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
