It’s Sunday night, and Sheridan Dietrich is sitting on a trendy, clear plastic chair, chatting with a group of friends at Yogilicious in Dallas’ West Village.
“This place is the place to be every night of the week,” Dietrich said.
She’s right. Even though it’s late, the frozen yogurt hotspot in Uptown is bustling as customers line-up, large cups in their hands, waiting to choose from a slew of flavors ranging from lychee to New York cheesecake.
Dietrich says she’s here up to four times a week to satisfy her sweet tooth. Like many frozen yogurt aficionados and dieticians, Dietrich eats the stuff because it provides a healthier alternative to other sweet treats.
“It’s better for you than chocolate,” she says. “It’s supposed to be low calorie.”
Frozen yogurt was a hit in the 1980s, but the fad petered out until 2005, when the industry experienced a spike in sales with the introduction of at least two new yogurt chains. Frozen yogurt sales were at $177 million by 2007, up $7 million from the year before, and market research firm Mintel, which researches global consumer trends, expects sales to reach $200 million by 2012. Mintel also estimates that ice cream sales will continue to slide. Since 2005, supermarket ice cream sales have dropped 2.1 percent.
Some industry analysts point to Los Angeles-based yogurt chain Pinkberry and Korean purveyor Red Mango, as fueling the fad. Neither have stores in Dallas yet, but Red Mango is opening 40 new stores around the country this year. In Dallas, two popular spots are Yogilicious and I Heart Yogurt, which are opening stores around North Texas.
The trend within the trend is self-serve yogurt, the newest competitor in the market. Phillip Chang introduced the concept in 2006, with Yogurtland, which now boasts 33 stores across the country, including one in Carrollton, Texas. Yogilicious and I Heart Yogurt are both self-serve stores.
Registered and licensed dietician Meridan Zerner, who works at the Cooper Fitness Center in Dallas, says that frozen yogurt generally is low in calories and saturated fat, and high in calcium. Yogurt can also contain vitamin D.
“As far as providing a low-fat alternative to ice cream, it’s beautiful,” she said.
Zerner says that she considers frozen yogurt to be a healthy treat, but just like anything else, there are distinctions. Just like milk, which is classified as whole or skim, for example, yogurt can be high or low in fat.
She said that yogurt can also contain probiotics, healthy bacteria that can boost your immune system. But Zerner warned that yogurt places do not label well, and it is the customer’s responsibility to find out what kind of nutrients and probiotics are in the yogurt. Plain yogurt contains the least calories and is the healthiest option customers have.
Hockaday School junior Brittnay Serafino prefers the fruitier flavors that frozen yogurt offers. Serafino says that she chooses frozen yogurt over ice cream because it’s healthier and tastes better. She tends to spend about $4 to $5 at I Heart Yogurt, where an ounce of yogurt is 40 cents.
According to Zerner, a normal serving size of yogurt is four ounces, which is about 80 to 100 calories. That’s $1.60 at I Heart Yogurt, and $1.80 at Yogilicious, where yogurt is 45 cents an ounce.
Zerner said that her challenge as a dietician encourages people to exert self-control in the self-serve process. She cites a recent family visit to Orange Cup as an example. Zerner said that while she stuck to plain yogurt and fruit, her kids loaded up on fattier toppings.
“People are totally eating hundreds of more calories, especially when you add toppings. And they think they are eating 80 calories,” she said. Zerner said people need to be selective in their toppings because calories can add up quickly and it is easy to triple a serving size.
“It’s still a treat and it’s easy to overdo,” she said. But she does wish that more kids would eat yogurt instead of ice cream.
John Harris, who visits I Heart Yogurt one or two times a week, says he likes frozen yogurt because it’s fat-free. He won’t go anywhere else but I Heart Yogurt, and spends about $4 to $5 per visit. That’s 10 to 12.5 ounces of yogurt, about triple the serving size.
Hair stylist Diana Rozenblum also loves I Heart Yogurt. She comes with her children about three times a week. She usually gets pomegranate and vanilla Swiss chocolate flavored yogurt with Captain Crunch cereal and white chocolate chips.
Rozenblum says she loves it because it is healthy and yummy, and her kids love the treat. According to Rozenblum, the yogurt is fresh and tastes natural, but it’s also the most expensive. She spends $5 to $6 per cup, meaning that each cup has about 12.5 to 15 ounces of yogurt, including toppings.
Mark Hudson, assistant manager at I hear Yogurt, has only worked at the shop two weeks, but says that business is booming.
“I can’t even hear myself think right now, that’s how business is,” he said.
Hudson estimates that during his eight-hour shift, 400 to 600 people come in for yogurt. He says that on average, people spend five to six dollars per yogurt.
“They serve themselves. All I do is tell them how much it costs, and they tip me,” he said.
Yogilicious Manager Winston Phan reports similar numbers. He estimates that on the weekends, the shop sees about 400 people, and on weekdays, about 300. On average, people spend about five dollars per cup. He said that people like the self-serve trend because it allows them to create their own dessert.
Meg Hanna, who is at the table with Dietrich, says while she does not frequently go to yogurt shops, she thinks that yogurt is lighter than ice cream. Her friend, Roxana Salehoun, said that yogurt is refreshing and cleansing.
Hanna is here for exactly that reason.
“I had a gross dinner, so when I eat frozen yogurt, it goes down better,” she said.
Dietrich does have one complaint about her favorite place. She says that even the smallest cups that Yogilicious provides are too big. Dietrich says that she usually just gets a big order of yogurt to put in her freezer at home. The order comes out to about $9 – 20 ounces.
I Heart Yogurt customer Randall Neely, a senior at Hockaday, likes self-serve frozen yogurt because she can create her own portions. She says that Orange Cup is too stingy with portions and toppings.
Neely starts to say that yogurt is healthy, but then she stops mid-sentence. “It’s deceiving, actually,” she said. “It’s not as good as they say it is.”
