Frozen Yogurt Stirs in Ice Cream Sector
CHICAGO — Comprising 28.4 percent of all desserts on menus, the frozen dessert market is changing.
Food researcher Technomic surveyed 1,200 of the top chains, finding that frozen yogurt concepts occupy the top and bottom of the growth spectrum. All but one of the ten fastest growing chains were frozen yogurt concepts, but other frozen yogurt chains experienced some of the largest declines within the top 500 chains.
One example of the change in frozen yogurt is Red Mango, a franchising firm that opened 62 new non-fat frozen yogurt shops in 2010. “We turned tradition upside down in 2010,” said Red Mango's founder and chief concept officer Dan Kim in January. “We grew a national chain in a down economy."
Although it is a fraction of the size of ice cream giant Baskin-Robbins' 4,700 franchises, Red Mango saw a whopping 155 percent growth in just one year. “It was an incredible year of exceeding expectations, entering 12 new states, revolutionizing our format for delivering product and going where the demand exists,” said James Franks, vice president of franchising.
Restaurant watcher Keith Gellman agrees that some frozen yogurt chains have been appearing as restaurant chains with the highest unit growth. Gellman is the publisher of Restaurant Chains Net, a research firm that traces 7,300 corporate and franchised chains. He sees that chains with lower price points are experiencing strong growth. "Consumers seem to be opening their wallets to purchase food that's less than $5 per personal episode of spending whether a meal, meal replacement or snack," states Gellman. "A large percentage of chains who are expanding are juice or yogurt based. Our recent November Top 20 list and other recent Top 20 lists reveal this certain trend."
Frozen yogurt shops may be receiving the spotlight at the moment, but ice cream is very much the main stay. And plain vanilla is still in. More than half of consumers in a recent Technomic survey say they eat vanilla ice cream at least once a month, and 46 percent say the same of chocolate.
According to Mary Chapman, Director at Technomic, there are several key factors when it comes to frozen desserts on restaurant menus. "Complexity, customization, and portions are all very important. Operators need to differentiate their items from those offered by retailers, and they need to make the offerings available in various sizes to attract diners who are concerned with health, value, or who are simply too full to eat a large dessert."
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Note: Keith Gellman's comments were received after publication but have been added to the article.
