Nine years ago, we launched the International Frozen Yogurt Association to promote the quality and success of the worldwide frozen yogurt industry. Today, our association has nearly 3,000 members (2,880 members as of July 24, 2022). Of the current members, 42% indicated that they were current froyo shop owners or employees, 23% prospective froyo shop owners, 15% frozen yogurt fans, 11% other, and 8% suppliers. Our members represent 132 countries, with 70% from the US.
Our membership growth has slowed significantly over the last few years, with the pandemic speeding up the decline. Fewer froyo shops are opening and fewer froyo shops are in business. However, our passion for froyo and commitment to helping current and prospective froyo shop owners remain constant. We will continue to track news and trends, offer original research (the National Frozen Yogurt Survey), and provide advice, tools, resources, and ideas.
We will continue to bring our members special offers and members-only savings. Our members can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on essentials for their frozen yogurt shops. These exclusive member discounts include frozen yogurt mix, frozen yogurt machines, toppings dispensers, payment processing, insurance, and HR/payroll services.
We’d like to thank everyone that has supported us over the years, including our members, sponsors, partners, and supporters. We wouldn’t be here without you. Remember that you can help support us by supporting our corporate sponsors, partners, and advertisers when you’re looking for frozen yogurt supplies and by telling others about the frozen yogurt association.
The State of Froyo Today
It’s been a tough time for restaurants in general with supply and labor shortages, rising costs, and inflation. According to recent National Restaurant Association survey, 95% of restaurants in the US reported experiencing considerable supply delays or shortages in recent months.
Most frozen yogurt chains have been getting smaller as they close more stores than they open. The top 10 largest frozen yogurt chains in the world accounted for approximately 2,351 locations in 2021, down from 2,552 locations in 2020, 2,816 locations in 2019 and 3,020 locations in 2018. This year, we’re hearing of lower cost ways of expanding, including ghost kitchens and froyo vending machines. Froyo kiosks inside movie theaters took a big hit during the pandemic.
According to IBIS World, the market size of US frozen yogurt stores, as measured by revenues, is $654 million, down from $802.5 million in 2021 and $826.1 million in 2020. US market size growth was -3.3% in 2022. They are forecasting a continued decline in revenues.
Looking at Google Search trends, worldwide interest in frozen yogurt over the last five years peaked in June 2017. The pattern of interest shows a distinctly seasonal pattern; search traffic for frozen yogurt is lowest in December and highest in June and July. The lowest summer peak (least number of searches) occurred in 2020. Search traffic recovered and increased in 2021 but remained below 2017 levels.
As for worldwide search traffic for frozen yogurt, looking at the last 12 months, the top five regions were 1. United States, 2. Canada, 3. Australia, 4. Norway, 5. Greece. The top three were the same in 2020. Greece fell to fifth place and Norway made its debut in the top 5 countries interested in frozen yogurt. Google adjusts for differences in the population size of countries by using the proportion of all search queries not the absolute query count.
The top queries of people who searched for frozen yogurt in the last 12 months (worldwide) were: 1. Frozen yogurt near me, 2. Yogurt near me, 3. Yogurt ice cream, 4. Ice cream, 5. Frozen yogurt ice cream. This suggests that goal of the most popular searches were to find a nearby frozen yogurt shop.
Winner of the Summer Froyo Flavors Contest
We continued our tradition of sponsoring a summer froyo contest. The Summer Froyo Flavors Contest invited froyo fans to share their summer froyo flavor ideas. Flavors were judged based on creativity and how well they captured the spirit of summer. The winning flavor, Watermelon Coconut, was submitted by alyssa._.711 on Instagram.
The contest launched on July 7. Entries were accepted on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and via email. The winner will receive a home delivery of four pints of Jeni’s froyo.
Long live froyo!
Susan Linton
President, International Frozen Yogurt Association
