During the summer of 2023, my sister and I were watching “The Good Place,” a comedic, yet thought-provoking show about what happens when we die and where the stores only serve one thing: frozen yogurt.
Naturally, after eight episodes of binge-watching, we looked at each other and said, “We need to get froyo. Now.”
We drove to our local Kiwi Yogurt and at 8 p.m., the place was dead. I’ve never felt more awkward making my bowl while the employees stared. I found an old loyalty card in my wallet. When I handed it to the cashier, she looked at me blank-faced and said, “We don’t do that anymore.”
We were happy with our treat until — spoiler alert — we found out the “good place” was actually a new version of the “bad place.” Michael, the demon architect, only chose froyo because it would never be as good as ice cream. “There’s something so human about taking something great,” he says after his real intentions are revealed, “and ruining it a little so you can have more of it.”
The froyo craze took the nation by storm in the late 2000s, early 2010s, the Obama years. These episodes aired in late 2016. By that time, froyo was officially uncool.
But fast-forward to last week when my sister and I had a seasonal craving for froyo yet again. We visited the same shop, same time of night — and the place was packed. We had to wait in a line to get our yogurt and again for toppings. On the way out, my sister ran into a friend who was about to meet someone for a date. A date! At the froyo shop! In 2025!
If I offered my ancient loyalty card again, they might’ve actually taken it.
Froyo, it seems, is back.
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This tracks with what Susan Linton, founder and president of the International Frozen Yogurt Association (IFYA) has been noticing, “I’m seeing more stores open. I wouldn’t say it’s anything like 2012, not that crazy, but I have seen more.”
Linton says 2012 was “peak” frozen yogurt, corroborated by Google Trends. But she’s also seen more stores open in 2024 than in 2023. Linton started watching the froyo scene in 2007, a year after Pinkberry opened in West Hollywood, when she launched her blog, Froyo Girl Speaks. In 2013, she founded IFYA and has been tracking the industry ever since.
“Part of the reason it’s coming back, the younger generation is into it. They’ll be posting things on social media that would appeal to younger people,” says Linton, “And there’s the other thing where recently people have really gotten into probiotics.”
Health, not just nostalgia, is part of the pitch. Market analysis says “health” is frozen yogurt’s biggest selling point. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the Poppi-loving pilates girls in the East Village just naturally started flocking to Culture.
Health consciousness in America has only grown in recent years. According to the USDA, low and non-fat ice cream (including froyo) accounts for more than 35% of ice cream production, up from 29% in 2003.
The interactive, customizable aspect of froyo stores is also a huge draw. According to Fortune Business Insights, consumer agency and autonomy is another market driver. Being able to pick and mix flavors and toppings, the quantity of each, and by association the final price is a huge plus. In a time when many Gen-Z pockets are tight, that control matters.
“There has been some arguments that in times of stress or even recessions, people tend to turn more to desserts and comfort food,” says Linton.
Given the ongoing social and political upheaval both domestically and internationally, it makes sense that America is deep in its “little sweet treat” era (the fact that the phrase is so widespread says it all). Pick-and-mix candy, cinnamon buns, froyo; they’re all sides of the same coin.
“Froyo is falling in line with the candy resurgence, and I think there’s a pattern. There was the whole Pinkberry, 16 Handles craze with Dylan’s Candy Bar and It’s Sugar, and that’s all one moment in time,” says Alexa Matthews, who runs the Instagram account @eatingnyc.
“It feels smaller, maybe a little more exclusive. People like feeling like it’s special and better quality and better ingredients and that’s allowing this resurgence to happen.”
Matthews, who left hospitality in 2017 to run @eatingnyc fulltime, says the winners are now “higher quality shops with better ingredients and a niche feel.”The New York Influencers aren’t posting Pinkberry or 16Handles. The “it” spots are what I’ve personally been calling “luxury” froyo: Butterfield Market, Madison Fare and Culture.
“It feels smaller, maybe a little more exclusive. People like feeling like it’s special and better quality and better ingredients and that’s allowing this resurgence to happen,” says Matthews.
Rachel Brotman, who runs @thecarboholic on Instagram, agrees. She says the froyo shops going viral right now “aren’t the ones with 20 different flavors and a self-serve toppings bar.”
“You’re seeing more gourmet, sundae-ish creations go viral,” says Brotman, “Culture has been around for a long time, but suddenly there’s a two-hour line.’”
Brotman says that on top of the health factors (“to a certain extent, it’s guilt free”), social media and virality have played a huge role.
“People like to feel like they discovered something, or that they’re onto something new,” says Brotman, “Madison Fare is more exciting than posting something from Pinkberry. While people enjoy eating it, they also like snapping a picture of it, even if they’re not a creator.”
Some traditional froyo shop owners have found ways to use social media to their advantage. Ali Mahfouz, the owner of Yogurt Co. in Wyandotte, Mich., jumped on the Dubai chocolate trend last October and business has been booming. The Dubai Chocolate Strawberry Cup with homemade pistachio paste and fresh frozen yogurt is a best seller.
“We go through 1,000 to 1,400 packs of strawberries a week,” says Mahfouz, “We have consistent lines, even now. It’s still going pretty hard.”
Mahfouz says that people have driven over an hour and half just to try the dessert. On his busiest day in March, Yogurt Co. sold over 500 Dubai strawberry cups.
The Dubai cup saved Mahfouz’s business after the COVID-19 pandemic nearly shut him down.
It’s a little sweet treat, comforting when the headlines aren’t and ruined just enough to feel like control.
“Our initial product is our frozen yogurt, so now that people have had the Dubai, they’re getting our frozen yogurt,” says Mahfouz, “The Dubai thing will fade, but when it does, people know we have a good product.”
He plans to stay relevant by continuing to lean into food trends. Next up: banana pudding cups. Mahfouz is also active on social media, in community groups and sponsors youth sports teams to stay involved in the community.
Some people — especially New Yorkers — will argue that froyo never left. But even if you’re in that camp, it’s hard to ignore the clear rise in froyo’s social caché this summer. For me, the biggest pull is nostalgia.
I was in middle school during the first froyo craze. Even though my friends didn’t really have jobs or money in 2012, froyo was a huge part of that era. It’s where we met up after school, on the weekends, before the movies. The froyo shop was the hangout spot.
Now, a lot of us early-to-mid-20-somethings are facing the “real world,” and it feels more and more like those YA dystopian novels we used to read. So I think texting your friends, “Let’s get froyo,” helps take your mind off it all. It’s a little sweet treat, comforting when the headlines aren’t and ruined just enough to feel like control.
