Derek Cha is an American entrepreneur who founded the

frozen yogurt Frozen yogurt (also known as frogurt or by the tradename Froyo; ) is a frozen dessert made with yogurt and sometimes other dairy and non-dairy products. Frozen yogurt is a frozen product containing the same basic ingredients as ice cream, but c ...

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

Sweet Frog Sweet Frog (stylized as sweetFrog - Premium Frozen Yogurt) is a chain of frozen yogurt retail restaurants. Customers can create their own soft-serve frozen yogurt with numerous flavors and toppings from which to choose. Derek Cha, who immigrated ...

in 2009.

Early life and career

Cha was born and raised in South Korea. At age 12, Cha and his family migrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1985, Cha started two framing businesses named "Art and Frame Depot" and "Art and Frame Warehouse." He eventually grew both businesses into a large chain of 80 stores nationwide, generating between $5 million and $10 million a year in revenue. By the year 2009, none of the original 80 stores remained open or were operating profitably. Six months later, Cha opted for a completely new venture -

Founding of Sweet Frog

In 2009, Cha and his wife opened the first

in Short Pump, Virginia. Several months later on July 7, they opened their second store in

Chesterfield, Virginia Chesterfield Court House is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place that is the county seat of Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. It was a census-designated place (CDP) at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 cen ...

, which was even more successful than the first store. Their next stores were then opened in Chesterfield,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

, Lynchburg, and

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

, all located in Virginia. The growth continued in 2011, as Sweet Frog opened 29 stores, and accelerated in 2012 as 113 more Sweet Frog stores opened, mostly located in the east coast states of Virginia,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. On April 17, 2012, at a time when Sweet Frog had 180 stores operating in the United States and a few foreign countries, Boxwood Capital Partners made a minority investment into Sweet Frog Enterprises, LLC, the company that owns and operates Sweet Frog.

Personal life

In 2019, Cha was convicted of domestic battery against his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cha, Derek Haas School of Business alumni American people of Korean descent American food industry businesspeople Fast-food chain founders Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Businesspeople from Richmond, Virginia