Frozen yogurt (fro-yo) wars heat up for summer season

ByABC News
May 25, 2009, 9:36 PM

— -- Just how badly do the makers of chichi frozen yogurt want folks to buy their pricey, probiotic-stuffed stuff?

Over the past few weeks, Pinkberry, the leader of the better-for-you "fro-yo" pack, has begun to deliver frozen yogurt via bicycle messenger from six of its New York City stores to folks who buy at least $10 of it.

Meanwhile, rival Red Mango just introduced a flavor it dubbed Tangomonium, perhaps to give taste buds the feeling of performing a tasty tango with its tangerine-laced frozen yogurt.

The summer season is on tap, when frozen yogurt sales jump 20%. But with this one in the midst of the recession, not everything is perfect in Fro-Yo Land. The two fastest-growing chains, Pinkberry and Red Mango, were forced to close several stores each last year in the already overcrowded Southern California market. Compared with other food categories, they've both escaped mostly unscathed from the teeth of the economic downturn.

Maybe it's their New Age karma. The chains have a Far Eastern appeal with flavors such as green tea and pomegranate that come with mostly healthy toppings such as fresh strawberries and kiwi. The floors in Pinkberry stores are made of tiny pebbles, so customers feel like they're at the ocean.

Although upscale, better-for-you frozen yogurt is but a fraction of the overall $8.1 billion frozen yogurt market in the U.S., it's the fastest-growing segment, says Samuel Nahmias, chief operations officer at StudyLogic, a research firm. Between them, Pinkberry and Red Mango are projected to have more than 1,000 locations within five years.

"When it comes to food, people are always looking for the next thing," says Terry Eagan, a Los Angeles psychiatrist who specializes in food issues. Even in the midst of a recession, he says, "The fantasy of healthiness is a perfect setup for a business, particularly in California."

Now, the companies are starting to move East from their West Coast footholds. A third Southern California contender, Yogurtland, also is growing fast with a self-serve, lower-budget appeal. Never mind that the rest of retail ice cream's sales are generally flat or heading south.