Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Yogurtland opens in St. Petersburg
Posted by Juliette Cassistre on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably have noticed that frozen yogurt shops are popping up all over Tampa Bay. The newest shop to pop up in St. Petersburg is Yogurtland, and is northeast St. Petersburg’s first. It is a self-serve yogurt shop, which is all the rage right now. Yogurtland’s grand opening celebration occurred recently, and drew yogurt fans from all over St. Petersburg.
The frozen yogurt trend is fairly new, and has put a new, retro spin on the frozen yogurt frenzy of the 1980s. Some may consider it the “self-serve yogurt revolution.”
It began in 1981 with Frank Hickingbotham’s creation of TCBY (The Country’s Best Yogurt), which was marketed as the healthy, guilt-free alternative to ice cream. Before long, frozen yogurt mania gripped the nation, peaking in the mid to late 1980s. It seemed as though yogurt was here to stay. Then, out of nowhere, yogurt shops became as scarce as snowmen in Florida.
Fast-forward fifteen years, and yogurt shops are back in the limelight. Today, however, self-serve yogurt shops are the trend. With numerous yogurt flavors and toppings, it is yogurt insanity! If you have a wallet full of cash or are a care-free kid, cost or calories may not matter. For those of you pinching your pennies or your love handles, there are ways to prevent the creation of a seven-dollar, 700-calorie cup of yogurt:
Samples are super: Take advantage of as many samples as possible before filling your cup. Nobody likes to waste money and cup space on flavors they do not care for.
Toppings are top priority: If you add a mound of M&Ms to that dish of yogurt, the calorie count will skyrocket. Choose flavor-packed toppings where a little goes a long way, like a dusting of crushed Butterfinger or Heath.
Weight is a heavy issue: Select lighter toppings, such as Kit-Kat, crushed cookies, almond slivers, mini chocolate chips, shredded coconut or sprinkles, and avoid heftier toppings like M&Ms.
Cups are better half-empty: Do not let the giant cup size fool you; most are a whopping twelve to sixteen ounces! This gimmick encourages customers to create monstrous-sized concoctions. Although a half-filled cup may look puny, your wallet and waistline will thank you. (You could load your cup with fruit, but keep in mind that fruit can be a heftier topping.)
Now you are now armed with “yogurt survival cliff notes,” and just may get out of the shop with a six-ounce, 250-calorie, $3.50 dish of yogurt!
If 21012 trend predictions are any indication, it looks like self-serve yogurt shops are not disappearing anytime soon. The next time you are in St. Petersburg, stop by Yogurtland and see what the hype is about!
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