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.
What next?
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3 Comments to “Pinkberry vs. Red Mango’s Ultimate FroYo Bay Area Smackdown”
John wrote:
FREE FROZEN YOGURT ALL DAY @ Red Mango Valley Fair Sat Jan 24
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=59036537781
Posted on 19-Jan-09 at 8:33 pm | Permalink
Phở Kinh Bích wrote:
It’s not even about Pinkberry vs Red Mango anymore, since there are tons of Frozen Yogurt shops around So Cal. Keep in mind that Pinkberry were also sued and in CA weren’t able to call it “Frozen Yogurt”, something about not having enough of the healthy bacteria or cultures or something. Red Mango and Pinkberry were the pioneers, but there’s so much competition now from other stores that have expanded their menu and have introduced flavors that Boba stores have such as Taro, Honeydew, Mango, Peach, etc.
Then you got stores like Yogurtland and Nubi that only charge by the ounce, so in comparison to Pinkberry’s and Red Mango’s Mediums that are like $5. You can get the same thing for cheaper at other places.
Posted on 20-Jan-09 at 5:59 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » Yul Kwon Appointed to FCC as Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau wrote:
[...] Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the appointment (.pdf) of Yul Kwon, (yes, Survivor & Red Mango owner Yul Kwon), as Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Yul has had past political aspirations [...]
Posted on 23-Oct-09 at 2:13 pm | Permalink
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