A Brief History of Frozen Yogurt Mix

Frozen yogurt has had a lot of nicknames including a few that actually became brand names in the 1970s like FroYo and Frogurt. This delicious dessert was first introduced as a soft-serve treat in New England by H.P. Hood who invented Frogurt. It wasn’t long after that frozen yogurt was marketed by big ice cream manufacturers such as Humphreys and Dannon. However, the popularity of the product did not really take off until the 1980’s because ironically the main consumer complaint about the frozen product wass that it tasted too much like yogurt!

Frozen yogurt has always been a bit of a boutique product and is usually sold in parlors just like ice cream. It became popular during the fitness craze of the 1970s because it was seen as a reduced-fat alternative to ice cream. However, ice cream manufacturers soon responded by selling low fat ice cream which caused sales of frozen yogurt to plummet.

The popularity of frozen yogurt began to increase again in the 1980s due to awareness of the healthy ingredients and by 1990 frozen yogurt was ten percent of the frozen dessert market!

As of 2005 a franchise called Pinkberry has dominated the market. This unique franchise with its eighties-retro approach to selling customized yogurt mixes in cones, waffle cones and cups has inspired the concepts of similar frozen yogurt franchises such as Kiwiberry, Cefiore, Snowberry and Berri Good. However, most franchises are stifled in their creativity and limited by their choices of mixes, purees and products. The good news is that as a smaller vendor you can be more creative with your product because you do not have “to go by the franchise book.”