With a population of over 28 million, Venezuela ranks #8 in terms of GDP in Latin America. There are five cities with a population over 1 million: Caracas (5.6 million), Maracaibo (4.2 million), Valencia (2.6 million), Barquisimeto (1.6 million), and Maracay (1.3 million). Venezuela has been suffering from shortages, poverty, corruption, and violence for years. “An UN report estimated in March 2019 that 94% of Venezuelans lived in poverty and by 2021 almost twenty percent of Venezuelans (5.4 million) had left their country.” Because of this turmoil, frozen yogurt has not been as popular in Venezuela, but people have tried and froyo shops have opened.
Yogen Fruz seems to have been the first froyo shop to open in Venezuela, opening before 2008. The mini froyo shop self-serve boom started in 2012, with FreshBerry, Yogurtland, Froyogur (a local froyo franchise), and Yogurt Boom all opening that year. Yogurtland had three locations in Venezuela and these were their only shops in South America. The last Yogurtland location in Venezuela closed in 2019. Self-serve froyo was more popular in Venezuela than the other countries we’ve looked at so far, including Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.
It’s been difficult to get recent, up-to-date information on many of the froyo shops in Venezuela. Their current status is unknown with a few exceptions. FreshBerry, Natugurt, some Yogen Fruz locations, and Yogurt Boom are the only ones that are still posting updates to Facebook and/or Instagram. Frutty Freeze recently opened in Caracas.
Froyo shops in Venezuela (in alphabetical order):
- Benefit Yogurt had four self-serve froyo shops in Caracas. The last Facebook post was in May 2020 and their website no longer works. They opened in 2012.
- FreshBerry Yogurt is in Caracas and we’re not sure where else. The chain was founded in the US in 2008, an offshoot of Camille’s Sidewalk Café chain. The FreshBerry Venezuela website no longer works but the Instagram and Facebook pages remain active. FreshBerry Venezuela opened in 2012 and won the New Franchise of the Year from Pro Franchise Venezuela in 2013. At one point, there were 20 stores in Venezuela. Some if not all were self-serve.
- Froyo was a self-serve froyo shop in Maracay that opened in 2012. The last Facebook post was in 2017. The shop was for sale in 2020.
- Froyogur was a self-serve frozen yogurt franchise that was started in 2012. The first shop was in Caracas. They opened 2 more stores. Their website no longer works. The last post on Instagram was April 2017. They opened in Miami, Florida but that Instagram account has been removed.
- Frutelados was a froyo shop in San Diego. Their Facebook account was active from 2013-2016. They were active on Instagram till 2020. They served froyo, soft serve ice cream, cheesecake, lemon pie, and yogurt with granola.
- Frutty Freeze is a new froyo shop in Caracas which opened in June 2020. Their yogurt is made with no added sugar.
- Gelato & Frozen Yogurt Sabana Grande in Caracas is a froyo and gelato shop.
- Helagurt Guatire was a froyo shop that opened in 2014. The last Facebook post was in 2015.
- Icegurt was a froyo chain with 4 locations that seems to have closed in 2019. The last Facebook and Instagram posts were in 2019. Some locations offered self-serve.
- Las Delicias Del Yogurt was a counter-serve froyo shop in Caracas. The last Instagram post was in 2017.
- Mangoberry was a froyo shop in Caracas. The last Instagram post was in 2015 and the first in 2014.
- Natugurt serves 100% natural yogurt and paletas from three counter-serve locations in Venezuela. They seem to have first opened in 2015.
- Yogen Fruz Venezuela’s website no longer works and the last Facebook and Instagram posts were in March 2020 but the Caracas and Prados Del Este locations still have active Instagram accounts. Google lists 20 Yogen Fruz locations in Venezuela.
- Yogourmet was a self-serve frozen yogurt shop in Caracas. It was open in 2013. We could not find more recent information.
- Yogurt Boom has 7 self-serve locations according to their Facebook page. They were founded in 2012.
- Yogurtland, the multinational chain based in the US, had three self-serve locations in Caracas, Maracay, and Lecheria. The last Instagram post was in January 2019. The last Facebook post was in March 2018. It looks like the last Yogurtland in Venezuela closed in 2019. We think they first opened in 2012.
- Yogurtlandia was a froyo chain that started in 2011 and had multiple locations. Their yogurt ice cream was all-natural.
- Yohoo Frozen Yogurt was a froyo shop in Maracaibo. The last post on Instagram was in 2019.
We created a new Pinterest board, Froyo in Venezuela, with pictures of froyo and froyo shops in Venezuela.
