National Frozen Yogurt Month 2019: Reflections on Frozen Yogurt Trends

Fro-yo girl here. Happy National Frozen Yogurt Month 2019! TCBY declared the first National Frozen Yogurt Month, National Frozen Yogurt Week (the first week of June) and National Frozen Yogurt Day (the first "Sundae/Sunday" in June) back in 1993.

Every June I like to take a look at the popularity of frozen yogurt according to Google Trends. Google Trends captures how often people search for a particular term using Google Search, the #1 search engine in the world, over a period of time.

Interest in frozen yogurt in the United States has been quite steady, with seasonal declines, over the past 5 years. It’s currently trending upwards, since interest peaks in June/July. While I can think of many frozen yogurt shops have closed around the country, even in sunny California, the search volume does not show a significant drop. Of course, people search for frozen yogurt for a variety of reasons, not just to find the nearest frozen yogurt shop. Google Trends has this covered too.

The top frozen yogurt queries in the US for the past 12 months are:

1. Frozen yogurt near
2. Yogurt near
3. Frozen yogurt near me
4. Ice cream
5. Yogurt ice cream

The most popular queries show that people are looking for frozen yogurt when they use Google Search. One can also look at rising queries to see a rise in interest in keto frozen yogurt and frozen yogurt robots.

Interest by subregion refers to the percentage of inquires about frozen yogurt compared to total searches, not the total number of searches for frozen yogurt. Using this measure, interest in frozen yogurt over the past 12 months was highest in:

1. Idaho
2. Oregon
3. Arizon
4. Utah
5. Nevada

Looking at the past 12 months at worldwide searches for frozen yogurt, the following countries showed the most interest in frozen yogurt:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Australia
4. Singapore
5. Norway

In 2018, frozen yogurt as a search term is the most popular in #1. United States, #2. Canada, #3. Australia, #4. Greece, #5. Denmark. The top two positions have stayed the same for years. The Australian frozen yogurt pictures look amazing. Their shops are stylish and focused on quality and creativity. 

Froyo Trends and Musings

Frozen yogurt shops continue to open and to close as prices rise. I’ve personally cut back on portion sizes. Also, since there aren’t as many new froyo spoons (e.g., there have been NO new collectible froyo spoons so far this year) and new froyo flavors, I haven’t had as many reasons to eat froyo. I’ve also seen more flat rate cup specials but those encourage me to get a lot more froyo than I really want.

I really fear for Pinkberry. Locations keep closing and some of the ones that are open have quality and consistency issues. I hope they can turn things around before it’s too late. In terms of consistency and quality control, I’d have to say Yogurtland is best at this though I can think of some locations that need additional oversight. Menchie’s has been the most active in terms of promotions in recent years, surpassing Yogurtland.

On a brighter note, I have found excellent froyo at non-froyo shops (e.g., Souvla, Pita GR, Spread Kitchen, Foodhall) and I’m eating plant-based, lower sugar soft serve more often.

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.