Dirty Soda, Frozen Yogurt Shop Opens on Dubuque's West End

A new shop on Dubuque's West End is recalling the 2010s trend of frozen yogurt shops while offering a variety of contemporarily popular dirty sodas and energy drinks.

The new venture is Knockout Sips & Froyo, located at 4997 Radford Road in Dubuque. The Telegraph Herald caught up with 19-year-old shop-owner Olivia Skemp, who held a grand opening for the new beverage/yogurt establishment on Saturday, September 12th.

Knockout Sips & Froyo Harkens Back to the Days of Frozen Yogurt Shops:

Skemp spoke to Telegraph Herald and said the impetus behind the shop was her memories of her mother taking her and her sister to frozen yogurt shops when they were little. Some might need a reminder: froyo shops were trendy in the 2010s. The modern-day equivalent would probably be the bounty of tea and nutrition shops, of which Dubuque has many.

Knockout Sips & Froyo features two flavors of frozen yogurt that will alternate daily with north of 20 different toppings. The menu includes a range of drinks, including "dirty Alanis," sodas, energy drinks, and more:

My goal has always been to be a froyo shop just like how all the other cities have it with machines on the walls. This is really a start for me and to kind of complement that, I kept the drinks - Olivia Skemp, per Telegraph Herald

While attending Northeast Iowa Community College, Skemp noticed that frozen yogurt was getting an uptick in popularity online. She started a pop-up business with a similar model during her time in college. To do so, she rented storage space from Raptor Nutrition, but with Raptor now closed, she was able to take over the storefront on the westside of the city.

Per Telegraph Herald, Skemp bought a frozen yogurt machine, repainted the walls, put in new flooring, and added couches to make the space cozy.

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Stories like this attract me because there is a quiet yet notable entrepreneurial youth movement happening in Dubuque right now. Falbo Bros. is now owned and operator by Aidan Brown, who is in his early 20s. Caleb Keling's post-college acquisition of Auntie Anne's in Kennedy Mall is one of the wildest yet most inspiring local business stories I've ever heard. Now, Kemp joins the fold with her frozen yogurt/dirty soda endeavor.

Knockout Sips & Froyo will exclusively offer drinks from 6:30am - 4pm (Monday, Wednesday - Friday). With that, the shop offers frozen yogurt from 4pm - 10pm (Thursday and Friday). Both menus will be offered from 8am to 10pm on Saturday, while being closed on Sunday. You can find out more about Knockout Sips & Froyo on Facebook.

Tom Drake Returns to Backpack Iowa's Yellow River State Forest

A full look at our three-day backpacking trip on the Backpackers Loop at Yellow River State Forest. From Camp John Schultz to Heffern’s Hill, the Fire Tower, Cedar Point Overlook, and Luster Heights, these photos capture the terrain, elevation changes, wildlife encounters, and quiet moments that make this part of Iowa feel unlike anywhere else in the state. It is a closer look at the ridges, bluffs, trout streams, and backcountry camps that make Yellow River both a beautiful destination and a surprisingly demanding backpacking experience.

Gallery Credit: Tom Drake