We were lucky to catch up with Tanya Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tanya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

During the fall of 2022 my husband and I felt God was leading us in a different direction in life. Both of us in our early 50’s , with our adult children married and doing well in life, we felt it was time to do something more meaningful and help a community of people. So, after much prayer and consideration, we felt our next mission in life was to invest our time and money into a small town that needed help with revitalization. A town that needed something everyone would want but didn’t have. After searching and searching, we landed in a small town in SW Virginia, called Pennington Gap, VA. A small community that was once booming with people and things to do pretty much all the time. Pennington Gap is a town that had theaters, bowling alleys, grocery stores and more. Don’t get me wrong, it currently has a grocery store, a few fast food restaurants and it’s theater has been renovated and it’s absolutely beautiful.

Pennington Gap is a town that thrived on the coal and tobacco industry. It had music and restaurants and much more. But, as the coal and tobacco industry dwindled away, people left Pennington Gap, VA. The town was left with closed store fronts, houses abandon and families struggling to meet their basic needs and pay their bills.

We see Pennington Gap, VA as the Norman Rockwell America. Where everyone knows each other. They lend a helping hand, no questions asked or don’t expect anything in return. It’s a place that wants people and stores to come into town but feel they are left out. It’s a town where you should be able to go downtown and enjoy a special treat after church or after school. Where kids and families can enjoy hanging out and talking with each other. The community is hungry for stores and bldgs to come back to life.

Our mission, was to bring the feel and comfort of the “small town” back to Pennington Gap, VA and to the people. To bring an idea and a store front to the down town area, and that’s exactly what we did.

In the winter and spring of 2023, we sold our home, signed over our business to our youngest son, who by the way, is totally thriving in Greenville, SC. and we left our job and families to open up a frozen yogurt shop called Stone Mountain Yogurt. Our store is located on Main Street in Pennington Gap, VA, Since we opened it, it’s brought life back to the downtown area and main street. We are doing extremely well. Our customers are so very happy to see us come to town and open up our frozen yogurt shop. We hear all the time, we hope you stay and don’t leave. We love this community. The Town of Pennington Gap is doing a lot for the town. On any given weekend, there are events that take place for families to enjoy. It might be a fun run, a derby, or a block party with live music and food and so much more. This small town is so welcoming. Pennington Gap, VA is coming back and we are so blessed to be a small part of it.

We pray others will take the time to come and invest in this gem in the mountains. We look forward to serving this community for a years to come.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My husband and I own a Frozen Yogurt Shop in Pennington Gap, VA. We love to serve people. We create art with our yogurt and toppings. We provide a product that is “comfort” on a hot day, cold day or just a day someone needs a pick me up. We are most proud of the community we serve. The people are welcoming and we love to see their smiling faces coming into our shop.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for our growing our clientele for our business has been social media and word of mouth. We are located in a small town, so word of mouth travels fast from one community to another. But, social media, has also played a very important role in growing our clientele. In our small town, Facebook is extremely big. So, we took to FB and went to town. We use posts of the treats we make for our customers. We try to engage with our followers with our posts. We have set up a text club and we are currently working on a digital rewards system for our customers.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Putting the capital together for our business came from selling our home in South Carolina. We took the profit from the sell of our home, purchased property in VA, built a small cabin on it and set enough funds a side to start up our Frozen Yogurt Shop. We have not debt on our business. God’s Kingdom is freedom from debt. We are the lender and not the borrower. God blessed us with the funds from our home and we wanted to be sure we used those funds wisely.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stonemountainyogurt.com/
• Instagram: @stonemountainyogurt
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stonemountainyogurt