Pinkberry Yogurt, get your act together, and fast!

 

So what exactly is the hold-up with all those Pinkberry franchises supposedly popping up all over town? To date, only the original Huntley Drive location (the one that 'launched a thousand parking tickets') is operational, and the Larchmont Boulevard shop remains untouched since it was first branded with a 'coming soon' sign nearly six months ago.

Now, we have Cafe Fiore in Little Tokyo (not bad, I tried it recently -- the consistency might actually be better than Pinkberry, but the taste is a little off, not quite the pucker your lips tart, but not too tart, that Pinkberry has mastered). And then there's the Kiwi-Berri shop on 3rd and La Cienega, which I believe has already opened up shop. Can't vouch for their product, but the decor is certainly a pale imitation of the Asia-Pop-Moderne of both Pinkberry and Fiore, which each boast Phillippe Starck furnishings among other recognizable Design Within Reach selections. I think that Kiwi-Berri may have picked up some of their pink pleather barstools from former neighborhood institution Ed Debevic's, in the restaurant equivalent of estate sales. And of course there is sad Cafe Miafe on Larchmont, which no longer has a banner announcing their pathetic natural yogurt product, though I suspect they still offer it to the one or two people who frequent the mostly empty joint (drug front, anyone?).

Drumroll please...we now have "gelatoDay Italian Natural Low-Fat Yogurt", at 5770 Melrose Avenue in the same mini-mall just east of Vine as the Lo-Carb-U store (photos to follow soon). And guess what they sell? Pinkberry-style yogurt. Like Fiore, the consistency is good. Like Kiwi-Berri, the decor is low-rent moderne (though more Barbarella than the latter). Unlike any of them, they only offer one product: plain frozen yogurt. No green tea, no shaved ice. Just plain yogurt with about a dozen choices for toppings. Portions are small. Product is just okay.

But this place has something going for it that Pinkberry (aside from the Huntley drive location) doesn't. You guessed it! It is actually open and doing business. Up and running. Imagine that! No bubblegum pink plywood boards advertising the elusive hope of tart 'yogurt that tastes like yogurt'. gelatoDay is no cocktease, unlike that hard-to-get vixen Pinkberry.

I ask you, what good does it do to have 30 locations leased out and 'under construction' when countless copy-cats are opening up in mini-mall after mini-mall? The market will be saturated with Italian/neo-Asian Yogurt shops before the second Pinkberry franchise has its grand opening.

So, my dear Pinkberry, I beg of you the following:

Concentrate on getting a few locations up and running before you try to conquer the world (or, at least, LA County). I know I once said that you were spreading like bird flu and that this was a good thing, but this statement has turned out to be only a half-truth. Like bird flu, you are causing a frenzy in your word of mouth; you have successfully hyped the hell out of yourself. But (also like bird flu) you have failed to actually arrive in any pandemic way (in the case of the disease this is good; in the case of PB, bad). You have the best product and it would be a shame if the 'yogurt that tastes like yogurt' fad were cycled through by the time you've blown your wad on a year's rent for 30 shops, none of which have opened or have any sort of revenue stream. Stop over-extending yourselves and expand slowly and methodically. Otherwise, I fear for your fate.

Signed,

Your Harried and Hopeless Yogurt Loving Public