Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt Returns to Arcadia, What Happened to Purple Rice Yogurt

 

Fro-yo girl here. Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt has reopened in Arcadia, inside Duke Bakery. The menu is pretty much the same as it used to be, only with items crossed out.

I’ve watched most purple rice yogurt shops in the area open in 2021 and close or change names by 2022. Here’s a rundown of the ones that have opened in the San Gabriel Valley and where they are today:

• From Yogurt, 29 Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA, opened July 2021 and closed in August 2022
• Yomie Yogurt, 18716 Colima Rd Rowland Heights, CA, is a blatant knockoff of the real Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt but it did open first, in April 2021. The menu is very similar to Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, which hails from Sydney, Australia.
• Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, 18178 Colima Rd Rowland Heights, CA, opened in late 2021 and is still open.
• Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, 400 S Baldwin Ave, Space 2203, Arcadia, CA, opened in May 2021 and became Der-Tea in May 2022. Der-Tea had a similar menu and continued to offer purple rice yogurt drinks. It is now called One Cup, as of 2023, and it still offers purple rice yogurt.
• Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, 5805 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA, opened in November 2021 in the same shopping center as Daiso and TJ Maxx. It changed names in July 2022 but became another boba shop called Zhen Tea. Zhen Tea offered purple rice yogurt drinks. Zhen Tea seems to have closed in May 2023. It is now another boba shop called Bearology. Purple rice yogurt drinks are no longer available.
• Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, 227 W Valley Blvd #168A, San Gabriel, CA, opened in July 2021 and closed in December 2022. The space is now occupied by Chickii Fried Chicken.

I did notice that the purple rice wasn’t being cooked as well (or wasn’t fresh) at multiple Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt locations. Purple rice became available as a add-in at other boba shops, though very few offered purple rice yogurt. It's often not fresh or cooked well, so I've become reluctant to order it.

I looked at Google Trends and the popularity of the search term “purple rice yogurt” over the past five years. Purple rice yogurt searches were the most popular by far in Singapore, followed by Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. It didn’t catch on in the US to the same extent (the US is #9 in terms of search queries for purple rice yogurt). Google adjusts for differences in the population size of countries by using the proportion of all search queries rather than looking at the absolute query count.

The first Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt to open in the US is still open in Bellevue, Washington, and they’ve opened in other states. I noticed most of the purple rice yogurt shops in Indonesia also have closed after a year or two. Yomie’s Australia hasn’t posted on IG since 2020, but still seems to be open. I guess that makes purple rice yogurt a passing fad.

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

* YOMIE’S RICE x YOGURT, 713 W Duarte Rd Ste E Arcadia, CA 97201

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