If the new pomegranate flavors from Pinkberry and Red Mango don't do it for you, consider this: what if you had an endless number of flavors to choose from?
High-tech blending processes may be the next big wave in the frozen-yogurt trend. That's what I discovered when I visited the San Francisco outpost of Yogen Früz, a fro-yo chain with a high-tech yogurt concept. First, I chose from single-serving packages of a base yogurt in various flavors (low-fat vanilla, nonfat vanilla, or low-fat chocolate) with probiotic cultures.
Then I chose two toppings out of a large selection that included frozen fruits (strawberries, cherries, mangoes, lychees, blueberries, etc.) and dry toppings (Cap'n Crunch, almonds, coconut flakes, granola, and the like). Together they went into a proprietary machine. Twenty seconds later, I was enjoying my lychee mango vanilla creation, which was whipped, creamy, and studded with icy chunks of mango and lychee.
Yogen Früz may have pioneered the idea, but — with specially designed yogurt-blending machines available on the web, other boutique yogurt bars have caught on. Have you tried this type of yogurt? Now that the fancy frozen yogurt trend is waning, do you think custom blended fro-yo could be the next big thing?
Shu Uemura
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Forzieri
well it's kind of like coldstone where they blend flavors for you - i think that if it's too cost prohibitive then there's nothing wrong there. people like to be unique. the only downside that i can see to this is if the lines are long somewhere and people are being difficult about picking out their flavors.
1How much did it cost Yum?
It sounds a lot like ColdStone except for frozen yogurt. I love ColdStone, but they are just so expensive. You can go buy a whole carton of ice cream at the grocery for what you will spend at ColdStone.
2I have never had frozen yogurt before and there are about a million little shops where I live. Maybe this summer...
3I tried this place when it opened - I loved the chocolate yogurt with raspberries blended in!
4We have something similar in Boston. A lot of the local cafes that sell frozen yogurt do it. It tastes so good!
5The whole process did remind me a tad of Cold Stone and Marble Slab, except it was all done using a drill-like machine that blends everything much finer than mixing done by hand.
@starangel82 — I don't remember exactly, but I want to say a small was $3.45 or something. Surprisingly inexpensive compared to other places that serve tart yogurt with toppings.
6Oooh, what a great idea! It's like a healthy version of Cold Stone creamery.
7That is pretty cheap. Yum, you've been Twittering too much.
8Yogen Fruz is amazing! I live in Washington and there are a bunch up in Vancouver BC and whenever I'm there I have to hit up Yogen Fruz at least once a day for the mango frozen yogurt, beyond delicious!!!
9There's a place kindof like that in LA called 21 choices. It's all non/lowfat yogurts, and they always have vanilla and chocolate plus four others, usually like a plain yogurt, a fruity one and two crazy ones. The crazy ones are pre-mixed flavors that have like candy or cookies already ground up inside of them, and then you can mix whatever else you want in it.
They seriously have hundreds of toppings to choose (you can get a whole Hostess Cupcake mixed in!) and you can ask them to mix the yogurt flavors too. They change the flavors every day, it's like a hobby of mine and my friends' to check every day to see if they have our favorites!
They mix it up coldstone-style, but they mash them more so it's not as chunky. SOOO good. Seriously, if you're around Pasadena or Claremont, GO.
www.21choices.com
10There is a place that does this in DC near where I went to college. This isn't really anything new. They had yogurt flavors on the menu or your could pick the fruit you wanted to go in it. They put the yogurt and fruit into the machine, turned it on and whala! twisted frozen yogurt goodness. I miss that place sometimes now that I don't live in DC anymore...
11I have a question (that's somewhat unrelated). How come frozen yogurt doesn't taste like yogurt that's been frozen -- what happens to the "bite"? Anyway, sounds tasty.
12Wow!Interactive foods get me so hyped up!!!
13Yogen Fruz is delicious and a much healthier option than ice cream. This will definitely last, because it's not a trend. We've had it in Canada since I was a kid.
14Try raspberry mango!!
I miss Heidi's Frozen Yogurt... used to be a CA-based chain that was big in the late 80s. They used to have something pretty similar.
15Humphrey Yogart did this in the 90s. Not really that cutting edge.
16Its says on there website that its been in business for over 23 years, so they started in the 80's and its been around, just not in the US it seems. Based on the way they make the flavors it sure seems more healthier then the pre-made flavored stuff we see all over the place. I love yogen fruz strawberry banana combo flavor frozen yogurt.
thank U yogen fruz !!!!
17Frozen yoghurt has only just started being trendy around here...I think it will be quite a while before something like this is avaliable in my neck of the woods.
18I ate at this place when I was in Dominican Republic. they have work out of the big ice cream joint over there called Helados Bon (kinda the way some fast food joints team up in this country). I Loved it so much, it was soooo yummy! I loved the cherry and plum mix. Weird, i kinda had thought it was an island thing until I read this post, hope they come to NY soon, me and my mom have been going crazy to eat that stuff again.
19Oh and Abby, this kind of frozen yogurt tastes like frozen yogurt (where its got that tangy-ness that plain yogurt has). Thats why I love it so much, because its not super sweet pretending to be ice cream.
20I worked at Robeks fruit smoothies in high school and we had that machine and it was the same concept pick the yogurt or sherbert and fruit and we mixed it up. It was so good. So if you have a Robeks near you you can get the yogurt there too.
21Eh a little too involved for me. I'll just by mine as is in the store.
22Hmm. Must head up to the city to give this one a try. Sounds delicious
23There's a fantastic place in San Jose called Sweet Retreat that has been doing custom blend tangy frozen yogurt for decades. It's weird that this has now become a phenomenon.
24in québec we've had this since I was a little kid (and I'm 26 now)
25I always wondered why you could never get this in the states!
if you guys are in the bay area you guys have got to try TARTINI in cupertino! on stevens creek & de anza. they have more than four flavors and a self serve bar to add whatever toppings you would like. and you pay 30 cents an ounce. they also have smoothies and crepes.
26RObek's Juices has been doing this for a long time now. I use to get it all the time when i went to CSU Long beach since they have one on their campus.
27Hi all,
Yogen Fruz started in 1986 with the classic Blend It forzen yogurt. The small is $2.65 with the choice of 2 fruits blend in. Med is $4.65 and lg is $6.65. Toppings are $0.95 for one topping and $1.50 for 3 toppings.
We have 2 new location coming soon at Novato and San Jose.
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