La Verne has a new happy place, and the family behind it already feels at home.

Tutti Frutti Cafe opened earlier this year on a block that Ali Zia and his father, advisor Faruk Zia, first scouted back in June 2024. The younger Zia, who leads operations and branding and is completing his MBA at Cal State Fullerton, said the location was an easy call.

"When we signed the lease, we saw the community, the university, the high school, the surrounding plazas ... and we knew instantly that this was where we wanted to open our first location," Ali said.

Two months in, that instinct has held up. The café's menu stretches well beyond frozen yogurt—smoothies, acai bowls, specialty coffee and chai, premium cookies, pretzel-based sandwiches, pizza by the slice, and specialty desserts—but it's the customer interactions that Ali keeps coming back to.

"Everyone who walks into the store treats us like family, and vice versa," he said. "We've been loving the smiles, laughs, and genuine conversations that La Verne has been bringing."

That warmth has been the biggest surprise of the opening stretch. "The people of La Verne have been extremely welcoming. It feels like a tightly knit community, and we are grateful to be part of it," Ali said.

The aim is to extend that feeling to customers. "We want them to feel like they just walked into an extension of their home," Ali said.

It's a deliberate vision for a brand with a serious history behind it.

Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt was founded in 2008 by three young Southern California entrepreneurs and expanded rapidly through a licensed model into what became the second-largest frozen yogurt chain in the world, with more than 700 locations across 28 countries at its peak, Faruk said.

Hundreds of those stores are still operating, including more than 100 in the U.S. But changing market conditions and structural challenges weakened the brand before COVID-19 compounded the damage.

Faruk, a business turnaround specialist, stepped in to restructure the brand and chart a new direction.

He works alongside manager Randy Olivares, a veteran of the prior management team, and Ali, who brings both academic grounding and a background in content creation to the branding effort.

"Being the second biggest frozen yogurt chain of all time comes with a responsibility of serving our customers and local community to high standards," Ali said.

The new concept was built around that responsibility. Traditional frozen yogurt shops proved too seasonal and narrow to thrive in a post-pandemic market. The answer was a broader, more social destination—designed like a mini food court. Several specialty in-house brands now operate under the Tutti Frutti name: O'My Cookies, PIO Coffee & Chai, Acai Super Fruit, Bites, and Sweet Spot.

"We are very excited to be part of the La Verne community, which we believe provides a great cross-section of customers for our concept," said Faruk, who serves as an advisor for the new venture. "This location serves as our test and flagship store for the new model."

That's no small distinction. The feedback and support of La Verne residents will directly shape how, and where, Tutti Frutti grows next.

“The foodservice industry is ever-growing and ever-evolving,” Olivares said. “Innovation is key to growing with it. Our ability and willingness to innovate our concept and brand as a whole is the driving force that will lead us to providing smiles, service, and delectable meals and desserts for years to come.”

The La Verne location is the proving ground for the brand's next chapter. Rather than chase rapid expansion, the team plans to build a cluster of locations within a roughly 10-mile radius before considering franchising opportunities.

For now, the focus is on the community that welcomed them. "We want people to know," Ali said, "that they can come in and feel like they never left the house."

You can visit Tutti Frutti at 2357 Foothill Blvd, La Verne.