Vancouver, Canada Froyo Update

Killer Ice Cream

Fro-yo girl here. The Metro Vancouver regional district includes multiple cities, villages, municipalities, etc., with a total population of over 2.6 million. Due to the large size of the the area, I’m going to focus on froyo in North Vancouver (population 58,120), Richmond (population 209,937), Vancouver (population 662,248), and West Vancouver (population 44,122).

My last Vancouver froyo report was in 2011. In that post, I mentioned Saporito (it closed in 2011), Footo Delights (it became Footo Croissants and it’s still open), the Milkman, Yogen Fruz, Qoola, and Pinkberry. I had some horrible froyo at Footo Delights. Thankfully, they stopped offering froyo. Of the shops that I mentioned in 2011, The Milkman at the Granville Island Public Market is the only one that is still open, and it still serves froyo blended with real fruit.

Many froyo shops have come and gone since 2011, including multiple locations of Qoola and multiple froyo trucks. Qoola started with one store in the West End of Vancouver, BC in 2008. Pinkberry has one location left in Canada and it’s in Toronto. The closest (to Vancouver) Yogen Fruz is now in Burnaby.

You can still get froyo in Vancouver but there aren’t that many froyo shops left.

The Milkman

Current Places to Get Froyo

• Berry’s Frozen Yogurt, 6685 Royal Ave, West Vancouver, serves mix-in style frozen yogurt blended with fresh fruit.
• IKEA, 320 Jacombs Rd Unit 1, Richmond, serves soft serve froyo and is surely the cheapest place to get your froyo fix.
• Killer Ice Cream, 3659 W 4th Ave, Vancouver, specializes in Australian-style real fruit ice cream. Guests choose a base (vanilla ice cream, froyo, oat ice cream, cashew-coconut ice cream) which is then blended to order with a choice of fruits and fresh herbs. The froyo is made with BC dairy.
• Krave Kulture, 3151 Edgemont Boulevard, North Vancouver, started out making kefir (not frozen kefir) and yogurt from scratch with local milk and live cultures. They later added frozen yogurt, smoothies, sweet and savory yogurt bowls, bagels with housemade yogurt spreads, and more. Their dairy products are made in-house with organic Canadian milk. Krave Kulture will be opening at the Lonsdale Quay Market in North Vancouver in 2025, and they recently started selling their pre-packed froyo pints at Stong’s Market.
• Menchie’s, 412 Davie Street Vancouver, has been open in Yaletown since 2015.
• The Milkman, 1689 Johnston St, Vancouver, offers mix-in fruit froyo inside the Granville Island Public Market.
• TCBY, 1503 Bellevue Ave, West Vancouver, is a counter-serve outpost of the well-known chain
• Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt, 3800 Bayview St, Richmond, is a Canadian classic that opened in 1989 as a small café and gelato shop on the Steveston Pier. In 2024, Timotny’s won the Best Ice Cream in the Best of Richmond.

Possible Places to Get Froyo

• Freshii has locations throughout the Vancouver area, including at the airport. Freshii used to (or still offers?) froyo. The Vancouver International Airport - Level 3 Freshii does not offer froyo.
• Frux, 141-123 Carrie Cates Ct, North Vancouver, is inside the Lonsdale Quay Market. They served organic frozen yogurt, smoothies, Liege waffles, ice cream, and more. At some point they changed their name from Frux Organic Frozen Yogurt to Frux Gelato. In the early days they even served kale frozen yogurt. I’m not sure, but my guess is that they no longer serve froyo.
• I Am Yogost, multiple locations, offered frozen yogurt bark during the summer. Not all locations carried the froyo bark.
• YoYo’s, Scotiabank Theater, 8882 170 Street NW, Vancouver, can be found inside the theatre. YoYo’s claimed to be Canada’s first self-serve froyo. It’s no longer listed on the theater’s website, so it must have closed.

I noticed that there are more places to get tofu pudding in Vancouver than there are places to get froyo. Unfortunately, most of the tofu pudding places are outside of downtown Vancouver. Richmond seems to be the place to go for the best tofu pudding. There’s even a tofu pudding food truck called Talk Soy To Me.

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.

Toronto Area Froyo Report

Fro-yo girl here. I was recently in the Toronto area looking for froyo. Unfortunately, I just missed the Pinkberry Toronto opening; the first Pinkberry Toronto location opened at Sherway Gardens on September 22, 2015. Driving around I noticed quite a few Menchie’s locations, including one across the street from my hotel. These Menchie’s locations offered more than self-serve froyo; one sold hot dogs, another smoothies, and several had froyo cakes.

I was expecting to see more Yogurty’s, Yogen Fruz and Tutti Frutti locations – but they’re in the Downtown Core area that I didn’t visit.

I wanted to try deKEFIR, Ci Gusta! and the Red Bench. Unfortunately, deKEFIR, a kefir shop, isn’t open on weekends or evenings.

Ci Gusta! ,a chain from Italy, opened its first location in Canada in March 2013 (it recently closed). Their location in Toronto is closed. Ci Gusta does not have any locations in the US and I looked forward to having Italian style frozen yogurt. The Italian style café offers gelato (scoopable and soft serve), frozen yogurt, crepes, flat bread (piadina), Italian desserts, and coffee. I visited the Markham location (60 N Main St., Markham) which had self-serve froyo a year ago but stopped carrying it a year ago. The soft serve machines are now filled with soft serve gelato. Very disappointing! 

Fortunately, the Red Bench (611 Yonge St., Toronto) was open late on a weekend. The shop is eco-friendly, cozy and inviting ; it smells like cookies because they also make customizable cookies. Customers can pick their dough and mix-ins and the cookies are baked on the spot. Their homemade organic frozen yogurt is sold by weight, 63 cents an ounce. There are six rotating flavors. During my visit none were tart flavors. The taro flavor was weak (not strong enough) and the vanilla had an unpleasant slightly bitter aftertaste. The texture was too loose and icy. 

Even the Mapleton’s Organic frozen yogurt that I purchased from the Whole Foods in Markham was disappointing. Oh Toronto…why did you disappoint me so?

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.