Western Freezers 2013 YoCream Tasting & Open House

Fro-yo girl here. Mark your calendars for the  April 4th 2013 YoCream Tasting & Open House event at Western Freezers in Fremont, CA. The event is from 10 AM - 4 PM.

You’ll be able to sample the latest new flavors from YoCream, save on equipment for your frozen yogurt shop, and see the latest toppings and menu ideas from Palo Alto Foods (formerly known as Palo Alto Egg). Learn the latest ideas and trends in frozen yogurt and find inspiring new ways to grow your business.

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

* WESTERN FREEZERS: 42285 Osgood Rd., Unit F, Fremont, CA 94539

First Day of Fro-yo Summer

Fro-yo girl here. It’s summer, the prime season for frozen yogurt. It’s also the perfect time to try some new summery frozen yogurt flavors, including:

* TCBY: TCBY has partnered with Dole to bring you fruity flavors like Strawberry. The new flavor is made with Dole fruit.
* PINKBERRY: I tried Pinkberry’s Summer Strawberry and it’s excellent. It’s smooth, rich and creamy with a little tartness.
* YOCREAM: Their Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet is tart, juicy and extra refreshing. I love the combination of lemon and strawberry.
* BEN & JERRY’S: Try Strawberry Shortcake from their new Greek frozen yogurt line.
* JAMBA JUICE: The new summer flavor, Wildly Watermelon Whirl’ns frozen yogurt is available for a limited time only.
Don’t forget, June is National Frozen Yogurt Month. Keep those spoons active!

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

Frozen Yogurt & Toppings Show in Fremont, CA on June 15, 10 AM - 4 PM

Fro-yo girl here. Palo Alto Egg is sponsoring a fro-yo & toppings open house show in Fremont, CA, to take place at the Western Freezers office. Own a frozen yogurt shop or thinking about getting into fro-yo? This is a show you should attend. It's National Frozen Yogurt Month and also around the time when the weather heats up and thoughts turn to fro-yo.

Come for:
* Show specials
* Over 100 toppings to try, including new toppings
* New YoCream flavors, including Activia soft serve fro-yo flavors
* New Stoelting soft serve machines
* Hot foods and slushes

Show Details: June 15, 10 AM - 4 PM

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

* WESTERN FREEZERS: 42285 Osgood Rd, Unit F, Fremont, CA

Fro-yo Open House at Taylor Freezers

Fro-yo girl here. YoCream sponsored today's open house at Taylor Freezers office in South San Francisco and the focus of the event was on their new line of Activia soft serve frozen yogurt flavors. Like Activia yogurt, Activia fro-yo has bifidus regularis which helps regulate your digestive system. Activia Frozen Yogurt comes in four non-fat flavors: Peach, Blueberry, Strawberry and Vanilla. These are sweet flavors that taste similar to Activia yogurt and have a smooth, creamy texture. The fruit flavors are subtle. I didn't get a chance to try the vanilla flavor (it wasn't there).


Attendees also had the opportunity to sample Watermelon Sorbet, Thin Mint Cookies, Greek Yogurt (now with a touch of honey) and Pink Grapefruit (tart) fro-yo. Pink Grapefruit was my favorite flavor but I prefer tart fro-yo.

Taylor also had some broaster chicken available to promote their broaster fryer equipment.

You can catch YoCream tomorrow (June 2) in Sacramento from 10 - 4 PM.

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

June 2: Taylor Freezers, 524 Display Way, West Sacramento, CA

Upcoming Fro-yo Open Houses in Northern CA

Fro-yo girl here. YoCream is sponsoring a series of open houses in Northern California. The events, which are attended by fro-yo shop owners (existing ones and aspiring) are a place for fro-yo networking and information gathering. You can learn about industry trends and store operations, and try new fro-yo flavors and toppings, etc. Vendors will be on hand from 10 AM - 4 PM.

YoCream will be there with their brand new product line, Activia soft serve fro-yo. I'm excited about trying it.

June 1: Taylor Freezers, 221 Harris Ct, South San Francisco, CA
June 2: Taylor Freezers, 524 Display Way, West Sacramento, CA
June 9: Western Freezers, 42285 Osgood Rd, Unit F, Fremont, CA

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

Western Freezers Open House & Tasting

Fro-yo girl here. Today I attended Western Freezers' open house, an event sponsored by YoCream and Palo Alto Egg. These type of events are perfect for (1) fro-yo networking, meeting people who are passionate about fro-yo, including vendors and fro-yo shop owners, (2) checking out the latest industry trends, (3) learning about fro-yo machines. I was excited to spot Chilaberries fro-yo van. I haven't been to their stores yet (they're in Tracy, Manteca, Patterson) but I saw some pictures of the stores and the elaborate decor was impressive. One store has an "under the sea" theme. Their Yeti mascot is a cutie. Apparently they carry 150 toppings, the most in the Bay Area.


Western Freezers carries Stoelting equipment, including fro-yo machines, frozen slush dispensers, hoodless fryers and more. It was interesting to see some old Stoelting fro-yo machines, including a 30 year old model that still works well. It featured an unusual side handle (vs. the usual style where you pull the handle down to dispense the product).




Palo Alto Egg is a Northern California food service distributor and they distribute YoCream, toppings, etc. They provided samples of juice poppers and colored jellies. The poppers seem to be catching on at fro-yo shops.

Yo Designs offers pre-fabricated design solutions (custom fro-yo kiosks) that allow you to have a completed kiosk in as little as four weeks.

YoCream brought five exciting new fro-yo flavors: Greek Yogurt, Thin Mint, Angel Food Cake, Strawberry Lemonade & Pink Grapefruit. Pink grapefruit was my favorite. It was tart and refreshing, with a strong grapefruit flavor. It had a bit of bitterness but that's natural for grapefruit. The strawberry lemonade was my second favorite. It was very tart and tasted mostly like lemonade (much more so than strawberry). Thin Mint was excellent, creamy mint chocolate flavor that would be so good with crushed cookies or a thin chocolate shell. The Greek Yogurt was very creamy but not sour enough...but they plan on adding honey to it. I'd love to try it again with the added honey flavor. Angel food cake wasn't as sweet as some of the cake batter/cupcake flavors (which is a good thing).

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* WESTERN FREEZERS: 42285 Osgood Rd, Unit F, Fremont, CA

Spotlight on YoCream

Fro-yo girl here. Part II of my Frozen Yogurt Conference coverage is dedicated to the conference host, YoCream. As you may have heard, they were recently acquired by Group Danone, the world's largest yogurt manufacturer.

YoCream's management team remains and they're excited about the growth opportunities ahead. They're building a new fro-yo plant in the Midwest (and keeping the one in Oregon) and will be expanding their international presence significantly. While YoCream is already available in 18 countries, Danone has 150 manufacturing plants worldwide.

Factory Tour
Picture-taking wasn't allowed inside (but you can see pictures of the factory interior on their website) and we had to put on white coats, shoe covers, and hair nets before entering. The tour takes you through multiple rooms and each step is described (mixing & culturing, adding flavors, filling & packing, freezing, a visit to the quality assurance lab, shipping and storage, taste testing with the R&D group). It's noisy on the factory floor and the ground is wet. I initially envisioned that they could build something like the Jelly Belly factory observation deck and make it a tourist destination but I think that might be difficult (not enough space for a platform). I liked stepping inside the giant freezer and feeling surrounded by fro-yo...plus smelling fro-yo in the air.


Company Store
It does feel like a showroom...only for fro-yo...it's so shiny and clean. But it's open to the public. There are 10 flavors of self-serve fro-yo a day, fro-yo toppings, smoothies, waffles, and coffee. I like that they have the store because it helps them understand fro-yo store operations and provides material for YoCream University, the 2 day conference they offer (Fro-yo 101).

YoCream's Website
They're about to add some new features to the operator portal, including the ability to generate your own flavor strips, helpful FAQs (e.g., why is my fro-yo gritty?), and a points system where you can save up points and redeem them for marketing collateral (e.g., flavor of the day signs).

YoCream's passion for and commitment to frozen yogurt are inspirational. I'm excited for them and look forward to following their endeavors.

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

Frozen Yogurt Conference Overview

Fro-yo girl here. I've returned from the Frozen Yogurt Conference hosted by YoCream in Portland, Oregon. The host, YoCream, did an amazing job of organizing the conference and taking care of attendees, from the limo service to the free meals. They were incredibly welcoming and kind. Thank you YoCream!





The turnout was impressive...I think around 400 attendees or so from 18 countries. I was excited to see people from fro-yo shops I'd been to or read about. Most of the attendees seemed to already have fro-yo shops but the show was also attended by distributors, aspiring fro-yo shop owners, and others in the fro-yo business. Upon registering, I received a free YoCream logo drawstring bag, program and coupon for YoCream products.

The purpose of the conference was educational and one repeated message was how everyone in fro-yo should be focused on not just their own businesses but on growing the fro-yo industry.

The conference started on Tuesday, Jan. 25, with tours of the YoCream manufacturing plant and company showroom store (the tours were repeated on Wednesday morning). The afternoon was filled with fascinating topics like the History of Frozen Yogurt, marketing tips, what you should know about frozen yogurt machines and more. We were introduced to the YoCream executives including the founder. The keynote speaker was Peter Vidmar, the gymnast and he impressed us with his pommel horse skills and humor.

Wednesday was focused on store operations, including menu planning, a hands on mixology lesson, and more. In addition to having expert speakers discuss topics like pressure vs. gravity fro-yo machines, there were ample Q&A sessions.


In between sessions we wandered around the exhibit area where vendors included the major fro-yo machine manufacturers, printing, fro-yo photography, payment systems, custom signs, store design and more. If you needed anything for your fro-yo business, you probably could have found a vendor at the conference. Since I don't own a store, I tended to hang out at the YoCream new products booth. It was there that you could eat fro-yo (as much as you wanted) and try brand new flavors like Greek Yogurt, Thin Mint, Angel Food Cake and Strawberry Lemonade sorbet before the general public.

I learned and kept learning about fro-yo...will share more about what I learned and saw all this week.

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

2010 the Year in Fro-yo Review

Fro-yo girl here. It's time to revisit my 2010 wish list to see which of my fro-yo wishes came true in 2010.

* More Yogurtland signature fro-yo spoons. This wish didn't come true but Tuttimelon came out with signature logo spoons...only they're not available in the U.S. yet. I hope to get some in 2011, without having to go to Hong Kong to pick up the spoons.

* Mobile fro-yo trucks in the Bay Area: Fro-yo trucks popped up in NYC but there still isn't one in the Bay Area. Why?

I didn't have many wishes and they didn't come true either. The year wasn't such a great one for fro-yo in the Bay Area. I'm sad about a couple of shops that closed, especially Cafe Delatti. However, the year was an interesting one. YoCream was acquired by Danone, Jamba Juice started testing its line of fro-yo (in the Sacramento area), I tried fro-yo at Target (not self-serve), Menchie's made it up to the Bay Area, and Greek yogurt grew in popularity. Next time I'll reveal my fro-yo wish list for 2011.

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

Northern California Soft Serve Show

Fro-yo girl here. I checked out today's Northern California Soft Serve Show, sponsored by Southwest Traders, at the Electro-Freeze Showroom in Pleasanton today. Attendance was free and most of the attendees were fro-yo shop owners. The show was a chance to meet the vendors and check out the latest in fro-yo. And there was free fro-yo.

TR Toppers table of toppings took up the center of the room. You could sample toppings like iced animal cookies, mini peanut butter cups, Andes mints, etc. They now offer mini fruit pies. New toppings included gold nuggets (pieces of chocolate), mini sour gummi worms and chocolate coated waffle pieces. I liked the strawberry fizzy candy - nice crunch and not too sweet.



There were 12 flavors of fro-yo available for sampling from Rainbow's End, Summit, and Miss Karen's. Summit had two new fro-yo flavors, maraschino cherry tart and mandarin orange tart. Southwest Traders no longer carries YoCream (a shocking turn of events, I'm not sure what happened). Miss Karen's has been around since the 1970s and I was curious to try their fro-yo. They had red velvet, butter pecan, chocolate decadence, pineapple express tart and genuine tart. The red velvet flavor was very, very sweet, like a regular chocolate fro-yo but sweeter. The pineapple express tart was very creamy and didn't have that refreshing quality that I like in tart fro-yo. The aftertaste was somewhat bitter.

Other vendors had samples of syrups, smoothies, and paper cups.

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

* ELECTRO-FREEZE: 1032 Serpentine Lane #102, Pleasanton, CA

Fro-yo Trade Show Coverage (4/23 at Taylor Freezers)

Fro-yo girl here. I swung by the frozen yogurt trade show at the Taylor Freezers in South San Francisco. It was such a thrill to see the warehouse area with Taylor equipment and parts. Taylor has special events (check http://www.taylorfreezers.com) like gelato school (and maybe fro-yo school?)

The fro-yo show brought together the key suppliers of the fro-yo industry. And yes, there was free fro-yo (from YoCream, Rainbow’s End and Sambazon) and fro-yo toppings (TR Toppers, Nell Davis Old Fashioned Ice Cream Company).

A bit about the vendors:
* TAYLOR: If you’ve ever had soft serve anything, you’re sure to have seen their soft serve equipment. I’ve heard that they have a market share of 80 – 90%.
* YOCREAM (http://www.yocream.com/): Founded in 1976, YoCream is the leading supplier of the frozen yogurt mix. I met Barbara R., their key account manager. A true fro-yo industry legend and veteran, she once represented Honey Hill Farms. Her son, Jason R., represents another fro-yo brand, Rainbow’s End. I’m hoping to go to Portland, OR for a YoCream factory tour and to see their brand new retail store which opened last month.
* LOLLICUP (http://www.cupdepot.com/): I thought they might bring boba/pearl tea samples but they didn’t. I learned that Lollicup is the leading manufacturer of cold/hot paper food containers (under the Karat brand). They supply 90% of fro-yo businesses and offer custom logo cups. I saw cups with the logos of Tuttimelon, Chill, Whimsical, Yogurt Bar, and many more.
* SOUTHWEST TRADERS (http://www.southwesttraders.com): The leading distributor offers one stop shopping for quick service restaurants (including frozen yogurt shops).
* TR TOPPERS (http://www.trtoppers.com/products.html): TR Toppers offers chopped and non-chopped candies, baked goods, and other toppings, including Reese’s™ Peanut Butter Cups, cheesecake pieces, sprinkles, yogurt chips, Kit Kat, etc.
* SMOOTHEZE and SUMMIT PREMIUM GELATO (http://www.srfoodgroup.com/product.html): They offer healthy smoothie mixes (just scoop, add water and blend) and premium gelato. I saw the free gelato but I didn’t try any – I’m all about the fro-yo.
* SAMBAZON (http://www.sambazon.com/): They brought a tasty acai fro-yo to the show. Sambazon is the first company to import certified Organic Acai from Brazil to the US.
* NELL DAVIS OLD FASHIONED ICE CREAM COMPANY: They offer toppings. At the show they had Dae Doo Food Co. pastel mochi and fruity jelly cubes, along with candy toppings. I always wondered about those Korean jelly cubes (I’ve seen them at Kukje). I don’t think I’d like them on fro-yo.

Attendees included fro-yo luminaries as Roy L. (Mr. Tuttimelon) and the owners of Icebee, Yumygurt, etc.

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

Fro-Yo Trade Show in South SF on 4/23

Fro-yo girl here. Are you interested in learning more about the fro-yo business? Want to attend a fro-yo/gelato trade show? Southwest Traders, a distributor of fro-yo, ice cream, smoothies and juice is sponsoring a FREE product show featuring:

* Soft serve fro-yo and sorbet (new flavors!)
* New toppings
* Soft serve gelato
* Italian gelato (including recipes)
* All in one smoothies
* Acai frozen yogurt and smoothies
* Cream whippers that make flavored whipped cream

Get quotes for personalized logo containers and cups. Buy Taylor freezer equipment.

It’s your chance to meet with YoCream, Rainbow’s End, Lollicup, TR Toppers, Smootheze, Summit Premium Gelato Base, Sambazon, and Nell Davis Old Fashioned Ice Cream Company. Sample their wares! Learn more about their products!

* SF show (4/23 from 10 AM – 4 PM): Taylor Freezers, 221 Harris Ct., South San Francisco, CA
* Sacramento show (4/24 from 10 AM – 4 PM): Taylor Freezers, 545 Jefferson Blvd, West Sacramento, CA