How Yomi Co-Founder Michael Sparrow Went From Survivor Contestant To Frozen Yoghurt Chain Boss

When two new branches of frozen yoghurt store Yomi opened within a month of each other, queues were out the doors. Other brands popping up all over Auckland – and social media feeds – seem hugely popular. Why, after a decade, is froyo back in fashion? Teal colourways are back Beginning as a standalone shop in Mount Maunganui in December 2025, Yomi is a reimagined frozen yoghurt store. Think KiwiYo but on an entirely different level.The first thing to notice is that the toppings are seemingly endless. Chocolate and lollies. Strawberries and passionfruit. Chia pudding or Biscoff cheesecake – both house-made. With many of Yomi’s ingredients organic and sourced locally, it can cater to even the most diet-focused patrons.Just some of the huge selection of toppings available at Yomi Takapuna. Photo / Michael CraigFinal deliveries ahead of the Ponsonby location's opening. Photo / Michael CraigAfter the success at the Mount (it’s the place to be on a Saturday night), founders Michael and Rachel Sparrow have opened two more stores (Takapuna and Ponsonby), with three more to come (one on Wellington’s Cuba Place, two at yet-to-be-disclosed locations). They’ve also got a baby on the way.When someone, or something, strikes gold so quickly, it’s difficult to not want their secret sauce. According to Michael Sparrow, it’s simple.“I think the key thing for me is just hiring good people,” he tells Viva. “The success of Yomi - and of life - is really down to surrounding yourself with good people.” Michael and Rachel Sparrow with their son.This ever-busy small business owner has had a more-interesting-than-most path to where he is now. His CV encompasses everything from near-finalist on the reality TV show Survivor NZ to Air New Zealand business analyst and Department of Conservation allrounder. Now, he’s banking on dessert.Gone are the days when KiwiYo amassed such a crowd. So how did Sparrow know it would be such a hit?The Sparrows lived across the Tasman for several years, jumping between Sydney, Melbourne and the Whitsundays. It was there that they noticed how many healthy alternative frozen treat shops were around, and how few Aotearoa had.“While we were there, I’d always think that the [frozen yoghurt] places that they have there would be awesome in the Mount,” Sparrow says.“There are still a few [2010s-era froyo] spots around, but I feel like it’s quite different now. Our shop, and the similar ones over in Aus, are a completely different business model. We’ve taken it to the next level through offering a wider audience a more premium experience.” Photo / Neisha MooreThe combination options are endless. Photo / Neisha MooreBut the array of toppings is more than a nicety; it’s Sparrow’s way to fill a gap in the market. Most existing options in Aotearoa are, he says, “sickly-sweet” and geared towards kids. Yomi, on the other hand, is made for anyone, any day, any time.“From the start, the whole thing we wanted with Yomi was for our customers to go every day, any time of the day – have a breakfast acai bowl, or have a more decadent dessert bowl, or both.”Sparrow believes a big reason for the success of Yomi – and froyos in general – is that balance is the name of the game these days. Weight loss is a hot topic again, thanks to the availability of GLP-1 drugs, but it’s not all kale diets any more. Health has become more holistic, allowing sweets their worthy place in the mix of what is deemed a well-rounded diet.“There’s a rise in health-conscious people who still want a treat,” Sparrow says. “A big thing about us is our toppings – we stock the cleanest chocolate, so you can eat more of it without it being ‘bad’. That’s the experience.”The self serve station at the Ponsonby Central store. Photo / Neisha MooreThe interior of Yomi's stores looks more like a luxe gym in Canggu than a KiwiYo. Photo / Michael CraigYomi’s design aesthetic across all three stores is impressively cohesive – more like a luxe gym in Canggu than a KiwiYo. It’s a destination that you want to be seen at just as much as you want to eat at. And that is by design.The Sparrows understand social media is a tool to be utilised for small businesses. Fostering a place that people want to post from deems it a hotspot. Once the algorithm catches on, a cycle begins (and does a lot of the work for you).“A lot of it is also about social media now,” Sparrow agrees “People love to go somewhere with cool aesthetics – it adds to the experience, which obviously wasn’t really a factor 10, 15 years ago.”With a 1-year-old, a pregnant wife and a now multi-store cross-city business, most people would avoid adding more to their plate. Not Sparrow. Expansion was always the goal from the outset. The Mount Maunganui store was always viewed as the tester child, according to Sparrow. As long as it went well – which it very much did – he and Rachel knew that more stores would follow shortly after, ensuring they got in before the froyo tide hit our shores.The crowds at the grand opening of Yomi's Ponsonby Central store were staggering. Photo / Neisha MooreFroyo lovers swarmed Ponsonby Central last Saturday. Photo / Neisha MooreThe Sparrows clearly weren’t the only ones to notice the yoghurt phenomenon on the rise. In the past year, froyo spots Shibbys opened a store in Newmarket, and Yogi, founded by 21-year-old Grace Ma, is running regular pop-ups. Both are focusing on building their brands through social media, with some of their posts already going viral. Each is as busy as the next; the taste for a frozen treat seemingly insatiable.Managing Yomi is a full-time job, and then some. Entrepreneurship has never been an easy path, especially when you’re constantly travelling up and down the country. But Sparrow says the plan is to bite off more than he can chew, and then figure out how to chew it.“I’m not really the person to have an extensive long-term plan, but I just like to sign up for everything and then deal with the aftermath,” he says. “If you sign up for it, you have to follow through with it ... It’s stressful, but it seems to work.”Thankfully, he is no stranger to trials and tribulations. In 2017, almost a decade pre-Yomi, Michael starred on the hit reality TV show Survivor NZ, filmed in Nicaragua. Both small business and reality series test your resilience, Sparrow says.Unlike many reality television stars, it was never the fame he was after.“They contacted me after Survivor and asked me to be on Heartbreak Island or something – I was single at the time, but I said no because I knew I was only ever doing Survivor or Amazing Race - no other reality TV.” Outdoorsiness is still a huge part of his life, even gathering friends on an island near his home to host his own makeshift three-day Survivor. This year – regardless of its round-the-clock schedule – the tradition remained.Business is off to a flying start for Yomi, but hospitality is notoriously fickle. Sparrow has high hopes and big plans anyway.“Alcohol consumption is dropping, so I’d love to see Yomi becoming the default nighttime location for the next generation,” he says.“Instead of going to a bar, you could come to Yomi and hang out for as long as you’d like.”More food & drink