Orange Tree Rebranded as Orange Leaf

Fro-yo girl here. Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt has been rebranded as Orange Leaf. Once virtually indistinguishable from Tutti Frutti and Yogofina, Orange Tree, oops, I mean Orange Leaf, now aspires to be Yogurtland. Here's the evidence that Orange Leaf is a Yogurtland knock-off.

*PRICE: Orange Leaf, $0.30 an ounce/ Yogurtland, $0.30 an ounce
*NUMBER OF FRO-YO FLAVORS ON AVERAGE: Orange Leaf, 16/ Yogurtland, 16
*FREE WATER: Orange Leaf, Yes/ Yogurtland, Yes
*LEAF IN THE LOGO: Orange Leaf, Yes/ Yogurtland, Yes

The strongest evidence of being a knock-off is the new biodegradable Orange Leaf spoon AND they had pink, green & white sprinkles (those are Yogurtland colors). It takes effort to rebrand and I'm not sure why they didn't spend some effort on improving their frozen yogurt quality. If Orange Leaf doesn't work, maybe they can try Orange Stem next.

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

http://www.orangeleafyogurt.com/

Three Fro-yo Shops in One Mall, the New Trend

Fro-yo girl here. A couple of months ago, I wrote about how there were three fro-yo shops at the Great Mall (in Milpitas, CA). I found three in New Park Mall too (in Newark, CA). The Great Mall is huge and really crowded, so I can maybe see having two fro-yo shops there. But New Park Mall is a small mall in serious decline. I don't understand what the owner of the second shop is thinking and the owner of the third shop is wildly optimistic. I can't think of too many malls that are busy enough year-round to support that many fro-yo shops.

You could argue that only Orange Tree in New Park Mall is the only pure fro-yo shop. Good Luck Yogurt Shop sometimes has fro-yo and sometimes does not (you'd think with a name like Good Luck Yogurt Shop, they would always have yogurt). The third shop has sandwiches, smoothies, ice cream and fro-yo.

Will San Francisco Westfield Centre and Westfield Valley Fair be able to support three fro-yo shops? Time will tell.

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

Fro-yo at the Great Mall

Fro-yo girl here. Question: Which Bay Area shopping mall has the most fro-yo shops? Answer: The Great Mall.



The Great Mall has three fro-yo shops: TCBY, Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt and Dreyer's. Coldstone Creamery might have scoopable fro-yo (I forgot to check). The problem is that I don't like any of them...but if I had to get fro-yo here, I'd go to TCBY for vanilla fro-yo. My next choice would be Orange Tree where self-serve fro-yo is 38 cents an ounce. Lastly, I'd go to Dreyer's. Actually, I'd rather get a pretzel from Auntie Anne's than a cup of fro-yo at the Great Mall.



Part of me actually feels like I'm not living up to my responsibilities by not going to every fro-yo shop. Do I have a responsibility to go to every location of Orange Tree (for example) if I've already been to multiple locations and know that I don't like it? I tell myself that the answer is no but I still feel guilty.

By the way, the Great Mall has three soft pretzel places: Auntie Anne's, Wetzel's Pretzels and Pretzel Time. I've been to all three and Auntie Anne's is the best, followed by Wetzel's. I miss the whole wheat pretzel that Auntie Anne's used to offer.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* GREAT MALL: 447 Great Mall Dr, Milpitas, CA 95035

Future Fro-yo Shop Pictures: Seasonal and Another Orange Tree in San Jose

Fro-yo girl here. I have two pictures to share of two not yet opened fro-yo shops. The first is another Orange Tree. I wasn't too excited about it, so I took the picture from my car while I was parked at a red light (hence, it's not a good picture). The location is across the street from L'Amour Des Baguettes.


The second one is in downtown San Jose, a place called Seasonal Yogurt. I think it's their first location. It's a large space and I believe that it will be self-serve, and that they will also offer gelato.

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

* SEASONAL FROZEN YOGURT: On E San Salvador St. by S. 3rd St, San Jose, CA
* ORANGE TREE FROZEN YOGURT: 1143 Story Rd. Suite 190, San Jose, CA

Best Cities for Fro-Yo in 2008

Fro-yo girl here. Happy New Year, fro-yoholics. For my first post of 2009, I'd like to recognize certain cities for leading the way in fro-yoland. In other words, these cities are the best in the Bay Area for fro-yo. To earn a place on the list, the city must have the following:

(1) Quantity of fro-yo shops
(2) Quality of fro-yo shops
(3) Innovativeness of fro-yo offerings

And the winners are:

1. Palo Alto - scores the highest on innovation thanks to Culture (homemade toppings, organic fro-yo of the highest quality) and Fraiche (great homemade mochi). Quality is also high with Red Mango in the mix, along with Culture and Fraiche. You can even find fro-yo on the Stanford campus at the Axe & Palm. Avoid Michael's Gelato and the future Orange Tree location.

2. San Francisco - Yogurt Bar was the first tart fro-yo shop in town but they have since been overtaken by many better tasting fro-yo shops. SF scores the highest on the quantity factor with fro-yo available all over town (with the highest concentration in the Financial District), including liquor stores (e.g., Michaeli's, New Russian Hill), pizza shops (Blondie's), malls (SoGreen, LoveBerry) and college campuses (Natural Sensations). Chains such as Yogen Fruz and Cefiore are represented along with homegrown high quality favorites, Tuttimelon, Jubili, Swirl Culture, Caffe Ambrosia, and Chill. Self-serve joints are represented as well (Yoppi, Icebee, Happy Yogurt). Chill ups SF's innovation score.

3. Cupertino - another high scoring city when it comes to quantity but not as high as SF in terms of innovativeness. Those who work and live in Cupertino have no shortage of fro-yo shops to choose from, including my one of my favorites, Red Mango, and a good self-serve spot, Tartini. For sweet fro-yo, check out I Love Yogurt for massive portions. Other fro-yo shops include the ever popular Yogurtland, Froyo? (you can eat fro-yo while watching a movie at Vallco), DIY Yogurt

4. Berkeley - started out strong with Ryno's, Yogurt Harmony, Papamingo and Michelle's Yogurt but new fro-yo shops have been slow to open. Of course Berkeley will forever be known as the home of Yogurt Park (known affectionately as YoPa). Though they specialize in soft serve ice cream, Sketch has fabulous tart fro-yo. The new year should see the arrival of Tuttimelon and other shops.

Support your fro-yo shop in 2009.

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

Orange Tree IS Tutti Frutti???

Fro-yo girl here. Honestly, with so many fro-yo places out there, a fair number seem fairly generic. If you had a feeling of déjà vu when you visited Orange Tree, and you’ve been to Tutti Frutti before, there’s a reason for that feeling. Yes, they’re both knock-offs of Yogurtland or some other self-serve fro-yo shop with the same type of plastic, vaguely modern décor and a fruity name – but they’re also part of the same franchise (let’s call it Tutti Frutti to reduce confusion).

The evidence is simple.

If you go to the Tutti Frutti website (http://www.tfyogurt.com/) and click on locations, the Milpitas location of Orange Tree is listed, along with the future location at the Stanford Shopping Center. The Stanford location had a Tutti Frutti sign but it was recently switched to an Orange Tree sign.

Changing names isn’t going to disguise the poor quality and flavor of their fro-yo. TF is rapidly expanding. They should have perfected their product first and then opened their stores. Apparently they also chose a name that another company already had (there's a Tutti Frutti in Pasadena that sells fro-yo, fruit salad and Colombian hot dogs).

I’m very surprised that Stanford Shopping Center doesn’t have higher standards for their fro-yo vendors.

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

Update: Someone left a comment on this blog saying that Orange Tree and Tutti Frutti terminated their contract and that they do not use the same product. I noticed the TF fro-yo was a little better than Orange Tree's.

Worst Places for Fro-Yo

Fro-yo girl here. Unless you feel the need to try every fro-yo shop, take my advice, save your money and avoid getting fro-yo at the following places:

* Marble Slab Creamery: I don't think they have tart fro-yo but even their vanilla fro-yo is really bad. Definitely tastes like artificial sweetener. The fruit toppings are frozen.

* Cold Stone Creamery: They offer a scoopable tart fro-yo called Tart & Tangy. The flavor is a little better than Marble Slab's but not by much. It's an odd flavor that tastes citrusy but not milky and tangy in the way real yogurt would taste. The fruit toppings are frozen.

* Penguino's: 101 4th St. (inside the Metreon), San Francisco, CA, 94103

Not only does their plain tart taste like watered down bland ice milk, the portion is very stingy.

* Michael's Gelato: 440 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
They've made a half-hearted attempt at offering fro-yo called Tart Tango. The orange flavor tasted like powdered orange drink mix and isn't tart. The fruit toppings were rotten.

* Sweet Corner: 650 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041
The yogurt tastes awful and the texture is weird - very grainy.

* Orange Tree: 510 Barber Ln, Milpitas, CA 95035
Too icy, bland, artificial tasting tart fro-yo in a self-serve setting.

* DIY Yogurt: 20956 W Homestead Rd#D, Cupertino, CA 95014
It's hard to tell which flavors are supposed to be tart. They all taste like they're artificially sweetened. Mediocre self-serve fro-yo.

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

Two Fro-Yo Shops Opening Today

* Chill - 125 Kearny St., San Francisco

It's not a Stinkberry clone in appearance or product. Chill has some fro-yo flavors that I've never seen before and higher quality toppings. It's upscale and the portions are smaller. The ambiance is serene and organic (wood, flower illustrations).

Fro-yo flavors: Original tart, red rooibos tea tart, black sesame tart and custard (sweet)

Toppings: About a dozen fresh fruit purees, including lychee, mango, fig, acai, pineapple, fresh fruit pieces, dry toppings like mochi, rice pearls (think rice krispies coated in chocolate), crispy flakes (thin, crunchy wafer bits), chocolate covered sunflower seeds, yogurt covered dried cranberries, nuts, etc.

Other menu items: Cupcakes, shaved ice, crepes, coffee, tea, blended drinks

For something different, I recommend red rooibos tea fro-yo. It's fresh, clean and refreshing tasting.

P.S. I'm mentioned in Eater SF: "2) Financial District: It's possible that Chill picked the worst weekend of the season to open a froyo/dessert cafe, but we suppose not even froyo purveyors can control the weather. One enthusiastic Yelper has a thorough summary of the place, including flavors (original, custard, black sesame) and prices. Also, free Wifi, FYI. 125 Kearny Street, between Post and Sutter; (415) 433-1233; website [EaterWire]"

* Orange Tree - Milpitas Square, 510 Barber Ln, Milpitas, CA, 11AM - 11 PM, self-serve, 35 cents/ounce, 50% off this weekend

There's nothing about this place that really stands out except that they have more tart fro-yo flavors than most self-serve fro-yo places. The tart fro-yo is very icy and low in quality. I didn't like any of the tart fro-yo flavors they had. Orange Tree reminds me of an inferior version of Tutti Frutti. Like other fro-yo shops, they tout the health benefits of fro-yo, have those spherical orange chairs, and offer the standard toppings. Parking in Milpitas Square is a nightmare. Skip this one!