Tartini Now 30 Cents an Ounce

Fro-yo girl here. This morning I saw Tartini’s shocking announcement; they lowered their price from 38 cents an ounce to 30 cents an ounce. Go there. Their tart flavors are more natural than most self-serve fro-yo shops. It’s my impression that they have higher quality fro-yo by self-serve standards. I haven’t tried their sweet flavors but the tart ones are definitely better than Yogurtland’s.

Thinking about the announcement also made me think about the trend towards self-serve fro-yo. I looked at my list of fro-yo shops that opened this year and new self-serve shops outnumber full-serve fro-yo shops. Some full-serve shops like Papamingo and Café Aroma (now Honeyberry) even changed formats, going from full-serve to self-serve. Even Tuttimelon has a self-serve store now.

Self-serve really appeals to a younger crowd that doesn’t seem to mind the germs. I guess it’s a good trend since it increases demand for fro-yo and appeals to a wider audience.

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

* TARTINI: 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 2040, Cupertino, CA
* PAPAMINGO: 2510 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA (also 30 cents an ounce – they must have seen the crazy lines at Yogurtland)
* HONEYBERRY: 3488 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA
* TUTTIMELON UNION CITY: 32280 Dyer St., Union City, CA

Tartini 4th of July Promotions

Free fro-yo for Members of the Armed Forces! For civilians, 50% off fro-yo till 4 PM on July 4th, mention Twitter.

* TARTINI: 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA

Why I’m Anti Self-Serve Fro-yo

Fro-yo girl here. I know self-serve fro-yo is all the rage these days, but I just don’t like it. I will never like it for the following reasons:

1. Inferior quality. While there are plenty of bad full-serve places, on average self-serve fro-yo is inferior in taste and texture to full-serve. Often self-serve fro-yo is runny, watered down or too icy. Part of it may be that people might not put the handle back up after they’re finished with dispensing.
2. It's Unsanitary. I have seen more than one person TOUCH the nozzle to sample the fro-yo. Imagine how many dirty hands have touched the levers and spoons. Gross people could sneeze on the toppings and touch the toppings. Also, I have the feeling that they clean the machines less often than at a full-serve place because they have more of them and it takes 25 – 30 minutes to clean each machine.
3. Buffet atmosphere. Like a buffet, self-serve fro-yo encourages you to take a little bit of everything, which can result in a crappy combination. I don’t need to have that many fro-yo flavors or toppings.
4. Less attractive. A pretty swirl of fro-yo with toppings pleases one’s senses. My self-serve creations look like crap. Those ginormous cups they usually give you don’t help either. I’d rather have someone who knows how to swirl dispense my fro-yo.

The only positives about self-serve are (1) you can take just a tiny bit, (2) you can control the toppings to fro-yo ratio, (3) it’s cheaper (usually), and (4) you get exactly what you pay for - the hole in the middle becomes irrelevant. However, if the fro-yo is good, I don’t want just a tiny bit and I’m happy with the usual toppings to fro-yo ratio. I don’t mind paying more for better fro-yo.

People say that it’s more fun to swirl the fro-yo yourself and add your own toppings. I completely disagree. I like having people serve me!

P.S. There are some good self-serve fro-yo places out there. Tuttimelon UC tops my list, followed by Nubi, Tartini, Zuckersuss, Pink Swirl and Yogurt Paradise.

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

Tartini Looking for Franchisees

Fro-yo girl here. Tartini recently placed an ad on Craig’s List describing their franchise opportunity as follows:

Tartini Frozen Yogurt Bar is NOW OFFERING a great opportunity to be the first self-serve yogurt shop in your area!

We offer:
- Strong, Proven Brand with Loyal Customer Base
- Affordable Franchise Fees
- Extensive Training Program
- On-site Startup Assistance
- Healthy, High-Quality Products

In this economy you have to make your own opportunities. Tartini Frozen Yogurt is that opportunity!

Though I’m not a fan of self-serve, I do think Tartini is one of the better self-serve fro-yo places out there. Their fro-yo flavors taste natural, the toppings are fresh, they have unique flavors like acai tart and I love the store design. The bright blue signature color is so vibrant and appealing. Even their smiling logo is adorable. They also have more than just the self-serve fro-yo. You can get smoothies, blend in yogurt (Twisters), and crepes.

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

* TARTINI: 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 2040, Cupertino, 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.

Mix-In Fro-Yo

Fro-yo girl here. Though uncommon, some fro-yo shops have a special mixing machine that creates mix-in fro-yo. Think Dairy Queen Blizzard only with plain fro-yo instead of ice cream and frozen fruit instead of candy bits. The mixing machine is considerably cheaper than the soft serve machines most fro-yo shops have and the mix in method results in a different texture and taste. Using frozen fruit adds a pleasant icy quality to the thicker, chunkier and softer mix-in yogurt while using whole fruit can also add texture (e.g., seeds, larger pieces of fruit).

These are the four places to get mix-in fro-yo in the Bay Area:

Poco Café: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA
My favorite mix-in fro-yo and also the best value, choose from a wide variety of fruit flavors. The end result is chunkier than other places. Some of the plain frozen yogurt base didn’t get mixed in with the fruit but I think that added to the homemade charm.

Yogen Fruz: 3 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA
Called Blend It, you get to select up to two types of frozen fruit and the base (non-fat vanilla, low-fat vanilla, non-fat/sugar-free vanilla or chocolate). It’s the smoothest of the mix-in fro-yos with a more pronounced flavor of the base yogurt. It’s the only place that provides multiple choices for the yogurt base.

Tartini: 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA
Tartini Twister has a creamy vanilla fro-yo base and comes with your choice of frozen fruit.

Sweet Retreat: 6061 Cahalan Ave, San Jose, CA (and other locations in San Jose, Morgan Hill and Los Gatos)
The mix in yogurt is called the “create your own yogurt” option. It starts with their plain fro-yo base. Unlike the other shops, you can add candy and/or frozen fruit to the mix-in yogurt.

Note, Penguino’s in the Metreon (SF) also has a create your own flavor, mix-in fro-yo. I refuse to try it though, because their soft-serve fro-yo is horrible.

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