Though the summer days are long past us, one may still find themselves with a serious sweet tooth for a frozen treat. Luckily, this can be satisfied as there has been a recent trend of self-serve frozen yogurt bars popping up around New Jersey, especially the Monmouth area. Most frozen yogurt bars have a variety of flavors, along with quite a selection of toppings. Some flavors can be plain like vanilla or strawberry, or daring like cookies and cream or peanut butter.
Toppings vary from healthy options like fresh fruit or granola to more indulgent choices such as cookie dough and brownies. The idea of the self-serve is for the customer to create whatever kind of frozen yogurt desired, and then add the toppings of choice. Most, if not all frozen yogurt places, charge by measuring the customer’s cup since there is a certain price paid per ounce.
While there are a number of frozen yogurt options around here such as Top It and Frozen Peaks, Froyo Beach is the newest to locate itself in the community. The owner, Ziva Ioia, cared to comment on why she thinks frozen yogurt, also known as “froyo” is now trending.
“Froyo is a lot more popular than hard ice cream because it’s nutritionally the smarter choice,” Ioia went on. “You get nutrition benefits such as less calories and fat along with a great taste.”
These nutritional benefits are true according to Livestrong.com, as a cup of fat free and sugar free frozen yogurt is only about 80 calories while a mere half a cup of Edy’s vanilla ice cream contains 100 calories. Also, buzzle.com reports that ice cream has 10-18% fat, in contrast to frozen yogurt which has a lower scale of zero to four percent fat.
Senior Kae Crede commented on why she prefers frozen yogurt over hard ice cream. “I love the vanilla and strawberry flavors and I like frozen yogurt so much more than ice cream because it’s lower in fat and taste better personally,” said Crede. “I love the toppings too, especially the fresh fruit and the brownie pieces.”
Besides the health benefits, it is probable that frozen yogurt bars are a hit because of the self- serve factor. People like variety, and selfserve frozen yogurt can give them that. Ioia concurs with this statement by saying, “People love self-serve because they can make it how they want, and it can be different each time. You can put a little of a flavor or topping in, and more of another. It’s your creation.”
Sophomore Jackie Leming furthers this point. “There are many options and it is more fun since you can make it yourself.” People like to have control, and self-serve frozen yogurt is a reasonable treat that you can either limit yourself with a healthy option or splurge on a more delectable one.
Aside from the health and selfserve factors, frozen yogurt has really become a trend because it serves as a spot to hang out. A common outing for people of a higher age group may be to ask a friend to get coffee. While as for college students, specifically girls, it is increasingly becoming common to ask a friend to get frozen yogurt. It is a perfect spot to socialize with friends in a sit down relaxed environment.
“I think getting frozen yogurt is a fad. It’s not cool to go get an ice cream sundae anymore, it’s cool to get frozen yogurt. I mean how many people do you see Instagramming pictures of frozen yogurt nowadays?” sophomore Laurel Weber points out.
With the frozen yogurt chains blooming all over the area, the media has recently called this “frozen yogurt wars”. These so called wars are between those frozen yogurt places which are located fairly close to one another, much like Top It, Froyo Beach, as well as Red Mango. These frozen yogurt places try to market themselves the best they can, whether it be by lowering prices or creating the best taste, hoping to draw the most customers. Some places in New York City have even resorted to delievery on bike according to the New York Times.
Despite what the real reason for the sudden up rise of frozen yogurt chains is, one thing is certain, frozen yogurt is more popular now than ever before.
Whether it be the more healthy appeal, the “do it yourself” approach, or simply the fact that it’s a place to socialize, it’s quite obvious our generation is currently fascinated with frozen yogurt. Perhaps this could be a fad, or maybe self-serve frozen yogurt bars will continue to dominate as desserts. One argument that can be agreed amongst most, is that frozen yogurt is quite delicious.
PHOTO COURTESY of tutusandtea.files.wordpress.com
