Is it just me, or has froyo gotten old? It’s lost its novelty as a special treat, as a summertime delicacy. There’s a froyo store on every corner now, and even ice cream strongholds such as Haagen Daaz have hopped onto the bandwagon. Dedicated froyo shops, while they tout themselves as having the best topping variety or the healthiest yogurt strain, really all follow the same cookie-cutter mold: once you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all.
Froyo is a delicacy that has been around since the ’70s, but recently marketed as a healthier alternative to ice cream, it has only just taken off as a popular dessert. The business opportunity that entrepreneurs see in this hybrid dessert has led to the rapid proliferation of whimsically named minimalist shops, often furnished with modular chairs and tables and colored with eye-popping neon themes — case in point: Kiwi.
I’m sad to say, however, that froyo has stopped being a special treat for me. You can blame this occurrence on its nature as a staple college gathering spot (it’s become a replacement for that other bastion of college hangouts, the coffee shop); on the fact that every time I look over my shoulder, a new store seems to have sprung up; or simply because the alternative and modernistic feel of the froyo shop has been so standardized it is no longer really hip.
Froyo has become homogenized. Just as an exercise, let’s imagine the next store that will pop up in Philly. Its name will consist of two words: the first will either be “sweet,” “ice,” “fruity” or a color of your choice and then pair that together with a random fruit, or the always ubiquitous “yo.” If you’re in doubt of the validity of this method, think Red Mango and Pinkberry. The store will have a shiny white floor, the walls will be painted a neon shade (bonus points for green or orange) and the furniture will unquestionably be either abnormally shaped or colored. Blown up photographs of equally colorful fruits will adorn the walls.
Simply put, once the dessert became super accessible and widespread, it lost its allure and its status as a special treat.
Not to say that that’s entirely a bad thing. It’s certainly good that this gastronomic item is filtering out of metropolitan areas: both founded in Los Angeles, Red Mango and Pinkberry have now become nationwide franchises. Froyo is currently experiencing the trickle-down effect — originally an exclusive and super trendy treat in metropolitan areas, it’s now making its way to the masses of suburbia.
The widespread expansion and spread of frozen yogurt, while convenient for consumers, has made the market extremely saturated. Its growing popularity brings to mind a similarity to Starbucks — how in the world did a store selling $4 premium coffee beverages expand to a 17,000-plus store, nation-wide presence? The reasons are many, but among them were its unique drink offerings, its unparalleled customer service and the welcoming atmosphere of its stores, where customers often spend hours socializing or working.
The lack of an addictive, caffeinated component notwithstanding, the froyo industry can certainly take a page out of Starbucks’ book. While there have been slight variations from chain to chain — in sweet-to-tartness ratio, in topping offerings or the newest, self-serve vs. made-to-order rivalry — there has been little innovation in the frozen dessert world.
Well, so what, you might say. That’s how froyo is supposed to be, plain and simple. Before Starbucks, though, no one could have envisioned how wildly popular cold, blended coffee beverages can be — the Frappuccino line has been one of Starbucks’ most successful.
Over 8 percent of Starbucks’ revenues are also from licensed retail products such as its bottled Frappuccino drinks and ice cream products. Ice cream and other frozen desserts have all but taken over an entire aisle of my neighborhood grocery store, but I’ve yet to see froyo reproduced in a grocery store package — and will be sure to snap it up when it does.
Maybe I’m being overly blasé in my critique of boutique froyo shops. I certainly still enjoy the tartness of frozen yogurt, especially on a sweltering summer day, and for many, the taste is enough to make up for what I deem its lack of ‘hipness.’ For the torrid expansion to keep up though, and for a lifespan more prolonged than that of a fad, froyo stores will need to get creative at differentiating and establishing themselves in the competitive dessert world.
Grace Wang is a rising Engineering and Wharton sophomore from Annandale, Va. Her email address is wangrace@wharton.upenn.edu.
