Half of Yalla Mediterranean Locations Have Closed

Fro-yo girl here. Last June, I mentioned that Yalla locations were no longer serving Greek froyo. Now I’ve learned that half of Yalla’s locations have closed. Last year, pre-pandemic, Yalla had branches in the following cities:

• Burbank, CA
• Culver City, CA
• Dublin, CA
• Fremont, CA
• Pleasant Hill, CA
• Seal Beach, CA
• Walnut Creek, CA
• Chicago (delivery only)

The Fremont location at 3141 Mowry Ave. closed and the space has been taken over by Nick the Greek, the fast casual Greek chain which happens to serve Greek froyo. It looks like it closed at the end of 2020. It opened in 2016. I used to go fairly often because if you checked in on Yelp, you’d get a free Greek froyo with baklava. The food was decent, healthy, and reasonably priced. But once the froyo machine broke, the food didn’t seem as good either. The portions got smaller. The broken froyo machine seemed to be a sign that they weren’t making an effort to maintain their standards.

Yalla Seal Beach, 12420 Seal Beach Blvd, opened in 2016 and seems to have closed in September 2020. I went once for froyo but the froyo machine was broken. The machine worked for two years and the it seemed like they “broke” at every Yalla location. The froyo was always on the icy side but it became icier over the years.

The Yalla Dublin location at 5246 Dublin Blvd opened in November 2015 and closed for good some time during the 2020 pandemic (hard to say when exactly since it was probably a temporary closure that turned permanent), maybe in the fall or late summer? It became a Nick the Greek as well.

Yalla Pleasant Hill, 55 Crescent Dr Ste F, opened in December 2014 and may have been open earlier this year. Yelp says it is permanently closed and the location is no longer on the Yalla website. Yalla Pleasant Hill was the first location. It was a new concept from Daphne’s California Greek, with a different look, a broader Mediterranean menu than Daphne’s, and an emphasis on sustainability by using local GMO-free ingredients, responsibly raised meat and fish, and eco-friendly packaging. Daphne’s was acquired by Victory Park Capitol Advisers earlier in 2014 and FAT Brands in December 2018.

As of March 2021, only Burbank, Culver City, Walnut Creek and Chicago remain open. Those locations do not serve froyo. I used to go to the one in Burbank for froyo but once they stopped offering it, I stopped going.

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.

And a Batch of Yogurtland Closures in California

Yogurtland Media Center, Burbank, CA

Fro-yo girl here. KSBY reported earlier this month that Yogurtland San Luis Obispo closed permanently, vacating 956 Higuera St. location. The shop was five years old. Sadly, I never made it there though I remember hearing about the opening.

I just found out that Yogurtland Ventura at 4960 Telephone Rd, Ste 104, also closed in 2020. The shop opened in 2013 and closed in September 2020. It was owned by the same person who owned Yogurtland Camarillo and Yogurtland Oxnard. The Oxnard location is the only one that remains open. It was a decent location – not the best, the flavors tended to be boring, but it was dependable back in 2018. From the Yelp reviews, it seems like it went downhill before closing for good.

Yogurtland’s website listed Yogurtland Burbank Media Center as temporarily closed on March 12, but I dropped by and the shop was open. They’re open Thursday - Sunday currently. Whew. I was worried.

Yogurtland also lists the following locations as temporarily closed in the LA area:

• Montebello (it’s inside the mall)
• Century City (while it’s at the mall, it is an outdoor mall)
• Cerritos Mall (it’s in an indoor mall)

Hope to see all these locations reopen soon, since Los Angeles has moved from the purple, most restrictive tier, to the red tier.

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.

New Pinkberry Flavor: Strawberry Lemonade Froyo

Fro-yo girl here. Pinkberry just introduced their first new flavor of 2021, Strawberry Lemonade frozen yogurt. A new tart froyo flavor, hurrah!!! Exciting!!! They didn’t introduce any new toppings to go with the new flavor but I’m really not complaining.

Strawberry Lemonade froyo: It tasted more like strawberry than lemonade, making it a tarter strawberry flavor. The texture was smooth and light, without being watery or too icy. I liked it – would get again. Recommended toppings: Fresh strawberries, pomegranate arils, dark chocolate crisps

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.

New Yogurtland Teal Froyo Spoon

 

Fro-yo girl here. And the first new froyo spoon of 2021 is the teal logo spoon from Yogurtland. I think it’s available for a limited time only. It looks like the Yogurtland pink and green logo spoons. I found mine at Yogurtland Pasadena, California. The back says Yogurtland Franchising 2017. Yogurtland Eagle Rock has the teal spoons as well.

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.

New Flavor: Menchie’s Chocolate Covered Cookie Made With OREO Cookie Pieces

Fro-yo girl here. New month, new froyo flavor from Menchie’s. March’s featured flavor is Chocolate Covered Cookie froyo made with OREO Cookie Pieces. I didn’t find it in time for National OREO Day on March 6. It didn’t seem to be in the area, even though I live close to many Menchie’s locations and I’m in Los Angeles. I’m grateful for the flavor finder feature that Menchie’s finally added. While many locations aren’t using it to provide their current flavors, the better locations are providing updates.

Chocolate Covered Cookie froyo: It’s made with no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, and no high fructose corn syrup. Creamy, smooth with mild chocolate cookie flavor – this flavor is so good smothered in chocolate shell and topped with your favorite candy topping (e.g., Ande’s Mints, Butterfinger, Kit Kat, Heath) and OREO cookie pieces. Yum!

Chocolate Covered Cookie froyo is available for a limited time, while supplies last.

Menchie’s sure has introduced many OREO flavors! Some past Menchie’s OREO flavors include: Chocolate Mint Cookie, Cookies ‘n’ Cream made with Golden OREOs, Just the Cookie, Just the Creme, Chocolate ‘n’ Strawberry Cookie, Carrot Cake OREO, Lemon OREO, and Cookies ‘n’ Cream Cheesecake OREO. There was also a test flavor, OREO Fruit Crème.

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.

More Purple Rice Yogurt Drinks! Gotcha Tea House in Rosemead, CA

Fro-yo girl here. There are so many boba tea shops but very few offer purple rice yogurt drinks. I found another one though, Gotcha Tea House in Rosemead, CA. Gotcha is a Taiwanese brand that farms its own tea. The tea comes from a single tea plantation in Mount Ali, Taiwan.

The Gotcha menu includes many types of drinks, including Yakult tea, yogumuji yogurt, slush, macchiato slush, milk tea, brown sugar drinks, fruit tea ad brewed tea. Some drinks are available hot or cold. Choose from medium or large size. They also have your typical add-ins: boba, jelly, pudding, red bean, popping pearls, cheese foam, aloe vera, etc. 

Purple rice yogurt is part of the Yogumuji drink series. These drinks are made with fresh Japanese style yogurt. I’m not sure how the yogurt is Japanese style. They don’t make their own yogurt. He mentioned that they use Greek yogurt. The fruit flavored Yogumuji drinks are flavored with fruit flavored syrups.

Purple rice yogurt ($4.75, large): The drink is not sweetened (you can ask for it to be sweetened though). They put yogurt, lots of ice and steamed purple rice in a blender. I am not a purple rice yogurt drink expert because I’ve only had it one other place but I prefer The Alley’s version where the rice isn’t blended into tiny pieces. Part of the appeal of purple rice yogurt is the chewiness of the rice. Gotcha blended the rice so much that there was nothing left to chew on. And they used a lot of ice. The drink was thick and icy. It was mildly tangy and I could taste the yogurt and a bit of nuttiness from the purple rice. The Alley’s version was more like a shake, whereas Gotcha’s was like a slush.

For a history of purple rice yogurt drinks and health benefits, see IFYA’s post, Now Trending: Purple Rice Yogurt Drinks.

I’m hoping that Meet Fresh, which has purple rice drinks but not purple rice yogurt drinks, will add purple rice yogurt drinks. Fingers crossed.

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

* GOTCHA TEA HOUSE: 3524 Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770

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.

 

New at Yogurtland: First Plant-Based Oat Milk Flavor, Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie

 

Fro-yo girl here. Yogurtland just introduced Plant-Based Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie, their first flavor made with oat milk. It’s also made with pea protein, real cinnamon oatmeal streusel, and cinnamon. One ounce is 45 calories, 8g carbohydrates and 0g protein. It’s not froyo because there are no live and active cultures.

Plant-Based Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie soft serve: The texture was creamy and smooth but not as creamy as dairy-based froyo. I mostly tasted cinnamon but it wasn’t strong or overwhelming. The oat millk was more of an aftertaste. It wasn’t crazy sweet. Recommended toppings: Toffee bits, Nilla wafers or Teddy Grahams.

I’m a long-time fan of their oatmeal cookie froyo flavor. Plant-Based Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie soft serve wasn’t as good but it was still tasty. It’s Yogurtland’s third new flavor of the year. Check out the Yogurtland Flavor Finder on their website or the app to find Plant-Based Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie near you. It’s available for a limited time, while supplies last.

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.