From changing trends to bankruptcies to global pandemics, a variety of forces have conspired against these ice cream and fro-yo chains.
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00:00From changing trends to bankruptcies to global pandemics,
00:04a variety of forces have conspired against these ice cream and fro-yo chains.
00:09John Jan opened the first Jan's in the Bronx way back in 1897. Once upon a time,
00:14you could find about 30 Jan's locations throughout New York, New Jersey, and Southern Florida.
00:19But now, there's only one holding out in Queens, New York.
00:22Jan's is famous for its Kitchen Sink Sundae, which is large enough for an entire table of
00:28Nick Mukus, co-owner of the last remaining Jan's, revealed to the New York Business Journal that
00:32his father acquired the restaurant as a franchise in 1970. Many locations then started faltering
00:38later that decade. As Mukus put it,
00:40When Jan's started, ice cream was a treat. Now there's more competition — frozen yogurt,
00:45Carvel, Baskin-Robbins, and ice cream sold in grocery stores.
00:48The last Jan's has survived because Mukus' father converted it into a diner that serves
00:53breakfast, lunch, and supper and offers everything from seafood and burgers and other sandwiches
00:58to Greek and Italian specialties. And you can definitely still order its incredible ice cream.
01:04Everything that was the same suddenly isn't anymore.
01:07Steve Harrell opened the first Steve's Ice Cream in Somerville, Massachusetts,
01:11back in 1973. The store's claim to fame was its creamy and rich homemade ice cream.
01:16Harrell was the first to introduce smoosh-ins with gourmet ingredients like Reese's Peanut
01:20Butter Cups and Oreo cookies folded into his ice cream. Going to the original Steve's used to be a
01:25major event, with people sometimes lining up for half an hour just to get their favorite treat.
01:29Harrell sold the business in 1977 and returned to selling ice cream in 1980 with the opening
01:35of Harrell's in Northampton, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, in 1988, the new owners of Steve's
01:40purchased 100 Heidi's Frogan Yozurt shops to add to the company's more than 400 stores.
01:45Alas, Steve's ice cream stores now no longer exist. The original Harrell's shop does, though.
01:50It continues to sell gourmet ice cream along with frozen yogurt and dairy-free ice cream.
01:55I introduced the ice cream mix into the world, and that's quite a story to that.
02:01TCBY, which stands for the country's best yogurt, first opened in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1981.
02:07By 2000, it was the world's largest frozen yogurt chain, with about 3,000 shops across 70 countries.
02:12But after the Pinkberry franchise opened in 2005, new and trendy yogurt shops started popping up
02:18everywhere. With so much competition, TCBY found itself filing for bankruptcy protection in 2008,
02:24and its store numbers began to dwindle into the hundreds.
02:27As of 2022, TCBY has about 250 locations open. The company has tried to remain relevant by
02:33catering to a variety of dietary needs and having options that look more like an ice cream parlor.
02:38If you went to a TCBY in the 80s, you would just get a cup of frozen yogurt with your
02:42toppings of choice. But now, in the 2020s, the menu also includes non-dairy,
02:47no-sugar-added, and gluten-free options. You can buy soft-serve frozen yogurt,
02:51hand-scooped frozen yogurt, banana splits, coffee chillers, milkshakes, parfaits,
02:56shivers, sorbet fizzes, and sundaes, as well as cakes and pies.
03:00In a landscape full of ice cream and fro-yo, Cup's frozen yogurt stood out by being the
03:04hooters of frozen yogurt when it first opened in 2010. As Cup's co-founder Rick Barbrick has
03:10described it, it's more of a club-like experience with an edgy vibe. We have loud dance music with
03:15lighting and murals that give us a look and feel that is very different from the normal yogurt bar
03:19or ice cream shop. The concept sounds like it would sell itself, but the chain has had to close
03:23several locations. Currently, only one New York spot and four New Jersey Cups remain.
03:28All Cup's stores offer self-serve yogurt with a variety of toppings and sauces.
03:33To remain competitive, the company is trying out a few new concepts. The Fairlawn, New Jersey,
03:37and Yonkers, New York locations now offer 18 flavors of homemade ice cream and fresh-baked
03:42cookies for ice cream sandwiches and milkshakes. The company also plans to expand the ice cream
03:47and ice cream sandwiches into more of its locations in the future.
03:51C-U-P-S! Cup! Cup! Cup!
03:54In 2005, Shelley Huang and Young Lee were inspired by the success of Red Mango in South Korea and
04:00decided to open Pinkberry in California. It wasn't long before it started expanding
04:04throughout the country. But then in 2007, a class-action lawsuit accused the chain's product
04:10of not really being as all-natural as it had claimed, and the company later had to show that
04:14its frozen treats had enough probiotics to be certified as yogurt. In 2013, Pinkberry started
04:20offering Greek yogurt smoothies, and then in 2021, they added two cold brew fruit teas to their menu.
04:26But the bulk of the menu remains pretty much the same as it was when it first opened.
04:30Froyo chains have continued to close down, with multiple Pinkberry locations among the casualties.
04:36Without enough changes to make the business profitable, some Pinkberry franchisees simply
04:40decided not to renew their franchise agreements when they expired. The chain seems to be doing
04:45at least a little bit better than some of the other entries on the list. As of 2022,
04:49Pinkberry still has more than a hundred shops across the United States.
04:53Friendly's has always had a menu that included lunch and dinner food, alongside ice cream,
04:58since brothers Curtis and Presley Blake opened the diner-style restaurant in 1935.
05:03The company has racked up a lot of debt over the years and had to close 63 of its 487 stores when
05:09it filed for bankruptcy in 2011. It was also among many businesses that struggled during
05:13the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company filed for bankruptcy again in November 2020.
05:18The owners then sold the business to the parent company of Red Mango & Smoothie Factory for less
05:23than $2 million. After the 2020 bankruptcy declaration, Friendly's did everything it could
05:28to become profitable again, including changing the menu and stressing its takeout and delivery
05:33options. Unfortunately, the company also had to close a large number of restaurants to stay
05:37afloat. By 2022, Friendly's had about a hundred restaurants, with a few still in a temporarily
05:43closed state of limbo. In an attempt to improve its outlook for the future, the company announced
05:48in 2022 that it would be trying out a fast-casual version called Friendly's Cafe in Westfield,
05:53Massachusetts. It would continue to serve customer favorites like ice cream and hamburgers,
05:58alongside new items like a tater kegs appetizer and bangin' beef stroganoff.
06:03Friendly's is reinventing the way they serve their meals in Westfield,
06:06and hope to bring the fresh look to other locations here in Western Mass.
06:1016 Handles claims to have been the first self-serve frozen yogurt shop in New York City
06:15when it opened in 2008. It's since had to evolve over the years to stay relevant with so many
06:20fro-yo chains vying for prominence. Since 2011, 16 Handles has added cakes, frozen treats,
06:26artisan flavors and toppings, gluten-free options, vegan options, smoothies, milkshakes,
06:31and fraps to its menu. To appeal to those who may not like frozen yogurt, it's also added gelato and
06:36non-dairy soft serve. In 2019, 16 Handles had 35 stores, but with competition coming on strong,
06:42not all of them managed to survive. By late 2022, the chain was down to 29 locations in New York,
06:48Connecticut, New Jersey, and Florida. In August 2022, QSR reported that Neil Hirschman,
06:5416 Handles' largest franchise owner and YouTube celebrity Danny Duncan,
06:58bought the company in the hopes that fro-yo would be making a comeback.
07:02Original owner Solomon Choi said in a statement,
07:04"...I want to see 16 Handles grow and evolve. And Neil has the right mindset to set lofty goals
07:10and put the right plan together, which is exactly the type of leadership the brand needs."
07:14Yogurtland emerged in California in 2006 just as yogurt chains were starting to sprout up
07:20everywhere. CEO Philip Chang told Mashed in 2022 that he was flattered by all the copycats as his
07:26business grew. The company had more than 160 locations in 2011, with plans to expand to over
07:32550 by 2015. But as of 2022, it only has around 250. While frozen yogurt shops seemed to be
07:40everywhere for a while, some of Yogurtland's temporary pandemic closings became permanent,
07:44with fewer people wanting to go out for a self-serve fro-yo splurge. Yogurtland has
07:49tried several new ideas in the changing business landscape of the 2020s. As Chang explained to
07:54Mashed, it's not just short-term profit-making. What we're aiming for is, maybe for decades,
07:59to stay alive and then support the community. As a result, Yogurtland changed its menu and
08:04even its business type. In 2021, the chain tried out limited-time fruit bowl fusions,
08:10and as a follow-up to its 2020 experiment with a coconut milk-based yogurt, it also launched a
08:15limited-time non-dairy oat milk option in 2021 that tasted like cinnamon oatmeal cookies.
08:20Other innovations included opening a fast-casual eatery called Wholesome in 2020 and four chicken
08:26sandwich restaurants called Egg & Bird in 2021. Then in November 2022, the brand announced plans
08:32to add even more new menu items, including acai bowls, smoothies, and shakes.
08:37When customers say, I love Yogurtland, we really want to share our love.
08:43In 1920, Harry Burt became the first person to create a chocolate-covered ice cream treat on
08:48a stick. Once he realized he really had something worthwhile, he began sending
08:52white-clad Good Humor men out to deliver the frozen bars around neighborhoods via 12
08:56refrigerated ice cream trucks with bells. Interestingly enough, the first bells for
09:01the trucks came from his son's bobsled. In 1950, 90 percent of Good Humor's ice cream
09:06sales were from its fleet of 2,000 trucks. By the early 70s, the company was down to 1,200
09:11trucks and was losing profits from rising fuel costs, insurance, union contracts, and competition.
09:17Then in 1976, they realized that selling ice cream through grocery stores was more profitable.
09:22You can still find Good Humor ice cream treats at local grocery stores,
09:26and some independent ice cream truck drivers may purchase them to resell.
09:30But the sight of an actual Good Humor ice cream truck is a rare occurrence these days.
09:34A few privately owned trucks appear at special events like antique car shows,
09:38but while they may be selling Good Humor ice cream, the trucks don't actually belong to Good Humor.
09:43Tasty Freeze began in Illinois in 1950 and eventually became immortalized in the lyrics
09:48of the 1982 John Mellencamp song, Jack and Diane. At the height of the chain's success,
09:53it had nearly 2,000 roadside stands across the U.S. But it was actually all the way back in 1963
09:59when Tasty Freeze first started to falter, as the company tried its hand at mobile ice cream
10:04vehicles and ended up having to file for bankruptcy. Despite its early hiccups,
10:09Tasty Freeze persevered until 2003, when the original Hamburger Stand and the
10:13Wienerschnitzel hot dog chain acquired the chain's soft-serve ice cream.
10:17The two restaurants had already been selling Tasty Freeze ice cream in their restaurants,
10:21so the match made perfect sense. When you go to the Tasty Freeze website,
10:25you can find out whether your nearest location is part of an original Hamburger Stand or a
10:29Wienerschnitzel. As of 2022, Tasty Freeze ice cream is available at 250 locations in six states,
10:35with the majority of them in California. However, only four original Tasty Freeze
10:40stands remain — in Anchorage, Alaska, Milton, Florida, Harvey, North Dakota,
10:44and Spring Valley, Illinois.
10:46A good old-fashioned Tasty Freeze dessert. It's more than a meal, it's a treat."
10:52According to the International Frozen Yogurt Association, Everything Yogurt was the first
10:56chain to start selling Froyo before it became trendy. The first location opened in New York
11:01in 1976. By the 90s, it was the second-largest frozen yogurt chain with nearly 300 stores.
11:07The company that owned Everything Yogurt eventually evolved into Banana's Smoothies
11:11and Frozen Yogurt franchises. But as of 2022, there's only one remaining Everything Yogurt
11:17store in Brooklyn and one remaining Banana's Smoothies and Frozen Yogurt location on Staten
11:21Island. At the very last Everything Yogurt, you can purchase frozen yogurt in a cone,
11:26as a smoothie, in a cup with fruit, or in a milkshake. The store also sells lemonade,
11:30fountain sodas, and Frosties, which are a blend of fruit and ice.
11:33For some broader appeal, the shop has also added pastries and soft pretzels to its offerings.