We researched the froyo scene in Guatemala to learn about its history, trends, and shops.
Guatemala, a country in Central America, had a population of 16.6 million in 2019. It’s considered a developing country and has the fifth lowest GDP per capita in Latin America. The capital, Guatemala City, is the largest city, with a population just shy of 1 million. The next largest cities are Mixco (population 473,080) and Villa Nueva (population 406,830).
Froyo first appeared in Guatemala around 2008. Yogen Fruz seems to have been the first to open a froyo shop in Guatemala in or around 2008. Yogulicious opened the first self-serve froyo shop in 2011. Most of the froyo shops were developed locally, though two large franchises, Yogen Fruz and llaollao, have branches in Guatemala. Self-serve froyo has a bigger presence in Guatemala than the other South and Central American countries that we researched (e.g., Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela).
Froyo Shops in Guatemala
- Blugurt has two self-serve locations is located in Quetzaltenango. They first opened in 2016 and claim to be the only froyo shops in Quetzaltenango.
- Glad Frozen Yogurt is a froyo chain that started out as a yogurt manufacturer in 1983. Glad offered authentic Bulgarian yogurt made with imported Bulgarian cultures. There are four Glad frozen yogurt outlets according to the Glad website. The Glad Facebook page was last updated in late 2019 and shows 6 locations. They’re still actively posting to Instagram. The Helados Glad Facebook page was created in 2016, so we’re guessing that’s when the first shop opened. The shops have a counter-serve format and offer one soft serve froyo flavor (plain) with toppings and mix-in style froyo.
- Helados Yougus is a froyo shop in Santa Cruz del Quiché. The first Instagram and Facebook posts were made in 2019, so it seems to be a newer shop.
- Llaollao, the largest froyo chain in Europe and Asia, has two counter-serve locations in Guatemala. The first opened in 2019.
- Myogurt was a froyo concept with several locations in Guatemala. The last Facebook post was in September 2019 and the page was created in 2011. Their website can longer be reached. The last post on Instagram was in 2015. It seems like there were multiple self-serve locations. Their current status is unknown.
- Yogen Fruz Guatemala created a Facebook page in 2011. They offer froyo and froyo paletas. Google lists three locations. It seems as though the first location opened prior to 2008 because it is mentioned in press releases from 2008. They even sell their paletas in boxes with 6 paletas per box.
- Yogulicious lists 3 stores and 3 kiosks on their website. The first shop opened in 2011. Yogulicious is self-serve and might be the first self-serve froyo concept in Guatemala. The Instagram page was last updated in 2016 and the Facebook page was taken down. However, their website is still up. Their current status is unclear.
- Yogurt Shop is a café that serves breakfast, brunch, and froyo in Guatemala City. They’re known for serving healthy food. They’ve been open for 25 years, since 1996. We’re not sure when they started serving froyo but probably not since 1996. Our guess is that they were serving regular yogurt (not frozen) when they first opened. They opened a froyo kiosk at Plaza Concepción in 2019.
We created a new Pinterest board, Froyo in Guatemala, with pictures of froyo and froyo shops in Guatemala.
