Iced out: the end of the frozen yogurt craze?

It wasn’t all that long ago that self-serve frozen yogurt was the taste sensation and hottest food trend. Cast your mind back to wandering through a shopping centre and coming upon a glut of tweens, grandparents, even couples on dates, queuing to buy cups of swirled froyo smothered in everything from fruit (how dull) to 97 iterations of fudge. Perhaps you were one of these devotees. For a brief, frosty moment, it was the ultimate manifestation of sweet success.

There were small-scale operators everywhere — saccharine-hued pop-ups crammed into the spaces under shopping mall escalators even — and a few medium ones too. But interest really peaked when mega restaurant corporation Famous Brands bought 70% of Wakaberry, which had 33 stores at the time, with great fanfare and talk of expansion. It later took full ownership.

The talk was of frozen yogurt as a robust new food category in SA, part of a growing global phenomenon, and there were plans to extend the brand into the rest of Africa.

Frozen yogurt was the new "frozen yogurt". You will recall it having its initial time in the sun locally in the 1990s. Along with tramezzinis and instant cappuccino sachets, it was a refreshing addition to the post-apartheid food scene. Not ice cream, but similar. Obviously "healthier" (it was yogurt after all) and lighter, icier and more tart. A clever riff on an old classic that dated to the late 1970s US East Coast.

Now Wakaberry is being phased out as an entity. Famous Brands CEO Darren Hele says that in line with global trends, the frozen yogurt category matured rapidly and the explosion of activity in its start-up phase subsided noticeably, leading to a challenging trading environment and the exit of numerous industry participants. All corporate speak for "We got it wrong — it was just a total fad", of course.

Apart from Wakaberry, Smooch was a smaller operation with a few outlets (also now defunct). These days you’ve got more hope of getting your froyo fix by chucking a tub of Woolworths Ayrshire yogurt into the freezer than finding a self-serve outlet in Jozi. Actually, Woolies does offer a range of frozen yogurt — nice, but just not the same as the soft-serve DIY variety.

Don’t panic

But all is not lost. Cape Town has Marcel’s Gourmet Frozen Yoghurt, which introduced the concept to SA in 1989. Its Rondebosch branch, a quick walk from the University of Cape Town’s lower campus, has been a fixture of student life for decades. Generations of Mother City dwellers were raised on Marcel’s Blizzards (soft-serve frozen yogurt blitzed together with whatever toppings you fancy). Joburgers don’t know it as well because it’s been focused on the Western Cape, but it is sold, prepackaged, through major retailers elsewhere in the country.

That said, in Gauteng there’s a Marcel’s outlet in Clearwater Mall. There’s also one at Sun City. Fans will be relieved to know the chain will be focusing on Joburg and Pretoria and on December 1 Marcel’s will open in the Mall of Rosebank. While half the stores are corporate owned, the ones opening outside the Cape will be run by franchisees.

MD Nicole Westvig says the company was going from strength to strength in the 18 months before Covid, with double-digit growth.

While the self-service weigh-and-pay systems of other brands have all but evaporated locally, Marcel’s uses the format of paying per unit. "Most of the brands that entered the market with weigh-and-pay and self-service are no longer," says Westvig.

"Our brand is almost 32 years old and we were under a lot of pressure 10 years ago from malls that were trying to push us … to the weigh-and-pay model. But we stuck to our guns, and maintained our serving portions. Our customers know what they will get, the consistency of the product and the price … you want to know what you’re going to spend."

If you’ve ever witnessed the mortified face of a parent as the final tally of an overzealous child’s DIY yogurt tub assembly is calculated, you’ll know why this makes sense. More than R100 for an already melting swirl of frozen English toffee yogurt, enveloped by Smarties, does not a fun outing make.

Westvig says Marcel’s "is not an arrogant brand", and its product differs in that ingredients are natural, with no artificial colourants. "Most of the others used powdered mixes, which was globally trending."

The froyo trend has lost steam worldwide. According to market research company IBISWorld, over the five years to 2019 revenue sagged because of lower demand and oversaturation of the market. Other food fads started to take over: gourmet doughnuts and freshly pressed juices. Consumers are also demanding plant-based foods for the lactose intolerant. But let’s not forget there are still popular market leaders such as Menchie’s (headquartered in California), the largest self-serve frozen yogurt company in the world with more than 370 locations.

New crazes aside, it is, all in all, a confusing phenomenon. Why is ice cream a perennial global favourite but its upstart younger sibling enjoys mania-like success only once in a while? True, the former has centuries of evolution, cultural attachment and affection on its side — but then why wouldn’t froyo follow suit? It is, after all, the perfect summer treat. I say buck the trend — beat the heat and go and grab yourself a cone of Marcel’s. It could be a while before it’s back in fashion.

The stalwart

Marcel’s Gourmet Frozen Yoghurt is owned by Saudi national Sheikh Ammar Yousuf Naghi, who visited the Cape with his family a few years ago and fell in love with the brand, declaring it the best frozen yogurt he’d ever tasted. So apart from Botswana, there is an international outlet of Marcel’s in Jeddah.

The brand was started by Marcel van der Merwe 31 years ago in Stellenbosch. He sold out about 12 years ago. Today roughly 60% of the brand’s revenue is from its outlets, and the balance from selling through the major retailers. Frozen yogurt is a minnow compared with ice cream, holding only about 10% of that market.

But Marcel’s has won a slew of awards (more than 60 at the SA Dairy Championships) and won the 2015 SA Dairy Product of the Year Award, which had only ever been awarded to butter or cheese products before.

A lone operator

Hasan Essa had a Wakaberry outlet in Randpark Ridge, which he’s now renamed Frozen Spoon. Other Wakaberry outlets have closed or morphed into Milky Lane (also owned by Famous Brands) in Gauteng and other parts.

“They told us around the end of last year they want to close down the brand. They said we could invest more and change to a Milky Lane,” Essa says. But he felt enough had already been invested in the brand, and didn’t see much upside.

The frozen yogurt market goes in cycles, he says. “The cycle is now at the lowest point. It hit rock bottom, from here on its upwards.

“Franchisees felt [Famous Brands] lost touch with the product offering. At one stage they tried to expand the offering and offer hot drinks and waffles, but that wasn’t what Wakaberry was all about.”

Essa is now punting Frozen Spoon as part of his own handful of brands, which include Grill Boys and Fish on the Block. He has begun rolling out these triple-combo stores in North West and will expand into Gauteng and other provinces next year.

Essa says the fast-food brands such as KFC and McDonald’s are well placed because they’re affordable value, “but luxury, higher-value restaurants are battling”. He says some landlords have been forthcoming in assisting while “some don’t really care”.

Wakaberry was started by Ken and Michele Fourie, and business partner David Clark. A few years ago they started a new dessert-led option, Plan B Dessertery. Its website says the inspiration came from internationally popular street food desserts, bites that are easy to hold, that you don’t have to sit down with a knife and fork to eat. “Our bubble waffles originate from Hong Kong and churros and tacos from Mexico.”

The Fouries emigrated to the UK towards the end of last year and signed over the brand to the respective franchisees before leaving.