Pinkberry in the Press

12 06 08 | San Jose Mercury News
Hollywood Fave Comes to Santana Row

Pinkberry, the tart, frozen yogurt with a devoted celebrity following, is coming to San Jose. Chief Executive Ron Graves said the frozen yogurt store is slated to open in Santana Row “sometime in January.” It will be the first Pinkberry shop outside the New York and Los Angeles areas.

Luring the hip chain to San Jose is a testament to Santana Row’s cache when it could have easily been snapped up by San Francisco.

“It’s a premier outdoor, living, shopping center and we felt it was a perfect fit for Pinkberry,” said Graves of the L.A. company’s choice of Santana Row. “Our core user is female and affluent and drawn to it as a healthy treat.”

Apparently, that’s what the company saw at the San Jose hot spot.

Indeed, spotted and photographed at various Pinkberry locations have been starlets like Lauren Conrad, Kirsten Dunst, Paris Hilton and Reese Witherspoon.

Unlike the frozen stuff we’re familiar with from chains such as TCBY and Penguin’s, Pinkberry and competitor Red Mango serve as a more dense, tangy version that’s not as sweet and has less of the texture of soft-serve ice cream.

“We provide a very different product from the ‘80s yogurt,” Graves said. “This doesn’t feel heavy, like ice cream.”

Pinkberry will be offered in three flavors, original, green tea and pomegranate. Toppings include fresh fruit, chocolate chips and carob chips, cereals like Cap’n Crunch and a selection of chopped nuts.

Pinkberry was founded by Korean-American restaurateur Shelly Hwang and kickboxer-turned-architect Young Lee. The Santana Row location in the center park area will be the 70th store for Pinkberry. More shop are scheduled to open in the Bay Area, but the exact cities remain hush-hush for now.