Food News: Yapple reopens, Saison expands, Elbys announced

In this town, you can’t keep a good yogurt store down (honestly, you can’t stop the virus-like spread of yogurt stores regardless of their quality).

November 29, 2013; 11:04 AM • by Ross Catrow

You can’t keep a good yogurt store down, apparently. After defaulting on their lease, franchiser Scott Yu has made a deposit to turn the lights back on and reopen the doors. This is great news for both RVA’s Instagramers and Viners alike. And if you though it was absolutely crazy to open two nearly identical yogurt shops adjacent to each other and that Richmond’s yogurt scene may just be saturated, well:

Yu said he will keep the store open as a Yapple but is in the process of leaving the company to start his own brand of frozen yogurt.

Shows how much you know!

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Richmond.com has word that Saison is looking to expand–both in size and concept. The current owners have purchased the neighboring space for a coffee / sandwich / hangout / lounge spot. The addition of a pass-through window (adorable!) will let you get at some of your favorites from regular Saison, but the new spot will also feature its own food and booze.

Look for Saison 2: Saison Harder early next year.

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In case you missed it, this past Friday, Richmond Magazine announced the nominees for their third annual Elby Awards. The Elbys honor excellence in the Richmond region’s restaurant community in 11 categories. The awards are presented at a ceremony on January 26th at the VMFA; tickets are $65.

This year’s nominees feature a ton of restaurants that have opened just in the last two years. Good job rookies!

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Restaurant owner Michael Ripp passed away this past Saturday. Ripp was the original owner of Havana 59 in The Bottom and owned the two Burger Bach locations. His family’s The Restaurant Co. operates the majority of the Arby’s in the area, and his brother owns Can Can.

Read his obituary in the RTD.