Ayelada Now Open in Williamstown
The shop will offer four rotating flavors a week and a variety of toppings.
Owner James Cervone said many of his Williamstown customers had been asking if they would bring the frozen yogurt shop there. They first offered limited options of the locally crafted yogurt from the freezer, but after seeing how popular it was, they decided to open a yogurt shop inside.
Cervone and his wife and co-owner, Lisa, opened Ayelada on East Street in Pittsfield in 2013 and Crust in the space next door in 2020. Cervone said people liked the idea of having a meal at Crust then walking over to get a treat from Ayelada, which is Greek for cow.
The Cervones opened another Crust pizzeria in Williamstown last year and decided to bring Ayelada in because of its success.
"People started to like the convenience of having a pizza and then going over to Ayelada or work or one way or the other. So that became, what people started referring to, was 'cryelada'. Of, you know, you get a [Crust] pizza and you get Ayelada, and that's 'cryelada,'" he said.
"We looked at the space, and we carved out a small little corner. And we have two machines offering four flavors and a small topping bar."
Cervone said the original flavor is one of their most popular, followed by more fruity flavors.
"I have to say lemon is certainly No. 2, and ... we offer it with a lemon cookie, custard cream topping from Italy. That is, without a doubt, the most wildest popular flavor," he said.
Cervone said they got the idea from friends who won Northampton's GoBerry, and who make their frozen yogurt fresh and local. The owners helped the Cervones establish a similar shop in the Berkshires.
"There's no syrups, there's no dyes, there's no-nothing and that's true of every single flavor. And so we want people to know that they're getting a very real product, very fresh product, and a very natural product," he said. "And then the place is just kind of fun, you know, you come in, you can pick your flavors, you can twist them, and you could add a number of different toppings, so you could really create whatever you want."
It's the same type of production as Crust, which uses fresh and local ingredients.
"We take the extra time to make a handmade, homemade product. It would be very easy for us to do a mix, you know, call some company up, drop it off, put in the machine, add water, it would be so easy," Cervone said. "So the other part is, you know, kind of have a little labor of love here, and that every week we get hundreds of gallons of milk delivered to Pittsfield, and we make the yogurt that day fresh every morning."
Cervone said one of their biggest accomplishments is their workers. The couple prioritize giving high schoolers their first job and are proud to see them grow.
"We like to give high school kids their first job opportunity. And we provide training, and we do a lot of things that are more normally associated with larger business," he said. "We have training, we have reviews, we have evaluations, and the kids really respond to that. And people come in all the time and say, 'you have great staff.'
"So I think we've developed a really good employee profile, and we're really proud of that. We're really proud of our kids."
Crust and Ayelada are located at 46 Spring St.; open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from noon to 9, and Sunday from noon to 8.
Tags: business changes, pizzeria, yogurt,
