The Question Everyone Wants Answered: Where Did All the Frozen Yogurt Go?

Frozen Yogurt debuted around the same time “Call Me Maybe” was played on every single iPod touch.

Similarly to the song, both the frozen sweet treat and the one hit wonder were left behind when generations overpowered the healthy fad and the overplayed song, nonetheless.

As a kid, the frozen yogurt self serve buffet line was an incredibly large amount of responsibility with several toppings to choose from including crunchy cookie pieces, bursting gummy worms, and colorful sprinkles stacked high in a colorful cup.

But like every popular trend, it came as quickly as it disappeared.

So where did all the froyo go, is the biggest question everyone wants answered.

Starting in 2012 when the popular dessert became the biggest craze of the year, frozen yogurt actually started back in the 80s, and then again in the early 2000s.

According to Juanita Velasco, who owned and operated Rockies Frozen Yogurt in Whittier, CA told Refinery29,

Frozen yogurt, it comes in waves,” she says. “I remember when I was in high school in the early ‘80s froyo was a big thing, and then when it died down it was all these ice cream spots… Every 10 years it pops up and it’s a trend again, and then it dies down.”
Juanita Velasco

So if Velasco was right, that means the next frozen yogurt craze would have boomed in 2020, which clearly it didn’t, but that’s also most likely because of COVID-19.

Although, The International Frozen Yogurt Association reports good things, considering seven new frozen yogurt stores opened in the U.S. this January of 2022.

Unfortunately, four older stores have closed but Velasco is keeping positive.

“This time around, I don’t think it’s a trend anymore,” Velasco says. “Yogurt’s here to stay now. Those of us that were able to survive the boom and the closures and the recession… we caught onto something, and that’s what helped us to continue.”
Juanita Velasco