TCBY's Grand Opening in Mohegan Lake Scheduled for July 21

There will no longer be an empty store front on Route 6 as the Patel family's dream to open the national chain restaurant Pizza Hut and the self-serve ice cream shop TCBY is now a reality. 

Mahandar "Moni" Patel told Patch in January he has signed a  Pizza Hut and TCBY to the Mohegan Lake section of Yorktown. 

Now, he is getting ready for the grand opening this Saturday.

Even though he is still working on receiving the necessary certificate of occupancy for Pizza Hut from the town of Yorktown, TCBY's grand opening is scheduled for Saturday, July 21 when the owners will give away free ice cream and provide a number of activities. 

To celebrate the grand opening, customers will receive free 3 oz. frozen yogurt over the weekend– on July 21 and July 22. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 21 at 10:30 a.m.

After that there will be certificates, hats and t-shirt giveaways; as well as a raffle for a bike and a TV until 11 p.m. From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. balloon artists and face painters will be entertaining customers, who could also enjoy a live band performance by "Subject to Change" from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The shop will serve 15 self-serve frozen yogurt flavors with more than 50 toppings, both chilled and dried. It also offers dairy-free flavors, no sugar-added and fat-free options for its health-mindful customers. 

Just "swirl, create, weigh and pay." 

Parul Patel and her husband Monti, originally from India, have been Yorktown residents for 15 years. They're also the owners of the , located at Downing Drive in Yorktown. Their first business adventure together was at the where they had a newspaper stand in the food court, before opening their own business. 

"People are more like a family here," said Patel, whose son Ronak graduated from and her younger son Jash is a senior at the school. "I'm part of the community."

In return, she said it was very important for her family to give back to the community. They will accommodate any group who would like to hold a fundraiser at their business and donate to the non-profit organization a portion of the bill.

"It's giving back to the community," said Parul Patel, who added that without their customers they would not be able to exist. "It's what we do."

She said TCBY, the self-serve yogurt place, will be different from the rest of the area store because of their "great product," "good quality," and "affordable price."

Her son Ronak, who is currently in charge of the social media aspect of the business, said often customers are surprised to see the owners of the store to be working out on the floor and interacting with the customers, but he said his parents are very "hands on."

"They're really hard-working," the college student said. "That's just their nature ever since they came to this country."

When the store opens on Saturday, there will be 10 flavors customers could choose from:

• Golden Vanilla
• Chocolate
• White Chocolate Mousse
• Red Velvet
• Cookies and Cream
• Caramel Supreme
• Classic Tart
• No Sugar Added Strawberry
• Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• Watermelon Sorbet

Every three to four days the flavors will be switched out and customers could give their input on vote on their favorite flavor, by going to the Facebook page the Mohegan Lake owners had created for TCBY.

In addition, TCBY will also be selling pre-packaged frozen cakes and yogurt pies. The owners will also offer a customer loyalty card – for every $30 you spend, you'll receive $3 store credit.

Monti Patel said he was given the confidence when he heard customers speak favorably of seeing Pizza Hut opening in the area. He expects to open Pizza Hut in the beginning of August. In addition, to offering take out, Pizza Hut will also deliver within a 10-minute radius.

His business will occupy 3,600 square feet of the 8,100 square feet of what was once Charlie Brown’s, which filed for bankruptcy and closed down in Nov. 2010. 

TCBY and Pizza Hut are located at 1751 East Main Street, Mohegan Lake. They're open seven days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information call 914-528-1111.

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