- NEWS
- Murder defendant: 'Dating Game' proves point 10 minutes ago
- Rowdy storm moving into O.C. 18 minutes ago
- 8-vehicle crash closes major road 8 minutes ago
- Tustin police search for robbers in 4 crimes 29 minutes ago
- SPORTS
- SI exposes Winter Olympians 2 hours & 24 minutes ago
- Laker Rim Shots 2-8-10
- Sneak peek: SI swimsuit edition 2 hours & 13 minutes ago
- Angels' Shields won't be ready to start spring training
- BUSINESS
- Office romance flirts with disaster 2 hours & 14 minutes ago
- Here's why Toyota is recalling the Prius 2 hours & 34 minutes ago
- Temp work pointing to a recovery?
- $16.5M apartments sale sets record 3 hours & 31 minutes ago
- ENTERTAINMENT
- Will H.B. woman be the next 'Bachelorette'? 1 hour & 16 minutes ago
- Ed Harris pulls us through 'Wrecks' 3 hours & 34 minutes ago
- 'Housewife' denies she has a new boyfriend
- 'Idol' champ Fantasia finds her voice on stage
- LIFE
- Cocktail ideas for Valentine's Day 3 hours & 6 minutes ago
- Kaiser is top HMO in state ranking 21 minutes ago
- Study: Junk food ads make kids fat, not TV 32 minutes ago
- Heidi Montag surgeries hurt women, docs say
- TRAVEL
- OPINION
Mapping O.C. frozen yogurt shops
July 16th, 2009, 6:10 am · 58 Comments · posted by Staff Writer, the Orange County Register
By Miki Fujiwara/Staff writer-intern
*see disclaimer below
Located at the intersection of N. State College Blvd. and Chapman Ave., Yogurtland is just around the corner from my school, Troy High School.
Since it opened a few years ago, Yogurtland has become the perfect spot to hangout during lunch, or after school. But a couple of months ago Pinkberry opened just across the street.
So now my Troy High friends and I face a big froyo dilemma: Where do we eat?
Yogurtland
Yogurtland has handy-dandy machines and candy scoopers to create your own personal froyo. But it’s hard not to be drawn to the new kid on the block — Pinkberry — with its colorful and energetic vibe.
After trying both, we discovered Pinkberry isn’t as fun as self-serve and doesn’t offer as much variety as Yogurtland.
However, we felt we got a more pampered experience at Pinkberry.
Truthfully, I’m not sure which one I prefer.
But one thing’s clear — I’m not alone when it comes to debating where my next froyo will come from.
With a little help from Google, I tracked the number of froyo shops in Orange County. I discovered more than 50 nouveau yogurt brands – from the ultra-chic Red Mango to the family-friendly, self-serve Cherry on Top.
So why are there so many froyo shops in O.C.?
According to Alexis Eldridge, Senior Marketing Consultant for Yogurtland, frozen yogurt is a “healthier food item” that presents people with an “affordable luxury.” Yogurtland operates 16 in Orange County.
Dan Kim, chief executive of Red Mango, agreed. He said O.C. is froyo heavy because residents here tend to be more health-conscious. His chain operates four in Orange County.
Still, some indie shops have already failed, including Sweet Berry Bliss in Seal Beach. The Main Street shop closed after being open for only six months.
Regardless, it appears more shops are coming than closing.
Still, I wonder: Is froyo a passing fad?
Tell us: What do you think?
*To view the locations of various frozen yogurt shops in Orange County, click here or click on the froyo image at the top of the blog post. Disclaimer: Older, more traditional frozen yogurt chains such as Golden Spoon and TCBY were not included in this survey. Also, smoothie shops serving froyo, such as Juice it Up, were not included.
If we missed your favorite indie froyo shop, please comment here or on the map and we’ll add it.
Register staff writer Jaime Fletcher and graphics editor Cindy O’dell contributed to this report.
Related stories:
Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.
58 Comments
Leave a Reply
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Restaurants Out of Business
The recession is forcing many Orange County restaurants to shutter, and we're trying to track them all for you. Check out our O.C. Restaurant Closure List for the latest updates. -
-
-
Report: Restaurants on Twitter
Special report: Restaurants are jumping on the Social Media bandwagon. But is Eating and Tweeting luring diners? READ FULL STORY
- How Twitter-savvy are chains? CLICK HERE to see how the Fast Food Maven rates local and national chains on Twitter.
-
Preview: Seasons 52 and Capital Grille
Slide show exclusive: Preview South Coast Plaza's two new sister restaurants -- Seasons 52 and Capital Grille. Both Darden-owned chains will replace later this year the space once occupied by The Clubhouse. -
-
O.C. Frozen Yogurt Shops
-
Contact the Fast Food Maven
Follow the Fast Food Maven on Twitter or 'Friend Me' on Facebook.
Send tips reviews, gripes to nluna@ocregister.com
Nancy Luna, the Fast Food Maven
The Orange County Register
625 N. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92711-1626
-
-
-
-
-
16th annual People's Choice
From your favorite restaurants and shops to the best day spa in town, here are your choices for the number one places to eat, shop and play in O.C.
Browse the 2009 Best of Orange County winners -
ADVERTISEMENT
Only 50?? I would have bet on closer to 100 or more.
And wasn’t there a Farrells way back when at State College & Chapman?
why?! lol this is what OCR editors are assigning these days? i realise this miki person is an intern, but COME ON! OCR, are you being intellectually honest when you say you want to be a legitimate paper? really? first of all, one can simple go to google and find out this same information, why are you reinventing the wheel when there is PLENTY of other legitimate reporting that NEEDS to be done? secondly, even if a list of froyo shops wasn’t available in umpteen different forms (yelp, yahoo maps, google maps, etc etc) and this somehow didn’t exist, WHY would you consider creating the list?
at this point, your paper is pure comedic factor… you might be fooling your advertisers by telling them you have X number of ‘readers’ and ‘viewers’ but it won’t be very long before those advertisers figure out that no one takes you seriously, therefore no one clicks, calls, or visits any of your advertisers.
what a joke of a ‘news’paper.
For all the haters on these blogs seem to think they are really smart and sophisticated, they are apparently too dumb to realize these are BLOGS. Not news articles, BLOG POSTS. And blog posts should be like those little chocolates you get from the office candy jar - short, daily, and a good excuse to have a semi interesting, semi-informative, break-from-whatever-else you are doing bit of human intereaction. And occassionally they are very interesting, very informative, or great fodder for conversation, but it’s certainly not a requirement.
uh, thanks for the recap. i am smart enough to know that this is a blog. in fact, i called it a blog all the time. what you don’t seem to get (you’re probably lightly educated and young) is that blogs are NOT journalism and have no business being on the FRONT page of a so-called ‘news’paper. moreover, you didn’t even address what i said… that this is a joke when you can find this information out in myriad other sites on the internet. the paper is a joke because they put efforts into reinventing the wheel with interns. why not focus on reporting on REAL news and leave the blogs to at-home boredom killers?
trent, please see my reply to Julie, above. I think I address your comments about the blog not being journalism when, in fact, it is new journalism. thanks, Nancy
It’s the Food section, get over it. Do you complain to network executives about the lack of quality programming on the Food Network too?
calworthington: because no one else is apparently smart enough to know that when journalism dies, so does freedom. i’m not trying to sound so hyperbolic, but it’s true. and newspapers are rapidly becoming nothing more than tabloid celebrity b.s. and apparently personal blogs. you should be concerned about that, but i’m afraid you aren’t. so yea, i complain. because at least history will know that some people weren’t so brain dead.
*trent* why the heck do you even read these blogs, let alone comment on them, if they so BELOW your level?
Why aren’t you over corresponding on the Wall Street Journal or New York Times or Christian Science Monitor blogs if you are so into “real news”??
Since I am assuming those newspaper have the “journalism” you crave.
mvmommy, how do you know i’m not?
Actually, Julie…..while I thank you for defending the stories here on the blog. I actually take great pride in the fact, that this blog does produce news stories. In other words, as the Register’s food/restaurant/supermarket reporter — I use the blog as the vehicle to write about my beat. And, I’m proud to say, it is very successful.
A bulk of my news stories are printed in the mainstream newspaper: The Orange County Register, either in the Business, Life or Food sections.
The Fast Food Maven was recently mentioned in the latest issue of Chain Leader magazine. This is new journalism. Period.
nancy, you supposedly went to journalism school, how are you being intellectually honest when you say this is journalism? i guess you’re carefully using the phrase ‘new journalism’? because you and i (i hope) both know that blogs are not journalism. there is no investigative reporting, there is no follow up, there is little to no verification, and they are at best, weakly informative. again, where does the paper justify creating a map of the shops when it EXISTS in many other forms? are you proud to work for a paper that puts you on furlough and then uses intern resources to create something that already exists? i know you would never accept it or admit it, but you know darn well you work for a company that can loosely call itself a newspaper. you guys put front page stories about celebrity birthdays and plastic surgery. and oh yea, links to blogs abound… not links to actual news stories. murrow rolls in his grave…
trent: As for as defining new jourmalism & blogs, I think I’ve said my peace on that one. Clearly, we disagree.
But, I would like a link and, verification, of your froyo map in OC. Where does it exist? Do some reporting, and verify your assertions, please. In other words, walk the walk. Don’t just talk the talk. And even if it does exist, who cares? Just because the NYTimes reports that Michael Jackson is dead, does that mean other newspapers don’t need to report it?
As for my intern: Why is it wrong to give my intern experience in reporting, writing and mapping?
Nancy - I love Fast Food Maven and am so grateful for some of the great places in OC you’ve introduced me to via the blog, but my point is that while you may post some very excellent journalism pieces, I don’t expect every post to be worthy of the Pulitzer, especially posts by your high school intern who is obviously working on building his skills as a future reporter.
Trent - in this day and age ANY information is available elsewhere on the internet, sometimes in several locations. It’s both the wonderful and sad thing of our modern information saturated society. What is great about the Register’s blog areas is that they do a good job of filtering that info into one location you can visit every day to see what’s going on in your local area. Sure, I could scour the web myself for local food news and great promotions at fast food joints and see what’s opening or closing… but I don’t have time to do all that. I’ll trust Nancy to do that for me and let me know when something interesting is happening. What Nancy does is absolutely investigative reporting, it just happens to be investigative reporting on a subject that has an immediate impact on my life - where to go for lunch!
As it happens, I have a BS in Business Management, graduated Summa Cum Laude and am in my 30s. Hardly young and undereducated. Savvy enough to know that while I have access to hard hitting newspapers around the world at my fingertips, one thing I’m severely missing in my overly-busy, stuck at my cubicle all day crunching numbers life, is the time to actually cultivate the level of social circle necessary to get good recommendations on local food/merchants/happenings. And that is the terrific brilliance at the heart of this little blog group and why I think it’s latched onto the one edge that the Register has over more national newspapers. Because while the Washington Post may be a terrific place to get information on what the Obama administration is up to, they won’t let me know when there is going to be a Bob’s Big Boy opening up near my house.
@Julie Scott: fair enough… i appreciate that you gave an intelligent, detailed response. it is nice to know that there are at least some intelligent people in orange county. i understand your point of view, however, i would say that i wasn’t talking about the merits of wholesale blog. i was talking about how the register continually bills itself as a major daily, when in fact, they aren’t. on top of everything else, the ’stories’ they do publish are riddled with inaccuracies, grammatical errors, and spelling errors… hence why i call this paper a joke.
That’s nice Trent. Get a life. If you don’t like what they’re writing, STOP READING IT. What a jerk! Don’t harass a high school student about something I’m sure she worked very hard on.
I’m sad to see Golden Spoon left out of the list. In full disclosure, I do work with them for PR outreach, but I’m writing this as a Golden Spoon fan. It’s a great, local brand, and while you note that it’s an “older, traditional” chain, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t match your criteria of noveau or health-conscious - they do offer a few tart flavors, and in terms of health benefits, their culture counts blow the competitors out of the water! Golden Spoon’s powerhouse legacy of lasting in Orange County for almost 30 years shows that fro-yo isn’t just a fad locally - it’s part of Orange County’s culture, a part that’s here to stay.
I agree. My family always tries to head to a Golden Spoon first before the others. Unfortunately there aren’t many close to my neighborhood near Eulid/Malvern in Fullerton. Either got to head to Buena Park or Brea.
I Love Yogurtland! The prices are reasonable and my kids love to create their own mix! But, can someone tell me, why a place where you serve yourself has a tip jar? Does that mean i get to take money from it after i serve myself? I don’t get it. I for one don’t put money in a tip jar when they dont do anything but take your money. they aren’t preparing my yogurt. Hmmmm, just found it odd.
The tip jar is for staff that go above and beyond keeping the shop impeccibly clean and the toppings well stocked! I went into Joghurt (17th Street in Tustin), a self-serve shop, last week and the two employees were very meticulous about cleaning the tables, the counter tops, the topping bar area, the yogurt dispensers, and filled the toppings. They never stood around during slow moments. I’m impressed!!
staff is not going above and beyond to keep the store clean, neat, and orderly. that is clearly what they were hired for and what they get paid to do. they put out that tip jar because people like you put money in it.
I welcome a tip jar debate. Thoughts , anyone?
maybe start a new topic? that would be interesting.
Tip Jars are jokes for the most part. But there are times when i frequent a place that I will put some extra in there for the workers because they are nice.
I’ve been in Yogurtland on Newport in Tustin at lunch several times, and I’ve tipped when the employees made flavor recommendations, or the time I accidently spilled a whole cup of chocolate yogurt on the floor while trying to carry too many at once. But then I’ve done my time at food service counters and have alot of sympathy for those in the trenches.
It doesn’t make sense for to- go food establishments(yogurt,sushi,Bob’s Big Boy even had the gall to have a tip jar even though you’re expected to tip your waitress) to have tip jars! First of all,they aren’t really at your beck and call because most times you’re filling your own drink,getting your own condiments,ect. and why do they deserve a tip when you’re pretty much doing everything yourself. Sit down restaurants are a little different,but lately even there workers are half assing it!
Yogurtland is the BEST…
There’s a CeFiore at 6846 Edinger in Huntington Beach (in addition to the one in downtown HB).
Thanks, Eric. The Cefiore froyo shops have been added. As for Ms. Christa, the PR rep for Golden Spoon…Here’s my response. ..”As stated in my disclaimer, this map is intended to document “new” froyo brands in O.C., not older traditional yogurt shops like Golden Spoon.”
Nancy
I think the FroYo thing has caught on because it satisfies the still lingering health food craze while being strangely cheaper than it’s fattier alternative, ice cream. Our family can pick up Yogurtland for about $10 for dessert for all of us, which would be impossible at someplace like Baskin Robbins, plus it’s way better for us than ice cream. It’s a win/win all around.
FYI, there are now about 170 total Froyo shops in OC, (if you include Golden Spoon) which is about equal to the number of ice cream shops. The explosive growth in Froyo shops has slowed with only about 9 shops under construction. 9 shops have closed.
BTW not including Golden Spoon on a list of OC FRO YO Shops is kind of like not including In-N-Out in a list of SoCal hamburger shops! Unlike Red Mango, who started in Korea 5 years ago, we started right here in Orange County, over 25 yrs. ago, and have grown to be the 2nd largest chain in the US with 100 shops. So I would like to invite Maven readers to come try the real deal in FRO YO. My shops are in Orange and Fullerton. - Dan Finch, GS franchisee.
it goes without saying, dan, that you will not be able to figure out the logic of how the writers and editors decide the direction of a ’story’ in this paper (er, blog). i agree with you 100% that to leave of the granddaddy of OC yogurt shops is akin to leaving in ‘n out off a map of OC hamburger joints. ms. maven’s logic pertaining to ‘new’ shops is quite lacking.
by the way, i love golden spoon and i am glad to see that you guys are still striving despite the latest (sour) yogurt craze.
if there was any logic to this, me thinks ms. maven and the OCR are trying to persuade people that the likes you are not trendy and ‘old news’. this is after all, ‘new journalism’.
Glad to hear you’re a GS fan, Trent… hope to meet you one day! We are lucky to have loyal customers like you. Guess we’ll just keep quietly making the BEST Frozen Yogurt (Whoops, I keep forgetting it’s called Froyo, now!) around! Don’t tell anyone, (not even the Media) it will be our little secret! FYI, nothing is ever as easy as it looks. Ask pinkberry!
cheers
Dan, I’m sorry you and the other Golden Spoon fans are upset by the omission. You are a great operator, and I hope you understand the focus of the map is to document new brands, that are invading the county.
and yet the title of the article, or i mean post, or i mean blog entry, er… anyway, yet the title is “Mapping O.C. frozen yogurt shops” …
do you really find it hard to understand why people get confused?
In that case, you might want to remove another old Brand from 1986 that somehow snuck onto your map — Yogen Fruz (Brea).
I liked Gold Mine yogurt on 17th street and where is there a TCBY!?
Apparantly, the author of this story wants to keep the location of the pioneering brands that actually invented Frozen Yogurt secret for some reason. They seem to want to separate “Froyo” shops from “Frozen Yogurt” shops as if they were two different things! There is only one TCBY left in Laguna Niguel, but don’t worry, if you like them you’ll love Golden Spoon! And 28 Golden Spoons, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding one even without a map!
Swirl, in Anaheim Hills on Fairmont & Santa Ana Canyon, wonderful tart flavors & do-it-yourself toppings. A great neighborhood choice for the locals!
I dont like Pinkberry because the staff never made me feel comfortable. one time i went in there and they all were looking at me strangely. they even came up to me and said: “please leave”. i left distraught. so i went to Cantaloop and bought a ton of yogurt for friends and family and then passed by Pinkberry as all the employees watched me carrying all the yogurt and i told them: “BIG mistake!”
all this happened as i walked to the tune of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”
Hey Trent it’s not your blog!!! Take your negativity some place else.
Trent:
Go somewhere else & GET A LIFE.
You are boring and a boor….
blah, blah, blah….
i’m only boring to people who are boring.
WHAT!? *trent* resorting to colloquialism (or would that be considered slang)?
I like froyo more than ice cream because ice cream is so unhealthy for you. I’m not saying that froyo is healthy, but it sure is a lot healthier than ice cream. I frequent Cherry on Top the most, but I love the pineapple flavor at Yogurtland (plus that fact that Yogurtland is 25% cheaper). I also love the self-serve idea. I can fill my dessert craving without going overboard. And I agree about the tip jar being nonsense. I do the work, so I keep my tip money.
What I didn’t like about pinkberry is that it doesn’t publish well it’s deal price - medium with 2 toppings. Luckily the first server I had pointed it out to me, but I went in with my friend who is legally blind (couldn’t read the fine print) & she bought a medium with one topping for more then I’d paid.
@Julie Scott: fair enough… i appreciate that you gave an intelligent, detailed response. it is nice to know that there are at least some intelligent people in orange county. i understand your point of view, however, i would say that i wasn’t talking about the merits of wholesale blog. i was talking about how the register continually bills itself as a major daily, when in fact, they aren’t. on top of everything else, the ’stories’ they do publish are riddled with inaccuracies, grammatical errors, and spelling errors… hence why i call this paper a joke.
I have an idea Trent. Okay,you ready:DON’T READ IT THEN!!!! You obviously have issues and a terrible superiority complex. Go away!
you need to get a life. Why are you even reading&commenting on a blog that is so beneath you?
I am sick of froyo. I’ve gone a couple times, and it doesn’t even compare to ice cream. So what if there’s a few extra calories, and a buck or two more? The froyo bubble will pop very soon.. I feel bad for the owners, but they seem to have fun with it. How can they make any money selling 10 2 dollar cups a day?
yogurtland on brookhurst/adams has a weird yogurt nazi. he kept peeping of the manager’s back room constantly, giving dirty looks. perhaps they have had some problems with punk kids, but he was creeping me out!
yogurtland on brookhurst/adams has a weird yogurt naz1. he kept peeping of the manager’s back room constantly, giving dirty looks. perhaps they have had some problems with punk kids, but he was creeping me out!
tip jar is a joke at a self service place. ive seen them at mcdonalds too. no way. funny i found these posts. lol.
are you serious? in 5.3 seconds i can find this on google… hopefully you know how to read the map… the big dots are sponsored listings… the small, non-lettered dots are address locations of shops…
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=category:%22Frozen+Yogurt+Shop%22&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=50.157795,96.767578&ie=UTF8&rq=2&near=orange+county,+ca&cd=1&ei=1W5fSp-yI6egjgP_lsHTDA&ll=33.758884,-117.892914&spn=0.400749,0.755997&z=11
the same search can be done at yelp, yahoo maps, city search, etc.
did you seriously not know this? i think we might be getting to the root of the problem. you claim you’re in this brave new world of journalism, yet you seem rather behind the times.
My point was: I was asking you to provide the link to support your statement. I won’t even justify addressing the rest of your rant.
and i provided the link… so? but it appears you won’t post it.
I did post your link and responded.
classy…