2026 Halloween Froyo Shop Spirit Award

 

Fro-yo girl here. It is officially time to crown this year’s Halloween Froyo Shop Spirit winner!

While I spotted plenty of fun promotions this season—from free toppings offers to free fro-yo treats for kids—no single shop or chain immediately jumped out as the runaway favorite. But after looking at all the spooky contenders, I’ve made my pick.

This year’s Halloween Froyo Shop Spirit winner is... Pinkberry in the United States.

Thanks to a promotional tie-in with the movie Practical Magic 2, Pinkberry conjured up a brand-new flavor called Midnight Margarita, served in exclusive Practical Magic 2 themed cups and topped with wonderfully witchy additions like black salt and purple sugar. To top it all off, they rolled out a Practical Magic 2 sweepstakes giving fans a chance to win an amazing private movie screening, exclusive merchandise, and a Pinkberry gift card.

Here are the previous winners:

2025: Llaollao

2024: 16 Handles

2023: SWEESH Fro-Yo, Indonesia

2022: Funky Frozen Yogurt, Norway

2021: Menchie’s, US

2020: Pinkberry, Japan

2019: Menchie’s, US

2018: Smile Yogurt, Hong Kong

2017: Yogurty’s, Canada

2016: Menchie’s, US

2015: Wakaberry, South Africa

2014: 16 Handles, US

2013: Menchie’s, US

Find the most comprehensive list of froyo shop Halloween specials and events at https://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/news/halloween-celebrations-and-promotions-at-froyo-shops

For over 3,200 Halloween froyo images, visit IFYA’s Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/froyogirl/halloween-froyo-froyo-shop-decorations/

Wishing you a spooktacular Froyo Halloween, everyone!

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.

Ddoddomam Strawberry Yogurt Pop Review

 

Fro-yo girl here. I found Ddoddomam Strawberry Yogurt Pop snacks in the children’s snack section of H Mart in Arcadia for $2.49/bag. The snacks are made with corn grits, sugar, yogurt powder, and strawberry powder. One bag is 25g.

Strawberry Yogurt Pop: The snacks melt in your mouth. They are super light and look like popcorn, but are lighter than popcorn. I like that they’re not very sweet, but the strawberry flavor is very light. It tastes mostly like corn.

Yogurt Pops are imported from Korea and are halal. One bag is 140 calories. One serving (25g) has 2g sugar, 7.8g fat, 0g cholesterol, and 1g protein. It’s trans-fat free and all natural.

4 out of 5 stars.

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 Gingerbread Chai Froyo at Pinkberry

 

Fro-yo girl here. It feels a little early for this, but Pinkberry just dropped a new festive flavor, Gingerbread Chai frozen yogurt. The recommended toppings are cinnamon powder, whipped cream, and a gingerbread cookie.

Gingerbread Chai froyo: This was icy and seemed very sweet. It was light and smooth (and not tart). There was definitely a strong spice flavor. I didn’t like it…maybe it would be better if it weren’t so icy. I spotted the gingerbread men cookies.

Pinkberry introduced a Gingerbread froyo flavor back in 2012. That’s so long ago that I don’t remember it too 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.

Pressed Juicery Closings, Fewer Places to Get Freeze

Fro-yo girl here. I just received a promotional email from Pressed Juicery about a Pressed Freeze happy hour. It’s been a long time (a year?) since I had Pressed Freeze, even though I used to get them regularly. I had a Pressed Membership, did a few juice cleanses, and enjoyed the juices on a regular basis.

A few months ago, I noticed that the Pressed Juicery at the Shops at Santa Anita closed and was replaced by Bacio di Latte. I didn’t realize that they had closed in Pasadena, Glendale, Studio City, downtown LA, etc. I think the closest one now is at The Grove – and that’s not close. They also closed stores in Austin, Seattle, Sacramento, Dallas Fort Worth, Washington DC, etc.

I read that they planned to close most of their retail locations and focus on ghost kitchens and wholesale. If that’s true, I wonder if Freeze is going to phased out. I did enjoy the Vanilla Freeze and Pumpkin Freeze. The best topping was the almond butter. I liked how Freeze was made with a few simple ingredients and no refined sugar. It had a clean flavor. 

They kept trying to change the Vanilla Freeze flavor to make it creamier, but many people preferred the original formulation. They just changed Vanilla Freeze again. 

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.

2026 Pumpkin Yogurt Rankings

Fro-yo girl here. Happy National Pumpkin Month! It’s time for my annual pumpkin yogurt rankings. I bought these cups of pumpkin yogurt at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Sprouts. I tried these five yogurts side by side. They're all made with pumpkin puree.

The contenders:

• Ellenos Pumpkin Pie whole milk Greek yogurt with pie toppings in a separate compartment
• Icelandic Provisions Pumpkin Spice skyr
• Noosa Pumpkin yoghurt whole milk Australian-style yogurt
• Siggi’s Pumpkin & Spice lowfat skyr
• Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Greek nonfat yogurt

And the rankings are (in order of preference):

1. Ellenos Pumpkin Pie: Ellenos wins every year, because the yogurt tastes the most like pumpkin pie. It has the best pumpkin puree. The yogurt is velvety and tangy. The buttery crumbs put this yogurt over the top. It’s made with cream and eggs. It tastes decadent.
2. Icelandic Provisions Pumpkin Spice: this blended skyr was pleasantly spiced, sweet but not too sweet, and tangy. The warmth from maple syrup was very nice and they even added some butter. It’s a little thinner than Siggi’s and a little sweeter.
3. Siggi’s Pumpkin & Spice: I liked it because it wasn’t too sweet and had some sourness, but there isn’t much pumpkin or spice flavor. Siggi’s is made with skim milk and cream.
4. Noosa Pumpkin: this Australian-style yogurt is not blended and it tastes like cream cheese and honey. It is very sweet but does have tang. It didn’t have much pumpkin or spice flavor.
5. Trader Joe’s Pumpkin: the blended yogurt with smooth and sweet without much tang, it also lacks in pumpkin and spice flavors

I saw Chobani Pumpkin Spice Greek yogurt but only in packs of four. I did not see Culina or La Fermiere’s pumpkin yogurt for sale this year.

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.

Eighteen Years of Fro-Yo Girl Speaks

1st visit to Yogurtland in El Monte

Fro-yo girl here. Yes, I’ve been blogging about frozen yogurt. When I started this blog, frozen yogurt was in the middle of its second wave, and I didn’t think that I’d still be writing about froyo all these years later. Froyo is resilient, and the third wave is happening right now.

The survivors of the first and second wave are still around too. Yogurtland (second wave) turns twenty this year, Yogen Fruz (first wave) celebrates 40 years, and TCBY (first wave) turns 45.

The pandemic was extremely difficult for self-serve froyo shops, but quite a few survived and now the scene has evolved. The new wave is characterized by Greek froyo, smaller cups, a return to counter-serve, and elevated toppings. I’ve definitely seen more froyo shops open. The froyo hot spots are South Florida and NYC. Los Angeles has seen more pop-ups, more shops, and other types of businesses that have added froyo (usually Greek froyo) this year.

In my 17th blogiversary post I mentioned trying five new froyo shops and trailers from January – October 2025. This year, that number is thirteen. It includes several pop-ups, a vending machine, three existing businesses that added froyo, and froyo shops.

I’ve collected thirteen new froyo spoons so far this year, compared to eight this time last year.

I visited the two froyo hot spots, NYC in February and Miami in April. It’s interesting how the scenes were different. Miami’s froyo shops were similar to MYKA: counter-serve, small shops, Greek froyo, elevated toppings. I appreciated the lower sugar emphasis. Meli was my favorite froyo shop in Miami. NYC’s froyo scene was more diverse, with Aussie-style self-serve shop Mimi’s, fancy Madison Fare, and Asian-style Yogurt Club. Culture is still my favorite froyo shop in NYC. MYKA opened in NYC after my visit, and it also opened in Boston and La Jolla, California.

Ice cream shops are also offering froyo in greater numbers. Salt & Straw introduced multiple froyo flavors, and Van Leeuwen has been adding froyo to new and existing scoop shops.

There hasn’t been a major froyo shop closing in California this year, so that’s really good news.

I also visited Pittsburgh, PA, so you’ll be hearing about the Pittsburgh froyo scene soon.

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.

Chew Chewable Strawberry Cereal Yogurt Cup Review

 

Fro-yo girl here. I found Chew Chewable Strawberry Yogurt Cups at DuoDuo Snacks for $2.99 each. Each cup is 180g. The yogurt is imported from China. It’s actually shelf-stable. The yogurt is kept separate from the crunchy grain cereal and freeze-dried strawberries. It has different textures and flavors.

Chewable Strawberry Cereal Yogurt: The plain yogurt was thin, tangy, and sweet. The whole strawberries were chewy and tangy. The mixed grain cereal was crunchy and lightly sweet. Overall, the snack was better than I expected, but the toppings were better than the yogurt. I prefer tangy, thick yogurt to thin, sweet yogurt.

While the product is yogurt (fermented milk), I believe it does not have live and active cultures.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

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

* DUODUO SNACKS: 5585 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780

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.