Welcome to the Pinkberry Blog.

11 13 09 | The Top 5 chains we wish were in Kansas City

Everybody has irrational love for a particular fast food establishment or chain restaurant -- witness the 2,484 fans on the 'I Love the Taco Via!!!' Facebook group. And so I decided to think about what chains could improve the lives of the residents in the city of fountains.
Dunkin' Donuts would have been a natural fit for this list -- but the first of several area stores in Overland Park (7722 W. 151st Street) opens today! So below are the five other chain establishments that Fat City wishes were coming to Kansas City: 
5. Friendly's -- This East Coast chain serves the classic diner food: melts, chicken fingers and burgers. But the reason you eat all your chicken fingers is so you can have dessert -- from Candy Shoppe Sundaes to the Fribble, a shake that requires maximum effort on the other end of the straw. (For Charles Ferruzza's take on two classic Kansas City diners, read this week's Cafe review.)
4. White Castle -- Kansas City hasn't been the same since White Castle slid out of town. Mini cheeseburgers make the world go round and the classic sliders that turn the white bag shiny with grease before you're out of the parking lot would be welcomed back with open mouths.
3. Pinkberry -- The Los Angeles-based frozen yogurt shop with the outlandish topping bar is what started the second froyo craze. And while there's Mochi-Yo in Leawood, the original deserves a chance to be tasted
2. Tim Hortons -- Kansas City has already lured one Canadian import in Fran's Diner, so it only seems natural that more Canadians would follow. Plus, every town needs a great rivalry and we'd all benefit from a coffee and donuts war between Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts. 
1. In-N-Out Burger -- In a town that's particular about its burgers, another California chain -- In-N-Out -- could find some real converts. This is homemade fast food with hand-cut fries and burgers that make you realize that something doesn't need to be gourmet to be elevated to another level.

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11 12 09 | The Swirl Next Door

For nearly four years now, our friends in California and New York have been simply gaga about this place called Pinkberry. At first, the name made us laugh because that’s what we used to call the little red thing that popped out of our male dog when he got excited. Thankfully, that’s not what they sell. This Pinkberry is all about healthy frozen yogurt.

Now that doesn’t mean you can convert to a diet of cookie-topped swirly goodness at every meal and expect to lose weight, but it is far better for you than what comes out of most Frozen Treat Machines (funny, that was the nickname we gave our Eskimo boyfriend).

Pinkberry is the chain often credited with bringing tart FroYo to the masses in the United States. Unlike most national brands that taste as sweet as ice cream, Pinkberry actually tastes like real, honest-to-goodness yogurt. And that’s because it is.

Featuring live and active cultures and made from nonfat milk and nonfat yogurt, a small 1.5-cup serving of Original Pinkberry clocks in at a scant 100 fat-free calories of melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. By comparison, an equal portion of Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream packs a whopping 810 calories and 54 grams of fat (33 of which are saturated) into the same portion size.

That’s a häart aätack just waiting to häppen.

The Dallas Pinkbery is the first in Texas and the first outside of California and New York. And because we like to have bragging rights here in Big D, we will also be home to the first-ever Chocolate Pinkberry. It’s dark and rich—just like we like our Latino Firefighter Calendar Models.

The store opens tomorrow, so expect to find a frenzied crowd of fanatics lining the streets ready to get their first taste of Pinkberry in Dallas. But trust us, with plenty of fly-by-night copycats already in the Dallas marketplace, you owe it to your taste buds to try the original.

It’s worth the wait.

5959 Royal Lane, Dallas
(214) 361-6617
www.pinkberry.com

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11 11 09 | A Self Confessed Pinkberry-holic!

I have tried Frozen Yoghurt once before when i was a teenager and hated it. In my early 20’s i was hooked on Fruit Yoghurts and therefore when i tried pinkberry i fell in <3 at once. You won’t like it if you don’t like fruity yoghurts!

I have been having a dinner of a small mix original and pomegrenate pinkberry with mangoes, granola, blueberries, and strawberries every single day for the last two weeks… and i cannot stop! Non fat, tastes good, ice creamish quality and healthy! If i could, i would live on it! What more is there to ask for?! They should have some loyalty card or something…

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11 11 09 | How Chipotle, Pinkberry, and others win big by doing just a few things well

The dirty little secret about simple: It’s actually hard to do. That’s why most people make complex stuff. Simple requires deep thought, discipline, and patience – things that many companies lack. That leaves room for you. Do something simpler than your competitors and you’ll win over a lot of people.

There are only three major items on Chipotle’s menu: burritos, tacos, and salads. In Chipotle’s Secret Salsa, Founder and CEO Steve Ells sums up its business model in a single sentence: “Focus on just a few things, and do them better than anybody else.”

One thing you won’t find at Chipotle is dessert. Restaurant analysts say a cookie or other dessert at the end of the food line could instantly boost sales by 10 percent or more there. Ells doesn’t care. “We’ve had 10 years of double-digit comps in a row, and we’ve done that without cookies,” he says. “So why start now? I see only the downside to adding cookies.”

The yogurt chain Pinkberry started off by selling only two flavors of yogurt: original and green tea. That meant fewer worries about inventory, machinery, recipes, and other complications that would have resulted from selling a variety of products. Instead the company focused on flavor. It’s now a chain with dozens of stores and devout fans who refer to the yogurt as “Crackberry.” (Ever think about how your product would sound with “crack” as a prefix?)

This isn’t just for restaurants either. Nintendo has won big by doing less than competitors. The Flip has won a big percentage of the camcorder market by doing less. Fixed-gear bikes have been growing in popularity due to their simple, low-maintenance design.

You can try to win a features arms race by offering everything under the sun. Or you can just focus on a couple of things and do ‘em really well and get people who really love those things to love your product. For little guys, that’s a smarter route.

When you choose that path, you get clarity. Everything is simpler. It’s simpler to explain your product. It’s simpler for people to understand. It’s simpler to change it. It’s simpler to maintain it. It’s simpler to start using it. The ingredients are simpler. The packaging is simpler. Supporting it is simpler. The manual is simpler. Figuring out your message is simpler. And most importantly, succeeding is simpler.

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