, which opens today at 10 a.m. at the Stadium Retail Center. - photo by JASON CAMPBELL
Frozen yogurt has always been a soft spot in the heart of Manteca restaurateur Jeff Liotard.

For as long as he can remember, Liotard has been a fan of the frozen goodness that initially only made a handful of flavors available to customers that flooded the shops for the tasty treats.

So when hitting a few of his favorite frozen yogurt stands in the area, Liotard thought why not open his own shop? He approached his family about opening a frozen yogurt shop of their own  taking the standard idea and completely redesigning what most people think about a frozen yogurt shop.

Starting today  at 10 a.m., customers will be able to flock to ChilaBerries – the frozen yogurt center that offers more than 170 available toppings to accentuate the dozen-or-so flavored frozen yogurts that includes everything from seasonal favorites to traditional staples. Even the hard-to-find Italian gelato is on tap at one of the machines.

“We eat a lot of yogurt as a family as it is,” Liotard said – noting that it was his prolonged amount of time in yogurt shops that got him wondering whether this is something we can tackle. “We ended up stealing the manager of one shop – Jennifer McDonald – and now we have somebody that is extremely knowledgeable in the field and that’ll only be passed on to the customers who start showing up on Wednesday morning.

Located at 2124 Daniels Street inside of the Stadium Retail Center just a stone’s throw away from Big League Dreams, the site is almost perfectly positioned to cater to the customers that flood the maze of parking lots daily for their routine shopping trips as well as the softball players that filter daily through the Big League Dreams’ parking lot.

While the focus of the business will be on the frozen delicacies they serve up daily, the inside – covered with arctic-themed murals designed and transferred by artist Tom Wendt – pays tribute to some of Manteca’s long lost historical landmarks like the four silos that used to be at the Speckles Sugar Plant. Small sugar cubes surround the base of the four towers.

Those nostalgic for Manteca’s most popular summer destination – the Oakwood Lake Resort – can see ice-age era replicas of some of the more famous attractions that drew customers from all over the world.

The combination of historical preservation while offering something that people have ever seen – like a candy toppings stand that looks like it came straight from a Pier 39 sweets shop – has already generated a lot of buzz and will likely continue to do so as word of mouth begins to circulate.

“We wanted to do something that nobody ever expected – make something that nobody had ever seen before,” Liotard said. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow, but we’ve got a good feeling about the turnout and how much people are going to love the product.”

ChilaBerries’ is located in the Stadium Retail Shopping Center off of Airport Way. Traffic accessing the site from the 120 Bypass will want to take the Airport Way Exit and head north over the overpass before making the first left. Another left will put the shopper into the parking lot. ChilaBeries is located at the eastern end of the retail section – near Round Table Pizza and Subway. For more information, visit www.chilaberries.com.