It’s that time for the tale of the tape, our annual froyo chain location count. We’ll reveal the largest froyo chains, how many locations they currently have, and how much they shrank or grew compared to this time last year.
The top 10 largest frozen yogurt chains accounted for approximately 2,351 locations, down from 2,552 locations in 2020, 2,816 locations in 2019 and 3,020 locations in 2018. The number of frozen yogurt stores continues to decline as it was another tough year with the pandemic, rising costs, and labor and supply shortages. While most of the largest froyo chains shrank this year, llaollao and Pinkberry managed to grow. Pinkberry opened their first location in Gabon this year and continues to grow in Africa. Llaollao remains the largest froyo chain in Europe and Asia.
The List of Largest Froyo Chains by Location Count
#1) Yogen Fruz: 431 locations (-108 locations vs. 2020)
Yogen Fruz finally made it easy to find a list of their locations on their website, but only for the US and Canada. While their website claims there are over 1,300 locations in over 40 countries, we only found 153 locations, 27 in the US and 126 in Canada. Their locations outside of the US and Canada are not shown. While Yogen Fruz might be the largest froyo chain, we could not identify their locations outside the US and Canada. Their corporate Facebook has not been updated since June. However, if we assume that 20% of Yogen Fruz locations closed in 2021, Yogen Fruz would have about 431 locations left.
#2) Menchie’s: 379 locations (-38 locations vs. 2020)
Menchie’s remains the largest self-serve froyo chain in the world, although it lost 38 locations during 2021. Menchie’s has the most locations in California with 77, followed by 46 in Texas, and 37 in Florida. There are 41 locations in Canada and 20 outside of North America.
#3) Pinkberry: 265 locations (+46 locations vs. 2020)
We weren’t sure how many Pinkberry locations there were in 2020 but with some digging, we counted 265 locations in 2021. The US Pinkberry website does not provide a list of locations and the international Pinkberry website provides links to individual countries’ FB pages or websites. Their press releases do not mention the number of locations. However, we were able to find a list of US locations on the Pinkberry app.
There are 63 Pinkberry locations in the US and 202 locations in 19 countries outside the US, including 106 locations in Canada. In Canada, Second Cup serves Pinkberry.
#4) llaollao: 263 locations 230 locations (+33 locations vs. 2020)
Llaollao continued to rise in the ranks, moving up from #5 in 2020 to #4 in 2021. There are 123 in their home country of Spain and 140 outside of Spain. They are the largest froyo chain in Europe and Asia.
#5) Yogurtland: 250 locations (-30 locations vs. 2020)
Yogurtland and sweetFrog tied for #5. Both chains mention having over 250 locations in recent press releases though we could not view a list of locations on their websites. Yogurtland celebrated their 15th anniversary this year.
#5) sweetFrog: 250 locations (-5 locations in 2020)
We were unable to obtain a list of sweetFrog locations in 2020 or 2021 but we estimated that they had 255 in 2020. A recent press release claims that there are over 250 sweetFrog locations in the US and Dominican Republic.
#7) TCBY: 171 locations (-11 locations vs. 2020)
The TCBY website provided a list of locations in every state. The most TCBY locations can be found in Illinois (28), followed by North Carolina (16), and South Carolina (14).
#8) Yogorino: 148 locations (-10 locations vs. 2020)
Yogorino remained #8. Yogorino’s website had a map of locations but that map made it easy to determine that there are currently 148 locations; 96 of these are in the home country, Italy.
#9) Smooy: 112 locations
Smooy, a Spanish froyo chain, made our list for the first time. We do not know how many locations Smooy had in 2020.
#10) Orange Leaf: 82 locations (-40 locations vs. 2019)
Orange Leaf had an easy to access list of locations on their website. All the locations are in the US. Temporary closures were even noted. Orange Leaf remained #10.
We dropped Tutti Frutti from our list because the number of locations was too difficult to determine or even to guestimate. YoYogurt was #9 in 2020 but we found 67 locations on their website in 2021.
Our Methodology
Our store location counts are based on what’s listed on the chain’s website as of mid-December 2021. We also consider whether the information seemed current.
If we could not determine the store location counts from the chain’s website or the website appeared outdated, we looked at recent press releases. However, we placed less confidence in location counts that were not obtained from the chain’s up-to-date website with a list of current locations.
