Melissa Bailey Photo
On one side of High Street, fans lined up to taste the cake-batter/ tart swirl at the new Froyo World. On the other side, a more traditional competitor is already hanging up his scoop.
New Haven’s frozen yogurt wars began this month near the corner of High and Chapel Streets, near Yale’s campus. Froyo World, which boasts to be “Connecticut’s first self-serve frozen yogurt lounge,” opened up at 46 High St. on Aug. 5, according to co-owner Susan Chung (pictured).
The brightly painted store, part of the Yo-Cup franchise, is expected to be the first in a series of frozen yogurt chains to set up shop in student-rich New Haven. It’s one sign that the tart frozen yogurt craze, which has taken over the West Coast and spread to East Coast cities in the past couple of years, has made inroads in the nation’s first planned city.
Froyo World sits in a highly visible spot attached to Yale’s British Art Center, owned by Yale. Customers pull levers to squeeze out their own portion size of six flavors of frozen yogurt, then choose between 34 toppings, including fresh kiwi, sliced almonds and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. After filling ample-sized paper cups with goodies, customers pay for everything by weight, at 49 cents per ounce.
The franchise, Yo-Cup, has two stores in San Francisco. Chung said Yo-Cup is run by her relatives. She and her fiance, William Bok, looked around New Haven for a place to set up the first East-Coast store. Chung said she was attracted to Chapel Street because of its proximity to the university campus and high foot-traffic.
The new shop offers a “tart” flavor that looks pure white and tastes like Greek yogurt.
Adrienne Socci and Ben Noonan (in photo, from right) were one of many passersby to stumble across the yogurt shop Wednesday and try it out. They sprinkled Reeses Peanut Butter Cups onto a chocolate-vanilla combo.
“Really good,” they pronounced in chorus, perched at window-side stools.
Across the street, no new customers appeared in the windows of the Liberry at 45 High St., where scoops of diet ice creams and frozen yogurts have been sold for the past five years.
Peeyada Boon (pictured), who was working the counter Wednesday, said Liberry has lost 90 percent of business since Froyo World opened.
Liberry owner Robert Klinger said he recognizes Froyo is “a new thing,” and the flurry of interest may not last. But the new competition has prompted him to get out of the business, he said.
“In a week or two, we’re going to close, remodel, and then we’re going to do something else,” he said.
Klinger said the new restaurant would be “something totally different.”
Klinger said he doesn’t spite Froyo for taking away customers.
“We’re not enemies or anything,” Klinger said.
Liberry “was barely making it” anyway, Klinger conceded. “We always thought about changing it.” Froyo “pushed me to do something that I should have done a long time ago.”
Klinger bought Liberry two years ago. The spot at 45 High St. is perhaps better known in its former incarnation as a Tasti D‑Lite franchise store.
On Wednesday, Liberry had five bright, tropical flavors of sorbet for sale, as well as two flavors of gelato and soft-serve yogurt and ice cream. The store offered 19 toppings, with similar options to Froyo World, but at a steeper price. The first topping at Liberry costs a dollar, whereas at Froyo all toppings are charged by weight.
Froyo offers just six options, grouped in pairs, each pair with a lever for swirling: two sorbets (mango tango and kiwi strawberry), vanilla and chocolate frozen yogurt, and tart and a sixth flavor, which rotates. All flavors are non-fat, except for the sixth, which on Wednesday was cake batter. Everything is self-serve.
“People like to control their own portions,” Froyo’s Chung explained.
The shop urges customers to “indulge” — in “healthy,” “pro-biotic” sweetness. All the yogurts have live active cultures, according to the company’s web site.
Before this month, Liberry and Ashley’s Ice Cream were the only two ice cream spots in town. (Cold Stone Creamery on Temple Street didn’t last long, and Chapel Street Sweet Shoppe has been gone for several years.)
The fact that Yale would rent to a competitor right across the street raised some eyebrows. Liberry sits right next to Starbucks in a building owned by John Wareck. Years ago, Wareck rented to Starbucks, providing a direct competitor to the Atticus Bookstore and Cafe.
Some wondered aloud this week if Froyo was Yale’s counterattack against Wareck for opening Starbucks.
“I highly doubt it,” Wareck said of the conspiracy theory.
Klinger said he’s spoken a couple of times with Bok, the new owner of Froyo.
He said he’s worried for Bok’s sake, because several frozen yogurt vendors have reportedly set their eyes on New Haven. One nationwide chain, Pinkberry, aims to set up shop here soon.
“We are looking at expanding in New Haven, but an exact location has not been confirmed as of now,” said Pinkberry spokesman Jonathan Zacks on Thursday.
Klinger, who also runs a five-year-old hot wings joint on Crown Street called S’Wings, said he’s learned a lesson: It’s a lot easier to sell hot wings in New Haven than ice cream.
“When you want ice cream, you want it in the summer,” he said, “and in the summer, no one’s around.”
Klinger was mum on what he would be selling at 45 High St. when he hangs up his ice cream scoop.
“It’s something odd” — something not currently sold in New Haven, he said. “It’ll be a home run.”
Vegetarians Beware: Your Yogurt and Cheese Might Contain Animal Products.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/437423/vegetarians_beware_your_yogurt_and.html?cat=22