Pinkberry, a Yogurt Vendor, Raises Cash

I've never even heard of it before today. Though it sorta sounds like the kind of thing I might like - I enjoy greek yogurt with berries and flax seed, and it's pretty sour... I expect it's a "health" trend, no? Although, yogurt isn't actually all that great for you, unless this stuff is some special recipe!

<a campaign of insulting the customers who walk outta this place>

Simmer down, Dan. Let the people have their yoghurt. Jeez.

It is an epidemic in LA, seriously, it's the latest trendy thing for people to come and wait in line for nasty yogurt--and when it showed up in the fiercely independent Venice Beach, I was more than upset--true Holly, it's just yogurt, but it represents the power of a trend--because let's be serious, it's made from powdered milk and tastes like it.

The texture is way to watery for my taste... I still have a giftcard there that I barely used!

i'm just hearing about this for the first time today... why do i care that they've raised so much money???

Like I said, it's just yogurt. It will probably go away like most of the many frozen yogurt places did in the late '80's. Penguin's Frozen Yogurt used to be everywhere...now, not so much.

If you're going to get upset about trends, let's go after something that actually matters, like anorexia, the resurgence of cocaine, or stirrup pants.

I actually think that large corporations, McDonald's, Krispy Kreme, Starbuck's, Pinkberry etc, are a HUGE, multi-national issue, it isn't the fact that it's a trend that is upsetting, it's the mass takeover of huge corporations turning America, and the world, into an Any Town USA--this is more than just if the yogurt tastes good or not, it's about Pinkberry and everyone else trying to capitalize on the last remaining vestiges of independent landscape [like Venice] Maybe it's a little dramatic, but I am reading a book called Jihad vs. McWorld [which you should read] and something like a yogurt trend can be more sinister than it appears...

Ok...but his main issue wasn't that Pinkberry is yet another corporation butting its way into the mouths of millions, it was that it tastes like battery acid. My point was that just because one person thinks something tastes like crap doesn't mean other people shouldn't be allowed to enjoy it, chain restaurant or otherwise.

mmm....Pinkberry. I've come to find that most people don't enjoy it the first time they have it, but once u go back it becomes like crack.

i also think a lot of ppl don't like it at first because they expect something along the traditional lines of FroYo, all sweet and what not.

what's wrong with trends? they're how new things come about. isn't it like a total trend these days to hate on trends?

and if u're looking for a new trend to hate on, pinkberry is old news. a more recent fad [especially in the Los Angeles dessert scene] is high-end cupcakes. so go stand outside places like Susie Cakes and Sprinkles and hate on the purveyors of $4 cupcakes. they are mighty delicious tho. mmm...cupcakes...

Alright...I just find the issue of trends and why/how they happen fascinating and thought this was a good place to explore that. But if we must stay on the original topic...then I say let them eat trendy cake, and cupcakes and yogurt all they want, I am not going to stop anyone from enjoying anything.

yo-gurt. yogurt. jogurt. go-gurt. it's just yogurt.

I must say I don't get it either. I went into a Pink Berry in New York last week while Dan mocked my curiosity from behind. Dan was right, the stuff is gross!

I'm just the kinda sucker who would usually love a place like this. I'll gladly overpay for good cupcake or doughnut any day of the week. I even like the expensive rice pudding place next door, Rice to Riches. But this frozen yogurt tasted really weird! Maybe some folks are just born with the right taste buds to really appreciate it...and those of us who weren’t just don’t get it.

I've been to Pinkberry once, just out of curiosity like Christof, but I wasn't crazy about it. I don't think it tastes bad, I just don't think it's that great, or "addictive" as some would suggest. Interesting case study, though, on how trends get started - proves some the theories pointed out in The Tipping Point.

I am so over new trends.. Waiting in line for yogurt!

However I do like their nice floors.

Gross!! Pinkberry is disgusting! They opened one on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA, and the locals are outraged! Pinkberry sucks my ASS.

I heard Current Vanguard's Laura Ling was at the ABBOT KINNEY location this weekend!

This is from an article on the phenomenon:

"Pinkberry yogurt is made with real milk and is about 20 calories per ounce, and a medium cup with three fresh fruit toppings (nothing comes from a can or is soaked in syrup) costs $4.95...there are only two flavors of yogurt -- plain and green tea."

Oh, and there is apparently a rival calling itself Kiwiberry. Weird marketing, that one.

as far as trends go though, i prefer the idea of harmless yogurt then mcdonalds or something that truly is unhealthy. pinkberry is so LA though, i have to say.

I have never had PB. But, I recently had a Dairy Queen cone, and I do not think it could be any worse that that. However, whoever owns this place is super smart for being successful with such a simple and unexciting concept.

Aaaah (sorry, I skipped some of the a's) –

ya shoulda gotten a blizzard...mmmblizzard with oreos...

There was this Dairy Queen in the University City Loop near where I went to school in Missour-ah... we used to go there all the time and then they found this rat in the machine---now its a starbucks...

{my friend flash used to get hamburgers there too}

I can't stand this stuff, it's the worst frozen yogurt around. And I really can't stand the decoration of the stores. Bright, with crappy lead coated plastic chairs (so they stay shiny) and an assortment of other crap. Every time I pass by one of the many here in LA, I feel bad for the people working there. All the bright colors are probably driving them insane.

wait... Beckmann.... you acquired a taste for vegemite as an adult??? I didn't know that was possible...

Yeah--I was like 22 I think--is that Adult--I can remember the day... Oct 23, 2002--almost five years next week...

I am still recovering from my first experience with Pinkberry nearly six months ago. I often wake in the middle of the night screaming in terror having dreamt about waiting in line for this stuff for days to taste what I can only describe as frozen sour cream. Why, people? Why? I don't care how "healthy" you think it is. Go eat some real fruit. Some real ice cream. Exercise.

And yes...I am Dan's sister...

dudeee, get a life. what are you? like freaking 27 or 28? [although you look older, you look as old as my math teacher, and hes like 40 something] anyway, i would have assumed that your mother would have taught you this.. or maybe life itself would, but apparently, it doesn't seem like neither of them taught you this. not everything in life can satisfy you. personally, i dont get your point in saying all these shit about pinkberry. it's just a company trying to make money by selling yogurt to satisfy the taste buds of those people who actually like it. it isnt written anywhere on a piece of paper that it is a guarantee you would love pinkberry and would freaking die if it was bombed. i mean, if you dont like it, then dont go back there. whats the point in saying all these nasty shit about it? why dont you spend the time that you spend complaining about pinkberry and its supposed nasty yogurt that shouldnt be bought or even tasted by anyone, complaining by the lack of food in africa? and all those starving children?

--and to your sister, wtf? frozen sour cream? ma'am, its made from milk, which comes from a cow. and it does contain real fruit...idiot. or maybe, you may have just been ..hmm.. consuming really cheap stuff, yeah? annnnddd, anything that contains a seed in it is a fruit. and fruits contains vitamins, which is exactly what you should be consuming instead of those .. greasy burgers. nasty.

-by the way, sir, stop hassling people. why do you care so much as to why theyre buying pinkberry? or eating it? are you just jealous that they can actually enjoy pinkberry unlike you?