Mochi Frozen Yogurt is offering a promotion to satisfy your taste buds and your conscience.
If customers bring in a can of food to the frozen yogurt store, they will receive a dollar off their purchase.
The food drive started Nov. 1 and runs until Wednesday — just in time for Thanksgiving.
All cans collected in the food drive will be donated to Gainesville’s St. Francis House, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen, said Mochi employee Julie Fisher, 19.
“It’s a real win-win situation,” she said. “You’re donating to a great cause, and you get a deal on your fro-yo.”
Paul Cheng, Mochi district manager, said the food drive is one of several community service events the store supports. Last month, it collected donations to fund breast cancer research.
“We try to give back to the community as much as we can,” he said. “Mochi was founded right here in Gainesville, so we do whatever we can to help the community that supported us.”
This is the second year the store is hosting the food drive, he said.
Last Thanksgiving, Mochi only had one Gainesville location, on Archer Road. Since then, it has opened two new stores, one on University Avenue and another downtown.
“We think we’ll have more people donate this year,” Cheng said. “With more locations, we should get more cans.”
Last year, the store collected about 40 cans. He was unsure how many donations the chain has collected so far this year.
Jackie Keung, a sociology senior, said the incentive of frozen yogurt would particularly encourage students to participate in a food drive.
“Honestly, most college kids wouldn’t donate to a typical canned food drive,” Keung, 21, said. “But we love free food, so discounted Mochi should make us a little more generous.”
