Froyo Invades East Iowa City: Cate's Frozen Yogurt Enjoys Warm Reception in First Month

Things just seemed to slide into place for Cate Sarrazin.

About a year ago, Sarrazin, 23, an Iowa City native and City High alumna had just graduated college with a business administration degree from Ashford College in Clinton. She was home, and like many students her age, was busy looking for work, when her stepmom came up with the "out there" idea for her to start up a frozen yogurt business.

Cate's Frozen Yogurt will be celebrating its grand opening this Sunday with special deals.

She took some time to research the possibility: Wait, maybe not so crazy after all.

Then, Blimpie's Sub Shop vacated its space the Dan's Short Stop gas station at 2221 Rochester Avenue. 

And just like that, Sarrazin had her opportunity.

"Things just kind of fell into place," she said.

Now, a month open already, Cate's Frozen Yogurt has already received some good reception from Eastsiders who enjoy having a frozen yogurt option without having to drive downtown or to Coralville.

"Business has been good so far," Sarrazin said. "We feel like we're in a good location here."

Sarrazin cited the location right across from Regina and near City High School as being a big plus, and said the Dan's Short Stop owners have been welcoming hosts.

Cate's features 15 different rotating flavors of frozen yogurt available via the traditional dispensers or purchasable in frozen form for home consumption. The yogurt can be eaten in traditional paper or edible ice cream containers.

"We have a really wide variety of yogurt and toppings compared to a lot of places," Sarrazin said.

One other option that Cate's Frozen Yogurt offers is a "Fusion" selection, where the customer self serves their yogurt and toppings and the Cate's employee then blends them into a cup much like a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

As for the future, Sarrazin said as a young business owner she's glad to see her first venture get off the ground, and she hopes the local business can take root in the community.

"Ideally this will be successful enough where one day I can open another location," she said.

Here are the Daily Specials at Cate's.

Visit their Facebook page for more information on their hours of operation. 

Free wireless Internet is also available at Cate's.