New frozen yogurt shop to open in SLO — and its flavors will be familiar

A familiar frozen yogurt spot is opening another location in San Luis Obispo.

SLO Froyo n’ Italian Ice in downtown SLO is expanding — and its new location is going by a different name, but its popular frozen yogurt flavors remain.

Peter Latif Shaker and wife Laura Shaker own SLO Froyo n’ Italian Ice, SLO à la Mode, SnoFari and Yogurt Paradise in SLO County. Their new addition to the list is SLOyo, a mini SLO Froyo.

“A lot of our customers, when we first opened, they felt that we called SLO Froyo the wrong name,” Latif Shaker told The Tribune. “They said, ‘You guys should have called it SLOyo.’ So I said, ‘Alright, this new place, it’s going to be called SLOyo.’”

SLOyo is set to open at 790 Foothill Blvd., Suite 130, where Cowboy Cookie closed back in April. The frozen yogurt shop is made from customers’ opinions and preferences — the most popular flavors like cake batter, California tart, chocolate, vanilla and cookies and cream will be the stars of the show, as well as a potential seasonal flavor, Latif Shaker said.

While SLOyo will not serve Italian ice like its original location, its new additions include an array of more toppings like cookie dough, freshly baked cookies and waffle cones, thanks to the new spot’s increase in counter space, Latif Shaker said.

“That’s also a request by a lot of the students, they would tell us to bring in Cap’n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles, and we limited our room, and for us to bring in one topping, we have to take away one topping,” he said. “But with SLOyo, now we can offer a lot more dry toppings, and then try to make everybody happy.”

SLO Froyo n’ Italian Ice opened in its downtown spot in 2021. Four years later, Shaker is quite busy but is excited to open its mini version, all for the frozen yogurt lovers.

“Starting anything new is always a little stressful and hectic,” he said. “But once you get it off the ground and people love it, you realize, ‘OK, this was a good choice, and people are happy.’”

SLOyo is set to have its soft opening by New Year’s Day, geared toward students’ return from winter break, Latif Shaker said.

For more information

SLOyo will be open every day from 12 to 10 p.m., with possibilities of being open later on Friday and Saturday.