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.

25th Anniversary of National Frozen Yogurt Month

Fro-yo girl here. Happy National Frozen Yogurt Month. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first National Frozen Yogurt Month. TCBY declared 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.

Search Trends

It’s the time of year that I like to geek out and look at frozen yogurt search trends. That is, how often is frozen yogurt searched for on Google. This is roughly speaking, Google’s way to measure interest over time.

Before looking at the trends, my guess is that interest over time in frozen yogurt is still gradually declining since the peak in July 2012.

Guess what? I was right. The decline is pretty gradual since the frozen yogurt category is now mature and mainstream in the largest market, the US. As in previous years, the search volume is seasonal. Fewer people search for frozen yogurt during the winter.

In 2017, the top 5 countries by interest were #1. United States, #2. Canada, #3. Denmark, #4. Greece and #5. Australia. 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 top search queries in 2018 were #1. “frozen yogurt near me” and #2. frozen yogurt ice cream. People are using Google to find frozen desserts in their area. By US subregion, the number of searches for frozen yogurt was greatest in Washington (particularly the Seattle-Tacoma area), followed by Massachusetts and Arizona. 

Froyo Trends and Musings

Frozen yogurt shops continue to open and to close. It feels like the industry hasn’t come up with anything innovative in awhile and that prices continue to rise. I don’t want to pay over $6 for a snack. I keep my portions small at self-serve shops but I often see people paying $8-$10 for one cup of frozen yogurt. Portions are out of control and there are too many sweet, indulgent flavors inspired by cookies and candy. I like shops that provide small portions of nicely swirled frozen yogurt – yes, I’m talking about Pinkberry’s model. Soft serve ice cream places are following that model but froyo is stuck in a self-serve rut.

In the end, the places that I want to return to are the higher quality shops. I’d like to see healthier options (lower sugar) too. The best frozen yogurt is made in small batches with the best ingredients, from scratch. That said, I’ll always have a weakness for Yogurtland’s Plain Tart, Peanut Butter, and Sumatra Coffee and Pinkberry’s tart flavors.

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.

Popularity of Frozen Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. Is fro-yo gaining in popularity? Looking at Google Trends is one indication of fro-yo's popularity. Google Trends shows search volume traffic and news reference volume. The search volume index shows continued growth in 2011 and continued seasonality (peaking in the summer). News reference volume measures the number of times the topic appeared in Google News stories and this volume picked up in 2008.

The majority of searches come from the U.S., followed by Canada (same as last year). Within the U.S., most of the searches occur in Southern California with San Diego taking the top spot, then Los Angeles #2. followed by the Bay Area (San Francisco, Pleasanton), Las Vegas, Portland and New York. The countries with the greatest volume of frozen yogurt search traffic are 1) US, 2) Canada, 3) Brazil, 4) United Kingdom, 5) Australia, 6) Germany.

Looking at Google Trends, fro-yo is still going strong.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.