When I first blogged about Pinkberry my fellow 8Asian bloggers were shocked that I had never tried the frozen yogurt phenomenon; at the time, they only had stores in Southern California and in New York City. But with a new Pinkberry store in San Jose and a new Red Mango store – owned by Survivor: Cook Islands winner Yul Kwon – just opened this weekend, the battle of the heavily Korean-influenced Frozen Yogurt wars has officially moved to the Bay Area as reported in Mercury News:
“The giants of the tart “fro-yo” craze — Pinkberry and Red Mango — are opening across the street from each other at Santana Row and Valley Fair, the first stores in San Jose and among the first outside the Los Angeles and New York markets … Pinkberry has a dominant presence, with 71 stores and a possibly better known brand. It also has the undeniable Santana Row ambience on its side… Red Mango … with 47 stores, it claims to be the originator of tart frozen yogurt and seems to have an edge with foodie taste-testers.”
As I’m a fan of Yul Kwon for his community and political activism, I’m already biased towards Red Mango. That said, I wonder how Pinkberry and Red Mango will do in this recession, given how companies like Starbucks has seen massive declines in profitability as consumers are spending less on everything. Having Pinkberry in Santana Row – lovingly known by one Yelp.com reviewer as an “upper-scale, suburban strip-mall, yuppie-enhanced housing community” – gives Pinkberry a massive advantage.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Disgusted
- Sad
- Angry
