Yogurtland’s New Offering: Zoom, the All-New Way to Froyo

Fro-yo girl here. I recently noticed that Yogurtland Chino Hills, CA and West Covina, CA now offer Yogurtland Zoom. Zoom is a blended froyo product. You select the frozen yogurt flavor and the toppings and Yogurtland blends it together for you (similar to Dairy Queen’s Blizzard or McDonald’s McFlurry) using a machine.

I visited Yogurtland West Covina (1000 W Covina Pkwy). Zoom is priced by weight at the same price: 45 cents an ounce. There are taller Zoom cups, longer spoons, and signs with instructions and recipes.

I decided to mix Lucky Mint Crème froyo, Double Cookies & Cream froyo, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and Oreo cookies. I put everything in the cup (you don’t have to fill the cup) and handed it to the Yogurtland associate. The cup is placed into a blending machine and everything is mixed together. It doesn’t take long.

I liked what I blended together – the flavors were complementary. However, I noticed the add ins weren’t blended in well. The chocolate chips still seemed to be intact and there were big cookie chunks too. Other places do a better job blending the yogurt and toppings. The frozen yogurt comes out softer too. I like unblended frozen yogurt and toppings better.

Yogen Fruz is the leader in the mixed/blended froyo category. In Southern California, you can get custom blended frozen yogurt at Yogen Fruz in Tarzana, Humphrey Yogart in Sherman Oaks, 21 Choices in Pasadena and Claremont, and CDM Yogurt in Newport Beach (Orange County). You can also find custom blended frozen yogurt at Blush in Burlingame, CA, Tucker’s in Alameda, CA, Sweet Retreat in San Jose, CA, Oregon Frozen Yogurt in Oregon, WI, Angora Café in Boston and Loving Cup in San Francisco. Frozen Peaks, with locations in New Jersey and New York, offers FP Swirl, their custom blended frozen yogurt.

While a custom blended frozen yogurt can be tasty as it more evenly distributes the toppings so that there are toppings in every bite, it does change the flavor of the frozen yogurt (which can be good or bad). Some toppings don’t taste as good when they’re blended – for example, graham cracker crumbs become gritty when blended into the frozen yogurt, and mochi isn’t transformed, it just becomes smaller. The seeds get separated from the berry flesh. Cookies, candy and sauces make the best add ins. I’ve also noticed that on more than one occasion when a machine is used to blend the yogurt and toppings, sometimes the previous mix contaminates the next mix. The water flushing doesn’t remove all of the previous mix. The texture is also less smooth after toppings are blended in. Getting the right mix of frozen yogurt and toppings including the correct proportions can be tricky. 

Here are some of my recipes:

• Fresh strawberry froyo + frosted animal cookies + sprinkles + white chocolate chips
• Sumatra coffee froyo + crushed Butterfingers + Oreos
• Peanut butter froyo + Nutter Butter bites + peanuts + chocolate chips
• Matcha green tea froyo + Plain tart froyo + Fruity Pebbles 
• Coconut froyo + mango froyo + pineapple sorbet + coconut + fresh pineapple

Do you like custom blended frozen yogurt? Have you tried it? Would you be willing to try it?

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.