Pinkberry
| Company type | Franchise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | January 2005 in West Hollywood |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, USA |
Key people | Hye Kyung (Shelly) Hwang, President Young Lee, Co-President |
| Products | Frozen yogurt Smoothies Shaved ice |
| Website | Pinkberry.com |
Pinkberry is an upscale chain of frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Los Angeles, California. There are currently 28 stores, mostly located in Southern California with four in New York City.
The company was founded in January 2005 by Shelly Hwang and Young Lee [1]. The tart, frozen dessert has a groupie-like following who sometimes refer to it as "Crackberry" [2]. The company acknowledges its cult-like following by maintaining a "groupie corner" on its website.[3]
History
Shelly's first business venture was to open a formal English teahouse on a tiny residential street called Huntley Drive in West Hollywood, California. However, after the city refused to approve a permit for Shelly and her business partner, architect Young Lee, they decided to go with their second plan, which was a frozen yogurt concept reviving the craze of the '80s [4]. Pretty soon, people were driving across town and standing in line for up to 20, 30 minutes to get their fix of "the taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets" [5]. The second store opened in September of the same year, and since then, stores have been springing up all over Southern California and also branches in New York.
Products
Pinkberry's menu consists of Original and Green Tea flavored frozen yogurt, in three sizes: Small (5 oz), Medium (8 oz) and Large (13 oz). Other products offered include Shaved Ice, with fresh fruit or green tea, and two types of smoothies. Each ounce of Pinkberry yogurt contains 25 calories, zero fat and 5 grams of sugar (1.4 teaspoons).
Fruit toppings, cut fresh on-site, include: Strawberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Banana, Kiwi, Mango, and Pineapple. There are also a variety of dry toppings to choose from, ranging from yogurt chips to Cocoa Pebbles to sliced almonds. Pinkberry has introduced seasonal flavors like pomegranate seeds and lychee for holiday and summer seasons.
Nutrition Facts
The large (13-oz) serving has 16 teaspoons of sugar (65 grams); the medium (8-oz) size has 10 teaspoons of sugar (40 grams); and the small (4-oz) has 5 teaspoons of sugar (20 grams).[6] Toppings can add more sugar and fat.
Store Design
Some attribute the company's success to its appealing combination of a cool dessert in a Philippe Starck and Le Klint designer environment [7]. A pastel color palette is used for the walls and natural pebbles line the floor. The official website is designed by LA based design firm Ferroconcrete.
Competitors
June 2007, Pinkberry leased operating space directly across the street from competitor Cefiore's flagship store, inciting what some have dubbed the Los Angeles Frozen Yogurt Wars[8].
The company's success has led to complaints of congestion and littering near its stores and the launching of several competitors including BerryLine, Yo Berry, Kiwiberri, Snowberry, Roseberry, Berri Good, Limelite, Bear Naked, Pingo Berry, Peach House, Dolci Mango and Cantaloop[9]. This is not surprising given that some estimate that a single store receives more than 1,500 customers per day and can bring in $250,000 a month[10]. Many frozen yogurt aficionados suggest that Pinkberry, itself, is a copycat [11] of the frozen yogurt giant Red Mango [12] based out of South Korea, which recently entered the United States[13][14] with locations in Westwood Village [15][16]and Las Vegas.
Controversy
Originally marketed as frozen yogurt, Pinkberry has recently faced complaints that their product does not meet the California Department of Food and Agriculture's definition of frozen yogurt because it does not contain the necessary amount of bacterial cultures per ounce. [17] Meanwhile, Pinkberry has removed all references to frozen yogurt from its website and marketing materials. The health benefits that were previously posted on the walls of Pinkberry (e.g., cures colon cancer, fights yeast infections) have also been removed.[18]
The Los Angeles Times sent samples of Pinkberry's product to a lab and revealed that Pinkberry did contain active yogurt cultures, but it does not contain the minimum amount of culture to call itself frozen yogurt, according to California state law[19]. According to the Los Angeles Times, Pinkberry's product had only 69,000 bacterial cultures per gram, compared to 3,600 for Golden Spoon, and 200,000 for Baskin-Robbins. The National Yogurt Association (NYA) established its own criteria for live and active culture yogurt. In order for manufacturers to carry their Live and Active Culture seal, refrigerated yogurt products must contain at least 100 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture, and frozen yogurt products must contain 10 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture. This level was based on a survey of leading research scientists involved in clinical studies of the health attributes associated with live and active culture yogurt.[20]
The Pinkberry jingle heard of their website is sung by the 80's musician Tigra, from L'Trimm. Apparently in response to a recent lawsuit against Pinkberry claiming that Pinkberry's product is not "real yogurt", Pinkberry removed all lyrics to this jingle on their website except for the words "Pinkberry", which repeats over and over again at the chorus (prior to this change, the jingle had lyrics that characterized their product as "yogurt", and compared their product as better than ice cream).[21]
Locations
As of August 2007, Pinkberry franchises are primarily located in Southern California. Locations can be seen listed on their website.
On October 8th, 2007 Pinkberry opened it's first store in Orange County at Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach, California.
External links
References
- Boyle, Matthew (2007-05-25). "It Came From Los Angeles". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
- Netburn, Deborah (2006-08-04). "The Taste That Launched 1,000 Parking Tickets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
- Steinhauer, Jennifer (2007-02-21). "Heated Competition, Steaming Neighbors. This Is Frozen Yogurt?". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- Feldman, Lindsay (2007-02-26). "'Pinkberry Concept' of Yogurt Gets Set To Infuse Manhattan". The New York Sun. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
- Yoshino, Kimi (2007-05-10). "Pinkberry in Culture Clash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- "'Pinkberry Mice' found in Upper East Side location". MyFoxNY.com. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- "Mice on the loose in frozen yogurt store". WABC-TV Channel 7 New York, NY. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- "Soylent Pink". PerezHilton.com. 2007-06-17. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
- "Pinkberry's Legal Jam". LAObserved.com. 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
- "Mice on the Loose in Frozen Yogurt Store". 7online.com. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- Yoshino, Kimi (2007-06-21). "Pinkberry passes test, but cold war goes on". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- Maese, Kathryn (2007-06-04). "Little Tokyo's Cold War". Los Angeles Downtown News.
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