Loving Cup Opens in the Marina/Cow Hollow, San Francisco

Fro-yo girl here. The old Pacific Puffs location on Union Street is the home of the fourth location of Loving Cup, the SF based rice pudding and hand churned froyo specialist. They opened on July 29, 2017. The new location is directly across the street from Michaelis Wine & Spirit, which also sells frozen yogurt. It’s interesting that years ago, Union Street Coffee Roastery had froyo too, so three of the four shops on the corner of Union and Fillmore had froyo at one point in time.

Each cup of froyo is hand churned to order with the customer’s choice of mix ins to create a truly custom flavor. First you choose the base (vanilla, chocolate or vegan) and pick your mix ins (fruit, candy, sauces, almond butter, peanut butter, cookies, Nutella, sprinkles, nuts, cookie dough) or opt for one of their preselected favorite combinations (e.g., Brian Boitano, Dirty Hipster, The Dude Abides). The frozen yogurt is all natural, probiotic and nonfat. It’s made with grassfed milk. The vegan base is made with bananas. The machine combines your frozen yogurt with your mix ins.

Prices: Small $4/ Medium $5/ Large $6/ Pint $8, add a cone or waffle bowl for $1.25. The first mix-in is free, extras are 75 cents each. The cones and bowls looked housemade.

The shop is cute and small with white tiles and benches by the window. It’s a to go/takeaway kind of place. They no longer have the paper loyalty cards but they still do have a loyalty program. Most people seem to go there for froyo, but they also have their rice puddings.

If you’re a flavorista, submit your favorite froyo flavor creation on Instagram, @lovingcupsf #MyLovingCup. A new winner will be chosen every month and every time someone orders your flavor from the Union Street location, you’ll get 50 cents.

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

* LOVING CUP: 2201 Union St., San Francisco, CA 94123

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.

Lawsuits and Silence at Forever Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. Forever Yogurt has gone quiet. Their last Facebook page post to their main Facebook account was on July 14, 2017 and that page still has a header for the June-July flavors. It’s now late September, over two months later. The last post to their main Instagram account, @foreveryogurt, was on July 17, 2016. The last tweet was on July 14, 2017 but the tweets were just a feed of Facebook posts.

The website is still up. Clicking on News and Events redirects the visitor to a list of their locations. The website lists 26 locations, including international locations in India, China and Panama.

The last news release was on January 31, 2017, for National Frozen Yogurt Day. They were quite vocal in 2014-2015. 

The company has a long history of legal woes. In 2016, an investor sued Forever Yogurt for money he claimed they owed him and two Bee & Tea locations closed while still owing employees their paychecks. As early as 2014, Forever Yogurt was sued for failing to pay rent and for failing to pay for the billboards that they rented. There was another lawsuit in New York filed in 2014. 

I later found out that Forever Yogurt was acquired in July 2016, which explains why they went silent. 

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.

Love Berry at Stonestown Galleria, San Francisco, Closes

Fro-yo girl here. Love Berry inside Stonestown Galleria wasn’t the first place to carry tart froyo in San Francisco (that was Yogurt Bar) but it was one of the earliest. They started offering tart frozen yogurt back in late 2007. It wasn’t a great froyo shop but the location did provide them with a steady stream of customers. And they did outlast Yoppi Yogurt's Stonestown Galleria location, the first wave of tart froyo shops and most of the shops at Stonestown Galleria.

With Love Berry’s closing, Stonestown Galleria no longer has a shop that serves frozen yogurt. Now there are multiple places for milk tea and juice. And you can get ice cream sandwiches at CREAM.

The Love Berry space is behind scaffolding. I’m not sure what will replace it.

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

* LOVE BERRY: 400 Winston Dr., San Francisco, CA 94132

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.

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.

Spread Mediterranean Kitchen Adds Baklava Topping to Froyo

Fro-yo girl here. When Spread Mediterranean Kitchen opened in downtown LA last year, I was very excited because of their menu and their housemade Greek froyo with interesting toppings. There’s one flavor, plain (the best flavor). The toppings included beet salt & citrus powder, chai halva crumble, or harissa dry spice & pita chip.

I’ve visited Spread multiple times since it opened. I really enjoy the food and the froyo. I also enjoy the ambiance/décor. The food is high quality and very flavorful but served in a casual (no waiter) setting. I think their falafel might be my favorite, served on top of their creamy hummus. It’s full of herbs with a light crunch outside. Their frozen yogurt is a bit icy but refreshing, not as sweet and less processed tasting. The toppings have changed over time. They added baklava (replacing the halva) but when I asked about it, they said they didn’t have any. So disappointing – but I am craving more falafel and the citrus zest froyo topping is so good.

* SPREAD MEDITERRANEAN KITCHEN: 334 S Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90034

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.

Yogofina Elmwood in Berkeley, CA Closes

Fro-yo girl here. My froyo tipster reports that Yogofina Elmwood (Berkeley, CA) is now permanently closed. There’s a for lease sign in the window.

The shop first opened in September 2016. There were only four reviews on Yelp and three of the reviewers rated it 1 star, the other rated it 2 stars. People complained that the yogurt was too sweet and artificial tasting.

* YOGOFINA: 2911 College Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705

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.

Yogurtland Tests Drinks at Huntington Beach Location

Fro-yo girl here. Yogurtland Edinger in Huntington Beach, CA is currently testing Yogurtland flavor to go, two new beverages: Frozen Brew Coffee and Vanilla Shake. It’s the only location that has these new drinks. Neither contains yogurt.

Frozen Brew Coffee and Vanilla Shake are self-serve. Ask for plastic sample cups. The fun thing about the new drinks is that you can combine them and top them with whatever you’d like from the Yogurtland toppings bar for a flat rate of $2.49. They’re dispensed from the same machines that the yogurt comes out of but they’ve adjusted the settings.

* Frozen Brew Coffee: It’s pretty strong and not too sweet with tiny bits of ice. I love a good strong coffee flavor, so I was a fan. This flavor has milk, cream and sugar.

* Vanilla Shake: This was sweet, creamy and soft. The flavor seemed very mild to me, maybe a little plain but you can add candy, nuts, syrups, etc. to customize the flavor.

I combined ¾ Frozen Brew Coffee with ¼ Vanilla Shake, to maintain a strong coffee flavor but add a bit of sweetness and creaminess. I was ready to top it with whipped cream, which the store normally has, but they were out of it during my visit. I added crushed Butterfingers on top for my custom Java Shake. It was really good and better than what you’d get elsewhere because you can customize it to your liking. Also, I love coffee drinks.

The test period might end as soon as the end of this month, so if you want to try to create your own shake, hurry to Yogurtland Edinger.

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

* YOGURTLAND EDINGER: 7598 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach, CA 92647

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.