The IFYA Turns Five

The International Frozen Yogurt Association was launched on July 29, 2013. Today, it celebrates its fifth anniversary serving the frozen yogurt industry. I wanted to share the IFYA's anniversary message.

IFYA's 2018 Anniversary Message

Our Association Includes More Than 2,100 Members

Last July 2017, we had 1,800 members strong. This July, we have over 2,100 members in over 100 countries. While most of our members are in the US, we clearly have a strong international presence, even in small countries.

We’ve reached several big milestones in social media, including over 2,600 followers on Twitter, over 1,300 followers on Pinterest, nearly 2,200 followers on Instagram, and nearly 800 Facebook fans. Our community is growing everyday.

The State of Froyo Today

According to Technavio's most recent report published in 2017, the “frozen yogurt market in the US is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 11% from 2017-2021.”

We continue to observe consolidation in the frozen yogurt industry. For example, sweetFrog has acquired several shops that were formerly part of franchises like Hoopla and U-Swirl. We recently saw a significant upsurge in frozen yogurt shop promotions for National Ice Cream Day, July 15. Many frozen yogurt shops have expanded their offerings to include soft serve ice cream. The other big story is robots in foodservice. Reis & Irvy's has signed many franchise agreements for their frozen yogurt robots and installed their robots in several states, with many more installations to come.

The National Frozen Yogurt Survey Returns

One of the ways the IFYA provides values is by tracking the state of the frozen yogurt industry. Last year, we launched the first National Frozen Yogurt Survey for consumers and for frozen yogurt shops. We are excited to conduct the survey again this fall. Here's a recap of what we found last year.

Shop Owner Survey Findings

Our overall impression was that our respondents were optimistic about the future of their business, though they were concerned about rising costs, finding and keeping good employees, and the seasonality of frozen yogurt demand.
The survey included questions such as how many hours a week do you spend managing the shop, what items does your shop sell (besides frozen yogurt), how well is your shop doing in terms of sales compared to this time last year, how satisfied are you with your decision to open your business, etc.

Consumer Survey Findings

Our survey included questions about loyalty, current consumption, future consumption, frozen yogurt attitudes and preferences and demographics. We found that 67% of respondents strongly agreed with the statement, I enjoy eating frozen yogurt. Furthermore, 28% somewhat agreed with the same statement, so only 5% did not agree. In other words, frozen yogurt is popular and well-liked.

We also included questions about how much they liked the major frozen yogurt chains, what shop attributes were important, what might increase their frozen yogurt shop visits, how often they consume frozen yogurt, taste preferences, etc. And, we looked at differences based on gender, age, region (geographic location) and frequency of froyo shop visits.

Please look for the new survey this fall and participate. The more responses we receive, the more useful the results will be for everyone. The results will help shop owners learn how they compared to other frozen yogurt shops, which suppliers are highly rated, and what consumers are looking for from froyo shops.

Offering Greater Membership Value

Our members can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on essentials for their frozen yogurt shops. IFYA members continued to enjoy exclusive member discounts on frozen yogurt mix, frozen yogurt machines, toppings dispensers, cup dividers, payment processing, insurance and HR/payroll services.

We partnered with ADP to offer a valuable new membership benefit that includes 25% discount on payroll processing, waived implementation fees, and other special offers.

Corporate Sponsors

In addition to our advisory board and frozen yogurt industry experts, we’re thrilled to enjoy the support of our corporate sponsors. A huge thank you to our sponsors for helping us as we strive to promote the quality and success of the frozen yogurt industry:

• FrozenDessertSupplies.com
• Frozen Solutions
• Dannon YoCream

Please support our corporate sponsors and our advertisers when you’re looking for frozen yogurt supplies.

Anniversary Contest

We continued our tradition of having an anniversary contest with our first Froyo Stories contest. We invited frozen yogurt fans to share stories of their love of frozen yogurt.
Each entry was judged for creativity and evidence of frozen yogurt passion. The winner, @db.pottery, maintained a daily froyo blog called Zelda’s Froyo Adventures: https://zeldasfroyoadventures.wordpress.com/

“We are so thrilled to find someone with true froyo passion,” said Susan Linton, President of the International Frozen Yogurt Association. “Promoting the passion of froyo fans is an important part of our association’s mission.”


Warmest Regards,


Susan Linton
President, International Frozen Yogurt Association

IFYA Launches the First National Frozen Yogurt Shop Owner Survey

Fro-yo girl here. The International Frozen Yogurt Association is sponsoring the First National (US) Frozen Yogurt Shop Owner Survey. The survey asks about shop performance, satisfaction with suppliers, operational practices, management, etc. 

Shop Owners Who Take the Survey Can Find Out How Their Shop Compares

The First National Frozen Yogurt Shop Owner Survey is open to anyone who owns a business that serves frozen yogurt in the US. To see the survey results, owners need to take the survey. The results will help owners better understand how their shop compares to other shops.

The anonymous survey takes about 7 minutes to complete, http://tinyurl.com/nationalfroyoshopsurvey

The survey closes on October 18, 2017.

Non-Shop Owners Can Share the Survey URL to See the Survey Results

Suppliers and others who are interested in the results but do not own a foodservice business that serves frozen yogurt can receive the survey results by sharing the IFYA's pinned Facebook post.

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.

National Frozen Yogurt Month 2017: Reflections on Frozen Yogurt Trends

Fro-yo girl here. It’s June which means it’s the 24th annual National Frozen Yogurt Month. The first National Frozen Yogurt Month was declared by TCBY. National Frozen Yogurt Day is the first Sunday in June, or June 4, 2017. It’s also the time of year that I like to look at frozen yogurt trends.

Looking at Google Trends, one sees the continual slow decline in the number of searches for the term, frozen yogurt. The peak occurred in July 2013. The number of searches for frozen yogurt shows a cyclical pattern, with fewer searches during the winter months and localized peaks in the summer months.

Interestingly, the number of searches for the term "Greek yogurt" also peaked in 2013 and have been declining since. The search pattern there is different because the number of searches peaks in January, when people are presumably thinking about New Year’s resolutions like eating healthier. The number of searches for the term acai bowl is definitely on the rise though more so in Australia than in the US.

It's interesting to look at the searches by region. The top 5 countries by interest in frozen yogurt are #1. United States, #2. Canada, #3. Denmark, #4. Greece and #5. Australia. These were also the top five countries last June though tiny Denmark (population 5.676 million) has overtaken Greece (population 10.82 million). The two most popular related queries were “yogurt near me” and “frozen yogurt near me.” Consumers are clearly looking for frozen yogurt shop locations. A couple of years ago, they were searching for Pinkberry but now they're searching for Menchie's.

Everyone that I’ve spoken to has mentioned the number of frozen yogurt store closures. I’ve seen many frozen yogurt stores that didn’t have anything unique to offer. Even some frozen yogurt chains lack personality. This is the time that the shops that survive should be sure that they have established a distinct brand identity and that they’ve actively cultivated the loyalty of their customers. It’s a good time to emphasize product quality and customer service. 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. Places like Yoga-urt in Glendale, CA, Easy Breezy Frozen Yogurt in San Francisco, CA and Culture in New York that make frozen yogurt in small batches, from scratch.

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.

National Frozen Yogurt Month: Reflections on the froyo industry

Fro-yo girl here. It’s June which means National Frozen Yogurt Month is back! In fact, National Frozen Yogurt Month is now celebrating its 23rd year. Frozen yogurt is far from new and it’s not a fad either. A fad peaks early and declines very quickly; it is short-lived like the cronut, roti buns or shaved snow/ice. As you can see from Google Trends, interest in frozen yogurt does peak during the summer months but that interest is gradually falling as the frozen yogurt industry has reached the maturity stage of the product category life cycle. The peak occurred in 2012-2013. Note how the cronut has the classic pattern of a fad. It peaked and faded quickly.

Interest in frozen yogurt as measured by search volume remains greatest in the US, followed by Canada, Greece, Denmark, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Consolidation began in the frozen yogurt industry a few years back and it’s continuing today as larger players buy regional and smaller chains and competitors leave the market. In the maturity stage, the industry mostly has larger, well-established competitors. For frozen yogurt, that’s Menchie’s, Yogurtland, Orange Leaf, sweetFrog, Yogen Fruz, etc. Companies can encourage frozen yogurt consumption by targeting new users like the vegan/dairy-free crowd or increasing consumption among current customers through promotions and loyalty programs. It’s also a good time to improve product quality. I’ve noticed that in Australia, many of the frozen yogurt shops are emphasizing the quality of their frozen yogurt.

Frozen yogurt has something going for it that food fads like cronuts, shaved ice and roti buns don’t have. First, it has a health halo thanks to the live and active cultures and lower fat content than ice cream. People can eat frozen yogurt often and not feel guilty about it. Second, frozen yogurt is versatile. It can be a snack or a meal any time of day. Third, frozen yogurt shops are a place to socialize. Frozen yogurt shops are a good place to go for a treat after dinner, on a date or hanging out with friends.

Looking at the future of froyo, I’d like to see:

• a greater emphasis on frozen yogurt quality not quantity
• unique flavors and offerings
• smaller cup sizes for counter serve shops

Shops that survive should offer something unique rather than be just like the frozen yogurt shop down the block. If froyo servings were smaller (e.g., 3-5 ounces), I could have froyo more often, like after dinner or after lunch. Even with the self-serve places I’m tired of HUGE cups.

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.