| Type | Company and Franchise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | January 2005 West Hollywood |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Key people | Ron Graves, CEO Hye Kyung (Shelly) Hwang, Co-Founder Young Lee, Co-Founder |
| Products | Frozen yogurt Smoothies Fruit Parfait Fresh Fruit Bowl |
| Website | Pinkberry.com |
Pinkberry is a franchise of upscale frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[1] There are currently over 100 stores, mostly located in Southern California, 14 in New York City, New York, two in New Orleans, Louisiana, two in Denver, Colorado, one in Colorado Springs, Colorado, one in Atlanta, Georgia, one in Nashville, Tennessee, two in Charlotte, North Carolina, five in Massachusetts, four in Texas, two in Connecticut, one in Fairfax, Virginia, three in Orlando, Florida, two in Tampa, Florida, one in Miami, Florida, two in Hawaii and one each in Chicago, IL, Cranston, RI, Washington, D.C., Ann Arbor, MI and one located on the Bowling Green State University campus. International locations include one in Mexico City, ten in the Middle East, four in Lima, Peru, two in Moscow, Russia, one in Manila, Philippines, one in West Vancouver, Canada, one in Burnaby, Canada [2] and two in London, United Kingdom, which opened on August 3, 2011. [3]
The first store opened in January 2005 by Korean Americans Shelly Hwang and Young Lee.[4] The tart, frozen dessert has a groupie-like following who sometimes refer to it as "Crackberry".[4] The company acknowledges its cult-like following by maintaining a "groupie corner" on its website.
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Hwang'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 Hwang 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 1980s.[5] People were soon driving across town and standing in line for up to 20 to 30 minutes to get their fix of "the taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets."[4] The second store opened in September 2006, and since then, stores began springing up all over Southern California and also branches in New York. In October 2009, Pinkberry opened its first overseas branch in the State of Kuwait at the Avenues shopping mall, and in November it opened a branch in Dallas.
On October 16, 2007, the firm took in a $27.5M investment from Maveron, the venture fund founded by Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, to expand the firm's concept nationwide.[6] Beginning in late 2007, Pinkberry began appearing in advertisements for American Express' new Plum Card, with Pinkberry and the card described by actress Lauren Graham in a voiceover. In an attempt to add an air of exclusivity to its new product, Amex claimed to create an initial run of only 10,000 of these cards.[7] Pinkberry (according to the ad) was issued card #1170.
On May 1, 2009, Pinkberry announced its plans to expand its market both internationally and domestically, after receiving $9 million in second-round funding from investors. As part of its plans, Pinkberry has partnered with Kuwaiti retail conglomerate M.H. Alshaya Co. to open stores in several countries in the Middle East and signed with HMSHost to open locations in airports nationwide, the first of which will open in the late summer 2009.[8] In 2010, the company will start to expand in the Southern United States. In April 2010, the original Pinkberry store in West Hollywood, still lacking adequate parking, was closed and converted into an administrative building for the chain.[9]
Pinkberry's menu consists of Original, Green Tea, Pomegranate (introduced on November 11, 2008), Chocolate, Mango, Watermelon, and Peanut Butter flavored frozen yogurt style desserts, in four sizes: Mini (3 US fl oz (89 ml)), Small (5 US fl oz (150 ml)), Medium (8 US fl oz (240 ml)), and Large (13 US fl oz (380 ml)). Other products offered include Shaved Ice, with fresh fruit or green tea, a fruit parfait (introduced on June 27, 2009), and two types of smoothies. (Note that their "shaved ice" is not the same as the Hawaiian "shave ice.")
As of September 7th, 2011, Pinkberry dessert contains per 1/2 cup (100 g) 100 calories for Original, 120 calories for Pomegranate, 100 calories for Mango, 120 calories for Chocolate, and 170 calories for the seasonal Peanut Butter.
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, including: almonds, carob chips, chestnuts, chocolate chips, Cap'n Crunch, Cocoa Pebbles, coconut shavings, cookies 'n cream, Fruity Pebbles, granola, mochi (rice cakes), shaved milk chocolate, shaved white chocolate and yogurt chips. Three wet toppings were introduced June 26, 2009: Italian caramel, honey and pomegranate juice. Pinkberry has introduced seasonal toppings like pomegranate seeds, lychee and bing cherries for holiday and summer seasons.
A single serving of Pinkberry "Original Frozen Yogurt" is 1/2 cup or 100 grams.[10]
The following nutrition information applies to a half-cup of original Pinkberry frozen yogurt:
| Size | # of Servings | Cups | Calories | Sugar (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini | 0.9 | 0.45 | 90 | 14.4 |
| Small | 1.4 | 0.7 | 140 | 22.4 |
| Medium | 2.2 | 1.1 | 220 | 35.2 |
| Large | 3.6 | 1.8 | 360 | 57.6 |
Pinkberry's Original Frozen Yogurt is 100 calories per serving and fat-free. Chocolate is 110 calories with 1 gram of fat, and Peanut Butter is 170 calories and 7 grams of fat for the same size. The addition of toppings also adds calories, sugar, and fat.[10]
The company's success has led to the launching of several competitors including kiwiberri, fiore and many others including, Yogurberry, Yogurt Land, and Berry Wild. This emergence of competition is fueled in part by companies such as Cielo USA, which manufactures and distributes the Frozen Yogurt Mix to businesses aspiring to be the next Pinkberry.[11] Industry estimates that a single Pinkberry store receives more than 1,500 customers per day and can bring in $250,000 a month.[12] Pinkberry has been thought to be a copycat of Red Mango[13] from South Korea, which has been established since 2002. Red Mango is also successful, having opened stores in Chicago, Westwood Village, Venice, Northridge, Irvine, San Diego, Palo Alto, Las Vegas, Seattle, Omaha, Evanston, and New York City.[14] Also, Pinkberry itself is considered a copycat of Iceberry that originated from South Korea in 1999 before Pinkberry was created, with flavors such as Original, pomegranate, Coconut, Chocolate, Passionfruit and green tea.
The company stores are standardized with designer Philippe Starck furniture and lighting by Le Klint.[15] A pastel color palette is used for the walls and natural pebbles line the floor.
The Pinkberry brand has been designed & managed by LA-based branding firm FERROCONCRETE.[16] Elements include the official Pinkberry website and all print campaigns.
Pinkberry was also featured in an episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm during season 8.
Originally marketed as frozen yogurt, Pinkberry has faced complaints that its 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. 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.[17] According to the Los Angeles Times, Pinkberry's product had 69,000 bacterial cultures per gram, compared to 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.[18]
Pinkberry appears to have altered its dessert recipe and has now earned the right to call its product real yogurt. Pinkberry officially received the Live and Active Cultures Seal from the National Yogurt Association on April 17, 2008, almost 3 years after the initial "real yogurt" lawsuit was filed.[19]
The Pinkberry jingle heard on its Web site is sung by the 1980s musician Tigra, from L'Trimm. Apparently in response to the recent lawsuit against Pinkberry claiming that its product is not "real yogurt," for a while Pinkberry had removed all lyrics to this jingle on its Web site except for the word "Pinkberry," which repeats over and over again at the chorus (prior to this change, the jingle had lyrics that characterized Pinkberry's product as "yogurt," and compared its product as better than ice cream).[20] The original jingle is now playing again on the Web site.
The unproven health benefits attributed to yogurt that were previously posted on the walls of Pinkberry (e.g., cures colon cancer, fights yeast infections) have been removed.[21]