Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnSherin ShibuThu, June 4, 2026 at 5:14 PM GMT+2 8 min read16 HandlesEntrepreneur Media LLC and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some products and services through the links below.Neil Hershman, 31, is the CEO of frozen yogurt franchise 16 Handles.Hershman started as a customer, became a franchisee and in 2022 acquired the entire brand.Hershman says 16 Handles differentiates itself from competitors by experimenting with bold flavors, like French fry yogurt.Neil Hershman sat in front of his computer at a structured credit asset management firm in New York. Another weekend at the office, another day staring at spreadsheets. He loved the work and the people, but the lifestyle was brutal. There was no physical connection to anything, no human touch point. Just screens and numbers.After his shifts, Hershman would escape to 16 Handles, a frozen yogurt shop in the East Village. He would go to the shop after the gym or instead of dinner. It became his refuge.About two years into his finance career, at age 23, he resigned. He had no concrete plan, but he knew he wanted something different, something with that human connection he craved.Today, at 31, Hershman is the CEO of 16 Handles. He started as a customer, became a franchisee in 2019, and in 2022, acquired the entire brand from founder Solomon Choi. Under his leadership, the company has grown its annual recurring revenue to over $20 million. It has also expanded from under 30 stores to over 80 locations open and in development.Fortune Business Insights valued the global frozen yogurt market at $1.93 billion in 2025 and projects that it will grow to $2.56 billion by 2034. 16 Handles has locations in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina and Texas. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.Neil Hershman. Credit: 16 HandlesYou started as a regular 16 Handles customer before becoming a multi-unit franchisee and eventually acquiring the brand. What was the moment you went from fan to “I want to own this?”I had moments after I acquired the East Village store, especially, where I walked in and was like, a year ago I was a customer of this brand with no idea about buying it, and now I own the store, and I’ve just made it so much better. I definitely had a special moment where I could look back and reflect on all my success with the brand and how glad I am that all the dots connected.However, I don’t know that there’s this shift that happened, knowing when I wanted to first become a franchisee and then become the brand owner. They’re more like these longer transitions through many conversations and lots of research. I come from a finance background, so lots of modeling as well, to make sure this is what I wanted to do and that it was the right way to spend my money.Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info