Check Out Yogurt Shops in Kansas City

Is fro-yo a fad or a trend?

The answer may depend on whether you lived through skinny leggings, shoulder pads and big hair.

“It does take us back to TCBY,” says Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, a consumer research company that tracks what Americans eat.

During the 1980s, TCBY and I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt were the leaders in sweet frozen treats without the premium-ice cream guilt.

“We thought it was the answer to healthy eating,” Balzer says, “but we didn’t lose a whole lot of weight with a banana split made of frozen yogurt.”

Nearly three decades later, frozen yogurt is making a healthy comeback. Fro-yo chains such as Red Mango, Peachwave, Orange Leaf and the independent Kansas City-based Mochi-Yo dot suburban shopping centers.

“It’s crazy how fast they’re popping up. It will be interesting to see who will survive and who won’t,” says Shannon Knopke, a Brookside resident who initially became a “connoisseur of the new yogurt trend” after discovering the Pinkberry chain three years ago on a business trip to Los Angeles.

Alan Stribling credits Pinkberry for jumpstarting the latest yogurt craze. Stribling owns two Yogurtini stores in Kansas City and will open two more — in Lee’s Summit and Overland Park — next month.

Initially Pinkberry tweaked the concept by offering tart flavors from a kiosk.

“Then somebody had the bright idea of putting up a line of machines for a self-serve model, and the concept took off like a rocket,” Stribling says.

Restaurants & Institutions magazine put frozen yogurt on its “Big Menu Ideas for 2009,” and the Red Mango franchise was named by Nation’s Restaurant Newsas one of its five “Hot Concepts” for 2009.

Suhh-weet!

Yes, but if the frozen yogurt of the ’80s tasted like ice cream, fro-yo is tart and tangy, more closely resembling the Greek yogurts sold in supermarkets.

Knopke was so smitten with the tartness of these revamped flavors she packed pints in an insulated cooler and couriered them via Southwest Airlines, so her kids — Madeline, 15; Joseph, 13; and Maura, 12 — could enjoy the coolest of after-school snacks. Now she and the kids visit a yogurt shop about once a week. She even looked into buying a franchise.

Most local yogurt bars feature self-serve machines. Just pull a lever and swirl to your heart’s content. Top green tea, pomegranate or açai-flavored yogurt with a range of DIY toppings, including such unusual finds as mochi balls — a Japanese chewy rice confection vaguely reminiscent of gummy bears — or spicy Thai Sriracha sauce.

“Customers make suggestions all the time,” Stribling says. “We added flax seed and sunflower seeds at their request.”

The new Asian spin extends to the Zen lifestyle vibe conveyed by a combination of cheerful colors, mod furniture and striking minimalist décor.

“They’re so customer-friendly and trendy looking, so they’ve become a gathering place,” Knopke says.

Peachwave

15044 S. Blackbob Road, Olathe

9424 Mission Road, Prairie Village

6936 W. 135th St., Overland Park

www.peachwaveyogurt.com

On a soupy summer night, the driver of a Roberts Dairy truck carts four crates of milk into a Peachwave shop. At 8:30 p.m., it might have been a special delivery. Inside the store, a line of 30 people snakes from the door to the rear wall. Toddlers wear their yogurt. Two teenage girls hold up the line as they use taster cups to sample several flavors. A teenage boy piles his bowl high with a mountain of yogurt and a river of toppings. Across the way, the Ben & Jerry’s shop looks forlorn.

Homebase: Peachwave is based in Edmond, Okla.

Swirly details: Choose between a small or large cardboard cup. Fill it with your favorite flavors. Sprinkle with toppings. Similar to a supermarket salad bar, the yogurt is weighed on a scale at the cash register. Meanwhile, a flatscreen TV flashes a peachy, anime-like cartoon mascot.

Flavors: More than 25, including pistachio almond, green apple, tiramisu and taro, a starchy potato-like tuber. A dozen flavors are available daily.

Unique toppings: Boba bubbles, gelatinous tapioca beads that resemble fish eggs.

Cost: 33 cents per ounce

Decor: The color scheme is lime green and orange. Modular plastic white and orange chairs are scattered around tables for seating. Exposed duct work, pendant lamps and white crinkle lights give a cool vibe. Outdoor seating at the 135th Street location is provided on a terrace overlooking a parking lot.

Mochi-Yo Yogurt Bar

4535 W. 119th St., Leawood

www.mochi-yo.com

Like Hello Kitty before him, Ninja Yo (yes, I assume it’s a guy) is as cute as any swirly headed, yogurt-slurping mascot out there. Cute is a word that is often used to describe the décor of the new wave of yogurt bars.

Looking a lot like a CB2 catalog, the décor is white plastic tables decorated with white vases sprouting orange daisies. A poster advertising mochi balls gives a ring of authenticity to the tightly focused menu. Unfortunately, the mod Mochi-Yo signage on the store’s façade is hard to see at a distance. Look for the Apple Store to guide you.

Homebase: Designed to be a “knockoff” of the successful Pinkberry chain, the store opened in April 2009. For nine months Mochi-Yo was the only yogurt kid on the block; now there’s competition across the street. The single Leawood store is owned by entrepreneur Weston Bergmann, an alum of “Real World: Austin,” and partner Kirk Goza. The website announces plans to expand.

Swirly details: With only four flavors to choose from, the attendant is in charge.

Flavors: Four flavors, including original tart, green tea, plus two rotating flavors.

Unusual toppings: Three flavors of mochi balls, plus Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles and Cap’n Crunch.

Cost: Order 4-ounce small ($2.50), 8-ounce medium ($3.50) or 12-ounce large ($4.50).

Décor: The skinny layout of the shop inspired the Kansas City architecture firm Blue Bike to create a “Mochi Tunnel,” an arching blond wood canopy with a long bench for seating. Park benches and a table with orange flower-petal chairs add a bit of sidewalk seating near a fountain.

Yogurtini

8749 N.W. Prairie View Road in Zona Rosa

4853 Main St.

Two more locations open in September, one in Lee’s Summit and the other in Overland Park. Watch website for address and opening dates.

www.yogurtini.com

A martini glass logo lets you know you’re in the most elegant of the local yogurt franchises.

Another difference: Yogurtini has civilized crowd flow. Most stores work on the organized chaos theory, pushing customers toward machines installed on a back wall. Here, customers enter the store and are funneled into a neat line.

Homebase: The Yogurtini franchise started in Tempe, Ariz. Kansas City is the first expansion site. Alan Stribling, a piano player/singer who often appears at the Raphael Hotel, owns the local stores with business partner Perry Kessler.

The swirly stuff: Placards on the wall tell how many calories and fat each flavor contains per 4-ounce serving. Grab a large (32-ounce, ridiculously big unless you’re planning to share with other members of the football team) or a small (16-ounce) cardboard bowl from the suction cup on the wall. Swirl one or several flavors into the bowl and head for the mammoth topping bar. At the end of the line put bowl on the scale (the weight of the bowl is subtracted). In a clever twist of marketing, Yogurtini posts “recipes” on one wall listing ideas for yogurt and toppings that work well together.

Flavors: The menu has 100 flavors to draw from but features 16 per day. Certain flavors also rotate seasonally, including such holiday favorites as pumpkin spice, peppermint and eggnog.

Unusual topping: 76 toppings, including chunks of cheesecake and brownies, espresso beans, flax seed, sunflower seeds, Sriracha hot sauce.

Cost: 39 cents per ounce

Decor: Sea-foam green walls and sparkling blue-green tiles are a soothing respite from loud oranges and greens. Mod white plastic chairs and tables are spread throughout a large eating area.

Red Mango
5050 Oak St., near the University of Missouri-Kansas City

Location in Tiffany Springs coming soon

www.redmangousa.com

Walk into the front of Red Mango and you can’t miss the “Red Mango vs. the Other Guys” sign.

“We don’t play the name game,” says Johnny Tellez, franchise support manager, “but we want people to know where we stand.” Some brands make their yogurt “in ways not consistent with what the dairy board requires.”

Red Mango touts its Live & Active Cultures seal, issued by the National Yogurt Board.

Red Mango is eager to tap into the “healthy, active lifestyle” market, although Tellez says there is also a contingent of one-uppers who try to eat jaw-dropping amounts in friendly competition.

Homebase: Red Mango started in Westwood, Calif., where there seems to be “a yogurt shop on every other corner.” The UMKC location is owned by comedian Elliott Threatt.

The swirly stuff: The front of the shop handles the smoothie business. Machines at the back pump out frozen yogurt flavors. Customers choose a plastic cup or a plastic foam bowl. Labels next to each flavor give a calorie count per ounce. The creation is weighed at the cash register.

Flavors: There are 30 flavors on the menu; all stores (whether self-serve or behind-the-bar) offer original sweet and tangy, pomegranate with Pom juice, Madagascar vanilla and a limited-time flavor. With other machines available, additional flavors are rotated daily.

Toppings: Fresh fruit (10 to 30 calories per scoop); “Fun and crunchy” (30 to 110 per scoop).

Cost: 39cents per ounce

Décor: The red, black and gray décor is sleek, Asian modern. There are a few tables and chairs, as well as bar seating in back. Outside seating is available.

Orange Leaf

8941 W. 135th St., Overland Park

4260 W. 119th, Leawood

11524 W. 135th St., Overland Park

www.orangeleafyogurt.com

Can you really compare peaches and oranges?

Thanks to their color schemes, Peachwave and Orange Leaf have a definite deja-vu quality. I even overheard a teenage girl remind her boyfriend he was in Orange Leaf — not Peachwave. A plus for both chains: The service is exceptionally friendly, whether the store is packed or virtually empty.

Homebase: The Oklahoma-based chain is scheduled to open more stores in Leawood and Lawrence.

The swirly stuff: Fill your cup. Top it. Weigh it. Need we say more?

Flavors: 30 flavors on the menu, with 16 available daily. Confetti Cake, Red Velvet, Cheesecake and Brownie Batter offer “baked goods” without the calories and fat.

Unusual toppings: A total of 36 toppings, half chilled and half dry. “We’re only limited by our imagination,” says Nick Rogers, owner of two stores.

Cost: 35 cents per ounce

Décor: Leawood location is bright and airy orange with tile walls. Orange and white leather couches provide additional seating.

The fro-yo health lowdown

Yes, frozen yogurt may have fewer calories and less (or no) fat compared to premium ice cream.

But no matter what the come-hither website for your favorite fro-yo company promises with regards to health and nutrition, it’s best to think of it as dessert, not health food.

Remember the episode from “Seinfeld” when Elaine thought she’d discovered the holy food grail, only to gain seven pounds in a week?

“Remember, this is a company who is making a product, and they want you to come back every day,” says Shelly Summar, weight management program coordinator at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“Frozen yogurt can definitely satisfy that sweet craving we want with fewer calories, and many of the flavors are fat-free,” agrees Mitzi Dulan, a sports nutritionist with the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals. “However, you have to watch your portion size. Depending on the size (of the bowl), you can get a lot of calories. Most are also high in sugar.”

So how do you get the most out of your frozen yogurt?

•Look for live cultures: Frozen yogurt is not regulated like yogurt. Some frozen yogurts contain active cultures (lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus), and some don’t. These cultures can help keep your digestive tract healthy.

To help consumers identify a frozen yogurt with live active cultures, the National Yogurt Association ( www.aboutyogurt.com) offers a Live & Active Cultures seal. To qualify, the frozen yogurt must be made by fermenting pasteurized milk (which can include skim milk and powdered skim milk), using traditional yogurt cultures, until the proper acidity is reached. It also must contain at least 10 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture.

The association’s FAQ page indicates freezing does not kill the cultures. If the frozen yogurt has been heat treated, or cultures are added with acidifiers and skip the fermentation process altogether, the amount of live cultures remaining is not significant.

•Read the nutrition labels: Yogurt is naturally low in calories and fat but high in calcium and protein. The same is not necessarily true for frozen yogurts. Most frozen yogurts sold in a grocery store contain 15 percent to 30 percent DV (daily value) of calcium. Plain yogurt and milk typically have 7 to 8 grams of protein. One frozen yogurt we tried had only 1.6 percent DV for calcium and 1.2 grams of protein.

•Choose wisely: Some franchises offer nonfat, no sugar added, nondairy and gluten-free flavors. Skip additional calories by choosing fresh fruit over candy toppings. “Any time you’re adding fresh fruit to it, knock yourself out — unless the fruit is in syrup,” Summar says.

Shannon Knopke, an actress and Brookside mother of three teenagers, discusses topping choices with her kids before going into the yogurt shop.

“The newer places have a lot of candy toppings. We decide ahead of time if we’re going for fresh fruit, or if it’s a treat day,” she says.

•Watch your portion size: Self-serve offers control, but the levers are sure fun to push. And soon you’ve got a tsumani of a swirl, rather than a 1/2 -cup serving.

So how often do you see someone fill their cups with just 3 ounces?

“That’s rare,” says Nick Rogers, owner of two Orange Leaf stores. “The average is about 6 to 10 ounces. But even at that, it’s a 140-calorie dessert.”

At one fro-yo store, an eager child crammed 3 ounces into a 1-ounce taster cup. “As a mom, I sort of like the stores that aren’t self-serve because eyes can be bigger than the stomach for a child,” Knopke says.

Nutrition facts

•Mochi-Yo Yogurt Bar (tart) | 110 calories/4-ounce serving | 3 grams protein | 22 grams sugar | 30 milligrams sodium

•Orange Leaf (plain tart) | 70.4 calories/3-ounce serving | 0 fat | 1.2 grams protein | 13.6 grams sugar | 20 milligrams sodium

•Peachwave (plain tart) | 70.4 calories/3-ounce serving | 0 fat | 1.2 grams protein | 13.5 grams sugar | 20 milligrams sodium

•Red Mango (tart) | 90 calories/3-ounce serving | 0 fat | 3 grams protein | 15 grams sugar | 130 milligrams sodium •Yogurtini (nonfat country vanilla) | 100 calories/3-ounce serving | 0 grams fat | 3 grams protein | 14 grams sugar | 75 milligrams sodium

To reach Jill Wendholt Silva, call 816-234-4347 or send e-mail to jsilva@kcstar.com.