A frozen yogurt shop in East Tennessee just celebrated its one year anniversary. It not only serves treats, but also serves the community.
Opening it was a stretch, a little out of their comfort zone for two families in Lenoir City.
"I'm an audiologist, my husband is a physical therapist, Julie is a teacher, and her husband is an engineer," Jill Gresham said.
Now they own Di'lishi Frozen Yogurt Bar in Lenoir City.
"We have just really learned a lot about frozen yogurt," Julie Jones said.
Jill said, "I had a baby three days before we opened so it's been insane. We've learned a lot. The learning curve has been huge but we've had a lot of fun."
It has been fun. Jill Gresham and Julie Jones are best friends. When they decided to start a business they looked for a franchise that fit their own values.
"Good for the body, good for the community, and good for the environment. And we try to make our whole business model about that. We choose the healthier product, we always have fresh cut fruit, we offer no sugar added options," Julie said.
In addition to frozen yogurt, the store offers smoothies, Belgium waffles, pie, coffee, and something different: a way to financially support local non-profits.
"We've been able to help different organizations and that's really one thing that drew us to De'lishi is that we have the community give back program," Jill said. "Every time someone comes in and makes a purchase they get a voting spoon. Every quarter, we have three local non-profit groups that we put on our give back wall."
Three clear boxes built into one wall feature three local charities. It is where customers vote for a charity by dropping in a spoon. Each spoon counts toward a donation.
"At the end of the quarter we give money to all three it just depends on the number of spoons the more money they get," Jill said.
Julie said, "People are really excited to see that the money they spend here in our shop, we allow them to choose how we give that money back in our community."
They look a leap of faith a year ago, and it worked.
"I couldn't have done it if I didn't do it with the people I did it with," Julie said.
Friends making frozen yogurt with a 'giving back to the community' twist.
They also have pet cups for dogs and cats to partake with their owners on the patio.