Unlimited Cup Lessons, Part Three

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve earned the Yogurtland Unlimited Cup reward for the third time. While I’ve been going regularly (i.e., at least once a week) to Yogurtland for years, earning the unlimited cup is no easy feat, even for me.

Consider this: To earn the Unlimited Cup reward, you need to (1) be a Real Rewards member and (2) collect 520 points within a year of the day you first joined Real Rewards (your anniversary day). One (paid) ounce is equal to one point. The free froyo you earn along the way doesn’t earn you any reward points. If you buy gift cards, the points go to the person using the gift card at the time he/she is paying for the yogurt.

With the free froyo rewards every 36 points, you will consume more than 520 ounces to get to your Unlimited Cup. Assuming you are a Platinum Real Rewards member, you’ll have earned 14 four-ounce rewards along the way, or 56 oz. and an additional reward, a free 16 oz birthday cup. This translates to a minimum of 592 ounces of froyo (unless you didn’t redeem your rewards) or 11.38 oz/week to consume. That’s a lot of froyo if you’re only buying froyo for yourself.

Since you’re only paying for 520 ounces, if the froyo was 50 cents an ounce, that’s $260 of froyo or $21.67/month. On a monthly basis it doesn’t sound so bad, like 5 lattes or 5 cups of froyo, plus a free 6 ounces in rewards (another cup).

Once you earn the Unlimited Cup, you have a month to redeem it. You can redeem it at any Yogurtland store in the US whenever you want. And whatever fits in the 16-ounce cup is yours.

I’ve seen a few articles about getting your money’s worth when it comes to toppings at self-serve froyo shops.

Light toppings:

• Oreos 
• Sprinkles 
• Whipped cream 
• Cap’n Crunch 
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch 
• Mini peanut butter cups 
• Reese’s Pieces 
• M&Ms 
• Chocolate sauce 
• Coconut 
• Nuts 
• Marshmallows 

Heavy toppings:

• Cheesecake bites 
• Maraschino cherries 
• Strawberries 
• Blueberries 
• Brownies 
• Wet walnuts 
• Popping boba 

Cookie dough and gummy bears appeared on light and heavy toppings lists. Usually, I pick the toppings that I think complement the yogurt and also freeze well.

You shouldn’t just go in unprepared though. At a minimum, make sure your shop has at least one froyo flavor that you like, go when it’s not busy, and bring a cooler bag filled with ice. For more advice, see my older post http://froyogirl.blogspot.com/2017/07/unlimited-cup-lessons-part-two.html

My goal was to exceed my last unlimited cup of 70.2 ounces. I was definitely feeling the pressure. It’s a lot of work to build a giant cup of froyo. I’m happy to report that I met my goal, though I made a mess doing so. My cup was 83.4 ounces after deducting the weight of the cup. I chose Sumatra Coffee and Pumpkin Pie froyo, with chocolate wafer roll cookies, mini chocolate chip cookies, toffee chips and crushed Oreo cookies. What did I learn? Adding big cookies to froyo is easy and it seems to help hold the shape of the froyo together. Also, be careful of froyo burnout after you redeem your unlimited cup. Hopefully, you have someone to share that froyo with.

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.