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.
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