Froyo Wars

Try walking 10 feet across Harvard Square without seeing a froyo cup—whether spotted in the hands of a smiling pedestrian or found discarded in a gutter. Yogurtland’s opening in July brought the Square’s frozen-yogurt-exclusive establishment count to three, indubitably intensifying the acute rivalry between Square vets BerryLine and Pinkberry.

“It’s disappointing,” said BerryLine shift supervisor Brooke Evans, referring to Yogurtland’s opening. “I think the market is saturated. Even I roll my eyes when another Yogurtland is opened.”

BerryLine began its business in 2007, when two graduate students, Pok Yang and Matthew Wallace, decided to quit researching and pursue the creation of frozen treats.

According to Evans, the pair keeps in close contact with their stores, even working behind the counter when they have the time.Employees at Pinkberry, which opened in the Square three years ago, don’t feel too threatened by Yogurtland’s entrance onto the Harvard Square stage.

“I’ve known Yogurtland for years,” said Pinkberry store manager Frank Mendoza. “It’s just a different culture. That’s self-serve.”

Customers must now make a crucial choice. Should they trek to BerryLine, a Cambridge local, which commands the somewhat off-the-beaten-path Arrow St.? Should they choose Mass. Ave.’s Pinkberry, a considerably recent new location for a worldwide chain? Or should they eat at the Yogurtland on JFK, Harvard’s Square’s youngest yogurt shop? No need to fret—FM took to the streets to determine Harvard Square’s best froyo.

SELF-SERVE VS. YOU-SERVE

Bigwigs in the froyo business often debate the overall quality of the self-serve model versus the employee-service model. Pinkberry and BerryLine employees serve customers their yogurt, pricing their froyo based on standard sizes with an additional fee for toppings. Yogurtland, on the other hand, allows customers to serve themselves yogurt from manually-operated machines. Employees weigh the final yogurt cup (toppings included) and charge 45 cents per ounce.

The employee-service model prioritizes customer service—BerryLine’s workers are even called “Yogurt Artists”— whereas self-serve gives customers greater control over their yogurt.

BerryLine’s Evans explained that BerryLine’s focus on service is especially important in this day and age of social media and rampant food photography. “It’s important to make something you can Instagram,” she said. “Every yogurt has to have a peak, and if it doesn’t have a peak, we have to make a new one.”

She noted that at self-serve places, most froyo creations end up looking like shapeless blobs.

Although it is true that customers have greater freedom to create their cup of yogurt at self-serve places like Yogurtland, the do-it-yourself process can get pretty messy. With discarded froyo pools under each of Yogurtland’s 16 yogurt dispensers and small children making messes of their own chilled treats, you’ll be bound to have a spill or two.

For this round, employee-service just beats out self-serve.

Pinkberry: 1 • BerryLine: 1 • Yogurtland: 0

FROYO FREE-FOR-ALL

For the past few months, Yogurtland has been offering a storm of promo deals—your first three ounces are free if you present a Harvard ID, and in mid-August the store gave away free 5-ounce cups of froyo if you “liked” Yogurtland’s Facebook page. And again, it regularly charges just 45 cents an ounce. So how does Yogurtland even make a profit?

“I thought the same thing when I came here,” said Castillo, laughing. “But I’ve actually realized how smart it is because we’re giving the students three ounces of yogurt, but we’re not giving them free yogurt.”

He explained that most students purchase over three ounces of froyo, so the three-ounces promotion really just invites the “frenzy” of students to buy more and more Yogurtland froyo.

Unlike Yogurtland, BerryLine and Pinkberry have set prices. BerryLine’s micro cup, without toppings, costs $2.34, while its pint cup, which includes as many toppings as can fit, costs $7.24. Pinkberry’s prices range from $2.50 to $7.95 per cup, making it the priciest store of the three.

“Pinkberry’s always going to stand on its own,” said Mendoza, who previously worked at the original Pinkberry in West Hollywood. “I believe when you get [yogurt] yourself, you’re actually going to pay more than you do here.”

Evans shared a similar view with Mendoza. “We do multiple toppings, as many as will fit into the cup. People are often so flabbergasted because they’re so used to paying by weight,” she said.

Still, Yogurtland wins this round hands-down. If you plan strategically (i.e. make two 3-ounce trips in one day) you’ll never have to pay for your Yogurtland froyo.

Pinkberry: 1 • BerryLine: 1 • Yogurtland: 1

TELL ME WHAT'S YOUR FLAVOR

Pinkberry prides itself on having reinvented frozen yogurt by combining combining a tart base with fresh fruit toppings.

“It’s true yogurt,” said Mendoza of Pinkberry’s product. “It’ll be sweet and tart.” He added that Pinkberry buys all of its milk and fruits from local producers.

“People are always so excited to come in when they see Pinkberry’s here,” he said of the Harvard Square location. “It’s a culture.”

Yogurtland, on the other hand, prides itself on its creamy froyo.

“It’s almost like ice cream,” Castillo said. “All the yogurts, they’re not Greek. They’re from California.”

Unlike Pinkberry, which uses nonfat milk, flavorings, and a powdered base to create its froyo on site, Yogurtland’s froyo is delivered as a liquid. The employees load up a machine that does the mixing for them.

BerryLine carries more zany  flavors than the other two locales, offering yogurts such as Lavender Honey, Nutella, and Rose. It also offers “Belgium Waffles” at its Porter Square and Fenway Park locations, while their Harvard Square and Newbury Street venues serve baked goods, teas, and smoothies.

Evans noted that BerryLine’s smoothies are particularly popular among men, despite the beverage having a reputation for being coveted by tween girls at malls. She joked that her former General Manager, Dominic Sarcía, calls men who order smoothies “smoothie bros.”

In this final round, product variety and gender equality provide the most satisfactory results. With its quirky flavors and talented Yogurt Artists, BerryLine’s froyo dominates Harvard Square, a.k.a. the Land of Yogurt. The name will catch on soon enough.

Pinkberry: 1 • BerryLine: 2 • Yogurtland: 1