Fro-yo girl here. Electro Freeze of Nor Cal has announced its Bay Area spring open house. The open house will feature show specials, equipment demos, product sampling, and raffle prizes. Come and check out Electro Freeze’s soft serve, gelato, shake, and margarita machines.
- Date: Thursday, April 5th
- Location: 2480 Industrial Pkwy West, Hayward, CA 94545
- Time: 10am-5pm
RSVP at https://www.norcalfreeze.com/events or by calling (916) 925-5600.
About Electro Freeze of Nor Cal
Electro Freeze of Nor Cal distributes and services all Electro Freeze models in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Electro Freeze of Nor Cal, is in a partnership with Express Refrigeration. Together we have many years of experience in installing, consulting and servicing the commercial refrigeration industry.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. It felt like it took forever for me to find the new Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt pints in Southern California. I kept checking at different stores for two months. Target is finally starting to stock Yasso pints in Southern California. A pint is $4.99.
The new pint flavors are:
- Best of Both Swirlds (chocolate and vanilla froyo)
- Caramel Pretzelmania (sea salt caramel pretzel froyo w/ pieces of chocolate covered pretzel and a caramel swirl)
- Chocolate PB & Yay (chocolate froyo w/ peanut butter swirl & peanut butter chips) – why couldn’t this be peanut butter froyo with chocolate chips?
- Coffee Brownie Break (coffee froyo w/ brownies & crushed cookies)
- Loco Coco Caramel (toasted caramel froyo w/ caramel swirl & chocolate chips)
- Mint Champion Chip (mint froyo w/ chocolate chips)
- Party Animal (cake flavored froyo w/ cake chunks & sprinkles)
- Rolling in the Dough (vanilla froyo w/ cookie dough pieces & chocolate chips)
The only flavor that appeals to me is Mint Champion Chip, because the others sound too sweet, with brownies, cookie dough, sprinkles, etc. I do like chocolate chips in my ice cream/froyo though. And I liked Yasso’s mint frozen Greek yogurt sandwiches.
* Mint Championship frozen Greek yogurt: It’s gluten free with live & active cultures, rBST free milk and no high intensity sweeteners. One serving is 130 calories, 3.5g fat, 16g sugars, 6g protein. I really don’t like the taste of Stevia, so I was relieved that Yasso doesn’t use it. The peppermint frozen yogurt was light and refreshing. The chocolate flakes added crunch and chocolate flavor. I liked the color too – not a deep unnatural green. The texture wasn’t icy or creamy but something in between. I liked it a lot because it was flavorful and natural tasting. It could use more chocolate flakes though.
Ingredients: Nonfat milk, Greek yogurt (nonfat milk, yogurt cultures), sugar, chocolate flake (confectioner’s sugar, coconut oil, dutch processed cocoa, cocoa butter oil, soy lecithin, natural flavor), cream, milk protein concentrate, dextrose, maltodextrin, locust bean gum, natural flavors, spirulina extract, fruit juice, soy lecithin guar gum.
4 out of 5 stars.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Things are looking up in Van Nuys. Menchie’s will soon open at Sherman Square, across the parking lot from Dunkin Donuts. The flavor wall is up, and I spotted six machines, so they’ll have 12 flavors a day. The new location has a Facebook page and an Instagram page. They are currently hiring. The opening date hasn’t been announced yet, but it should be soon. Check @menchiesvannuys on Instagram.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* MENCHIE’S: 14523A Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. This year marks the fourth annual Vegan Street Fair in Los Angeles. It happens once a year in Los Angeles and New York. Admission is free. There were separate lines for VIP pass holders and the general public and you needed to buy tickets first for some but not all items. As first time visitors, we found that part confusing. Samples were free and didn’t require tickets though. I spotted two tofu makers, vegan jerky, lots of food stalls, food trucks, clothing, soap, etc. It was crowded, very crowded. I noticed vendors from other parts of the country, though most were SoCal based.
Every food vendor offers a $4 or less bite-size portion and larger portions. This year the fair took place on March 25 in North Hollywood from 11 AM - 7 PM.
This was my first time at Vegan Street Fair I’m not vegan because most froyo isn’t vegan…but there is an important exception. Mr. Froyo and I love Glendale’s Yoga-urt, which is handcrafted, vegan, organic, soy-free, kosher, gluten-free, probiotic, plant-based soft serve. It’s made with love and the soft serve is amazing. Yoga-urt had a booth at VSF for the third time. This year they brought swirled scoops (two flavors in one scoop), Blue Warrior as the feature flavor (popcorn and peanuts), other flavors, toppings, and ice cream sandwiches. One scoop was $4.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Hmart opened in Arcadia, CA in December and I spotted K-Town Yummy Belly frozen shakes, imported from Korea, in the freezer section. The product is known as milkshake in a bag. They come in several flavors, like melon, chocolate, strawberry, banana, and of course, yogurt. One package contains five 5.07 fl oz (150ml) packs. A package was $5.49 regular price and $3.49 on sale.
The bag says keep frozen but it also says shake, shake, shake to the yummiest taste. The product was frozen solid and when I twisted the top off the bag, nothing came out. So, thawing must be required. It’s cute how the bag looks like a Yakult yogurt drink bottle. Squeeze the bag once it thaws a bit.
The texture was definitely icy and it tasted sweet like Yakult. It was pretty tangy. I think Yakult is okay but a plain yogurt drink tastes better. If you like Yakult, you’ll like the Yogurt Flavored Frozen Shake. It’s a lot bigger than Yakult. One serving is 130 calories, 0g fat, 32g total carbohydrate, 30g of sugars.
Ingredients (yogurt flavor): Water, sugar, fructose, skim milk powder, oligofructose, glucose, dextrin, whey powder, citric acid, stabilizer (dextrin, guar gum, carrageenan, ammonium phosphate, dibasic, locust bean gum, tamarind gum), artificial yogurt flavors, lactic acid bacteria, annatto extract.
3 out of 5 stars
* HMART: 1101 W Huntington Dr., Arcadia, CA 91007
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. I’ve been wanting to try the blueberry yogurt cake at Paris Baguette for years, but I didn’t want to buy a full cake. Recently, they started offering cake slices (yay). The whole cake is $31 and a slice is $4.50.
* Blueberry yogurt cake slice: The cake features three thin layers of vanilla sponge cake and three thin layers of blueberry yogurt cream with fresh strawberry slices, topped with fresh blueberries, a raspberry, and a blackberry. The cake was light but not moist. The tartness came from the fresh berries but I couldn’t taste yogurt. The yogurt cream was light and creamy. The frosting wasn’t too sweet. It reminded me of a strawberry shortcake from an Asian bakery.
I had a similar cake at Tous Les Jours, a Korean bakery and it also lacked yogurt flavor.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* PARIS BAGUETTE: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. I swung by Menchie’s to pick up the limited edition Sherlock Gnomes cup. There were a few Sherlock Gnomes signs around the shop too. The cup is for the new children’s movie from Paramount, which comes out on March 23. I’d rather have a new spoon because you can’t reuse paper yogurt cups. Oh well.
On an interesting side note, Paramount also collaborated with Variety, the Children’s Charity. Collectible Sherlock Gnomes pins, on sale at movie theaters during Variety’s Gold Heart Campaign, will benefit Variety programs “that provide life-saving, life-changing, and life-enriching equipment and services to children who have a disability or are disadvantaged.” They should have made Menchie’s Sherlock Gnomes pins.
Also, I noticed the color of my green Menchie's spoon is different. It's darker for some reason. But everything else about the spoon is the same as before.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. If you’re in Northern or Central California and you own or want to open a frozen desserts or beverages business, save the date for the upcoming Electro Freeze of Nor Cal open house in Sacramento.
This year’s open house promises to be bigger than ever. It’s sponsored by Southwest Traders and they’re bringing lots of new products to try. If you missed the Southwest Traders 2018 Product Show March 1-2, this is your chance to try some of the products from the Los Angeles show.
- Open House Dates and Times: March 22 & 23, from 10 AM – 5 PM
- Location: 4330 Pinell St., Sacramento, CA 95815
Looking to add a machine? Is it time for a machine upgrade? At the open houses, you can experience all that Electro Freeze machines have to offer, including soft serve, gelato, shake, and margarita machines. Since the Sacramento open house is at the Electro Freeze office/warehouse, you can ask for an equipment demo for 24 models.
Open House Specials:
- 20% off all equipment, 10% off parts
- Raffle prizes
- Free food & drinks (free froyo, of course!!!!)
- Special offers from participating vendors
Some of the participating vendors include Ambrosia, Frozen Solutions, Summit Premium, Rainbow’s End, Sugar Creek/Honey Hill Farms, Frozen Bean, TR Toppers, Dreyer’s
RSVP at https://www.norcalfreeze.com/events or by calling (916) 925-5600.
Electro Freeze of Nor Cal will also host an open house in Hayward, CA. Stay tuned for details.
About Electro Freeze of Nor Cal
Electro Freeze of Nor Cal distributes and services all Electro Freeze models in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Electro Freeze of Nor Cal, is in a partnership with Express Refrigeration. Together we have many years of experience in installing, consulting and servicing the commercial refrigeration industry.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Today was supposed to be the grand opening of Go Greek Yogurteria, the authentic Greek frozen and fresh yogurt mini chain, at Glendale Galleria. Go Greek’s kiosk can be found near the center of the mall (by JC Penney and Green Crush). However, apparently the grand opening was a private, invite-only event, even though Go Greek didn’t mention this on Facebook or Instagram @gogreekyogurt. The public was allowed try some samples. For the frozen yogurt, each person received one tiny sample cup.
They had six flavors of self-serve frozen yogurt today and they had the imported fresh Greek yogurt as well. I think it’s 85 cents an ounce. I saw the toppings bar, but didn’t get a close look at it because it was crowded.
I was told the shop would be open for business this Monday, March 12. The scariest thing happened at the Glendale Galleria this afternoon during the grand opening. The mall was evacuated and on lock-down. I kept hearing about an active shooter but I didn’t see or hear anything. We were told to duck and run as we were let out of the back door.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* GO GREEK YOGURTERIA, 100 W Broadway, Glendale, CA 91210
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. A few weeks ago, I shared some pictures of the future Go Greek at Glendale Galleria. I think I was the first to break the news, since I didn’t see a mention of that location prior to my blog post. When I saw the location, it looked close to opening.
Well, the grand opening date has been announced. It is Saturday, March 10 from 2 PM – 5 PM. I’m not sure what, if any specials, they’ll have, but they had a buy one, get one free special at their Santa Monica opening last year. There may be additional updates from Go Greek on Facebook or Instagram, @gogreekyogurt.
From what I can tell, they will have fresh and frozen Greek yogurt (imported from Greece), like their other location. Expect 6 self-serve flavors of froyo a day and healthier toppings. According to the sign, it will be 85 cents an ounce. Go Greek is upstairs by Green Crush, near the center of the mall.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
By Lolia S.
* GO GREEK YOGURTERIA, 100 W Broadway, Glendale, CA 91210
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. I’ve actually been to Qoola before, when I visited Vancouver, Canada. However, this was quite some time ago and they hadn’t introduced Qoola spoons then. I first learned about the new spoons, which feature the beaver mascot, Qoover, last April (2016), so they are relatively new. Qoover is adorable and he obviously loves hockey, since he’s wearing a hockey jersey and he’s the team captain. He’s clearly a proud Canadian. You can see his tail on the flipside and his jersey says Team Qoola 08.
They seem to come in four colors: yellow, pink, orange and green. It doesn’t look like all the locations have the spoons, based on Instagram photos.
My friend brought back a few spoons for me, from Vancouver. Thanks, S!
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. I’ve been asking for a flavor finder/flavor locator feature from Menchie’s since 2016. It seems like a feature that should be part of any froyo chain app and/or website. Recently I noticed that the some of the locations on the Menchie’s website list “Today’s Flavors.”
I found today’s flavors for several locations:
http://www.menchies.com/frozen-yogurt-shops/frozen-yogurt-south-pasadena-ca/flavors
https://www.menchies.com/frozen-yogurt-shops/frozen-yogurt-mill-plain-crossing-wa/flavors
https://www.menchies.com/frozen-yogurt-shops/frozen-yogurt-valley-village-ca/flavors
I checked the flavors listed as Today’s Flavors with the actual flavors at the shop in South Pasadena, CA. The list of today’s flavors was wildly inaccurate. But, I hope that the accuracy will improve with time.
As a frequent froyo eater, knowing the flavors that are available at the shop is extremely important to me because there are certain flavors that I really love. I know others who feel the same. They’re typically frequent froyo eaters as well. It’s a terrible feeling to go to a froyo shop and not find any appealing froyo flavors. But, it’s a wonderful feeling to find a flavor you love.
Years ago, some froyo shops would make a recording of the day’s flavors for people who called the shop. Technology should make it much easier for shops to share their flavors. It would take just a minute or two to post flavors on Facebook, Instagram, the website, etc. Every large froyo chain should have the power to offer a flavor finder feature. And, it should not only show flavors by location, but allow customers to search by flavor.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Have you noticed how popular Oreo flavors have become at froyo shops lately? Yogurtland introduced Oreo Cookies & Crème ice cream in January 2018. Menchie’s introduced Mookie’s Cookies ‘n’ Cream made with Golden Oreos in December 2017. Back in 2014, Menchie’s separated the Oreo into two flavors, Just the Cookie and Just the Creme.
Other frozen yogurt shops have also developed flavors featuring Oreos, including Red Mango, TCBY, Yogurtys, and Yogen Fruz.
The Oreo flavors keep coming. This March, both Yogurtland and Menchie’s have new Oreo flavors.
Menchie’s is featuring two Oreo flavors in March:
- Chocolate Mint Cookie made with Oreo cookie pieces: This is a lowfat froyo that’s kosher and contains no partially hydrogenated oils. I like chocolate mint a lot and I like Oreos, so I liked the flavor, though the texture was a bit icy at the location that I visited. The mint flavor is definitely noticeable and so is the chocolate. It’s pretty sweet. Recommended toppings: Andes Mints, almonds, Oreos, chocolate shell
- Chocolate ‘n’ Strawberry Cookie made with Oreo cookie pieces: This froyo is also lowfat, kosher and free of partially hydrogenated oils. The color of this froyo was even darker than the Chocolate Mint Cookie. The strawberry was the first flavor that I tasted, only it didn’t taste natural. The cookies give the texture a grainer feel. The aftertaste wasn’t clean. Recommended toppings: Hershey’s Kisses, mochi, chocolate covered strawberries
Menchie’s also has signs and limited edition froyo cups for the upcoming movie, Sherlock Gnomes.
Yogurtland’s new ice cream flavors were scheduled to be released on March 5. They are: Mint Oreo Cookies & Crème, Strawberries & Cream.
- Mint Oreo Cookies & Crème ice cream: The color was much lighter than Menchie’s Chocolate Mint Cookie and the texture was thicker and creamier. I thought the cookie flavor was stronger in the Menchie’s Chocolate Mint Cookie flavor but I preferred the subtler, richer, and higher fat Yogurtland version. Recommended toppings: Chocolate chips, whipped cream, Oreos, almonds.
- Strawberries & Cream ice cream: The strawberry flavor tasted more natural than Menchie’s Chocolate ‘n’ Strawberry Cookie flavor. I thought it was a mild, pleasant flavor. Recommended toppings: Whipped cream, strawberries, Circus Animal cookies, sprinkles, NEW strawberry rolled wafer cookies.
Nabisco Oreos were the best-selling cookie brand in 2017, followed by Nabisco Chips Ahoy. National Oreo Day is celebrated on March 6. The Oreo trademark forms were filed on March 6, 1912. Happy National Oreo Day!
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. I recently attended the Southwest Traders Product Show where I ate lots of froyo, including crazy flavors like Mermaid and Unicorn. The show recap will be posted on internationalfrozenyogurt.com later this week.
The purpose of this post is to share the new additions to my personal froyo spoon collection. Color changing spoons from Frozensolutions.com were all over the the SWT Product Show. I saved one imprinted with Southwest Traders as a show souvenir.
Frozen Solutions also had Dino Spoons. These extra long color changing spoons have long “necks” and the top of the handle looks like a dinosaur head. The spoon is 7.87" long with four variations:
- White to light blue
- Blue to purple
- White to pink
- Pink to purple
The eyes are a little hard to see but they are on each spoon. There are a limited supply of these spoons.
They also have color changing Easter spoons and Easter cups.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
