Pinkberry

That’s the good-natured nickname for this place, all meant as a compliment.

Because of the abnormally cold weather this past weekend in Southern California, the legendary super-line that graces this original location of Pinkberry was reduced to a mere trickle this past Saturday when I finally visited—advantage plus! (Oh, the place will certainly make up the business once the weather warms up again.)

Now, I was expecting Pinkberry fro-yo to be good. Not magical. Not amazing. Not overrated. Not underrated. Just what it is. I’d advise starting with the regular flavor with fruit toppings. (They have green tea flavor and you can add cereal toppings… but why?)

And it is what it is: frozen yogurt that takes just like yogurt. Except it’s actually better than that. The soft-serve texture of Pinkberry frozen yogurt is just the maximum of perfection and smoothness. Furthermore, the flavor is not “tart” as detractors may accuse. It has the slight tartness of plain yogurt and a very slight hint of sugar, minus any hint of being overloaded with corn syrup or other artificial sweetness, which is perfect when chunks of kiwi fruit, strawberries, and blueberries are mixed in.

What makes the story of Pinkberry amazing is that they’ve proven that even in with all the number crunching of marketing ideas in full gear, one can still not only become successful with an idea that’s incredibly simple (making soft-serve frozen yogurt that actually tastes better than regular yogurt, instead of lesser and weirder like the fro-yo of yester-decade) but also can make this idea potentially, on a national level, change and/or raise the expectation level of the basis of it.

I don’t think I can honestly buy frozen yogurt from any other place anymore. Sure, I might be able to closely simulate what Pinkberry does at home, minus the perfect soft-serve texture. But I’m predicting that as Pinkberry (hopefully) opens more locations around the country, they will change what people expect from frozen yogurt. I’m very serious about this. I’m also very excited by this. If there was any way I could delegate a Pinkberry Seattle, I’m on that mission in a blink!

So, yeah, I’d say Pinkberry is worth visiting if only to suggest the best example of showing a small business about the crack the egg shell in preperation to make waves to revitalize interest in frozen yogurt.

Because I’ll likely be in Los Angeles in mid January, and I want an excuse to get some friends together. I’ve heard very polarized things about this place, so I want to cast a verdict.

One will tell you it’s “next level fro-yo” that’s health conscious and addictive. Another will tell you it’s a luck magnet of hype that’s applying major cognitive dissonance to its faithful clientele, and that one could make a better and cheaper yogurt dessert from simple ingredients bought at Costco.

What’s your verdict?