january 2005 west hollywood founder shelly hwang young lee headquarters scottsdale arizona usa number of locations 260 restaurants 1 key people michael serruya ceo of kahala brands products frozen yogurt smoothies fruit parfait fresh fruit bowl parent kahala brands website pinkberry.com pinkberry is a franchise of frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in scottsdale arizona . 2 there are currently over 260 stores in 20 countries . the first store was opened in january 2005 by hye kyung shelly hwang and young lee . 3 the tart frozen dessert has a groupie like following . 3 contents 1 history 2 menu 3 store design 4 branding & placement 5 controversy 6 see also 7 references 8 bibliography 9 further reading 10 external links history edit the original pinkberry restaurant on huntley drive near santa monica boulevard in west hollywood california hwang s first business venture was to open a formal english teahouse on a tiny residential street called huntley drive in west hollywood california . however after the city refused to approve an alcohol permit for hwang and her business partner architect young lee they decided to go with their second plan which was a frozen yogurt concept reviving the craze of the 1980s . 4 people were soon driving across town and standing in line for up to 20 to 30 minutes to get their fix of the taste that launched 1 000 parking tickets . 3 the second store opened in september 2006 and since then stores began springing up all over southern california and also branches in new york . in october 2009 pinkberry opened its first overseas branch in the state of kuwait at the avenues shopping mall . on october 16 2007 the firm took in a 27.5 million investment from maveron the venture fund founded by starbucks founder howard schultz to expand the firm s concept nationwide . 5 a pinkberry location in the mall of the emirates dubai . on may 1 2009 pinkberry announced its plans to expand its market both internationally and domestically after receiving 9 million in second round funding from investors . as part of its plans pinkberry has partnered with kuwaiti retail conglomerate m.h. alshaya co. to open stores in several countries in the middle east and signed with hmshost to open locations in airports nationwide the first of which will open in the late summer 2009 . 6 in 2010 the company will start to expand in the southern united states . in april 2010 the original pinkberry store in west hollywood still lacking adequate parking was closed and converted into an administrative building for the chain . 7 the company s success led to the launching of numerous competitors offering similar product as well as the entry into the u.s. market of red mango an already existing south korean company with a similar business model . 8 9 it was estimated that a single pinkberry store receives more than 1 500 customers per day and can bring in 250 000 a month . 10 in late 2015 kahala brands acquired pinkberry as their 18th brand . 11 there is no information on how much co founders hwang and lee received upon selling pinkberry to kahala brands on december 2015 . currently shelly hwang is the chief product officer and board director of pinkberry . 12 menu edit a medium sized original flavored frozen dessert pinkberry s menu consists of original green tea pomegranate introduced on november 11 2008 chocolate mango watermelon and peanut butter flavored frozen yogurt style desserts in four sizes mini 3 us fl oz 89 ml small 5 us fl oz 150 ml medium 8 us fl oz 240 ml and large 13 us fl oz 380 ml . pinkberry occasionally features seasonal flavors for example pumpkin in the fall . 13 additional seasonal flavours include key lime strawberry grapefruit salted caramel chocolate hazelnut cookies and cream all spring 2013 cherry and coconut . citation needed other products offered include shaved ice with fresh fruit or green tea a fruit parfait introduced on june 27 2009 and two types of smoothies . note that their shaved ice is not the same as the hawaiian shave ice . citation needed as of september 7 2011 pinkberry dessert contains per 1 2 cup 100 g 100 calories for original 120 calories for pomegranate 100 calories for mango 120 calories for chocolate and 170 calories for the seasonal peanut butter . fruit toppings cut fresh on site include strawberry raspberry blueberry blackberry banana kiwi mango and pineapple . there are also a variety of dry toppings to choose from including almonds carob chips chestnuts chocolate chips cap n crunch cocoa pebbles coconut shavings cookies n cream fruity pebbles granola mochi rice cakes shaved milk chocolate shaved white chocolate and yogurt chips . three wet toppings were introduced june 26 2009 italian caramel honey and pomegranate juice . pinkberry has introduced seasonal toppings like pomegranate seeds lychee and bing cherries for holiday and summer seasons . store design edit pinkberry on melrose avenue in los angeles california the company stores are standardized with designer philippe starck furniture and lighting by le klint . 14 a pastel color palette is used for the walls and natural pebbles line the floor . customers are greeted with welcome to pinkberry and handed the product with two hands by the server . samples are freely given out . customers may replace a product they don t like for another choice . branding & placement edit the pinkberry brand has been designed & managed by la based branding firm ferroconcrete . citation needed pinkberry has been featured in an episode of hbo s curb your enthusiasm season 8 mentioned in the comedy central cartoon ugly americans season 2 episode 9 lilly and the beast and also in a few scenes of the 2014 film still alice . controversy edit interior of a pinkberry store in rancho cucamonga california . originally marketed as frozen yogurt pinkberry has faced complaints that its product does not meet the california department of food and agriculture s definition of frozen yogurt because it does not contain the necessary amount of bacterial cultures per ounce . the los angeles times sent samples of pinkberry s product to a lab and revealed that pinkberry did contain active yogurt cultures but it does not contain the minimum amount of culture to call itself frozen yogurt according to california state law . 15 according to the los angeles times pinkberry s product had 69 000 bacterial cultures per gram compared to 200 000 for baskin robbins . the national yogurt association nya established its own criteria for live and active culture yogurt . in order for manufacturers to carry their live and active culture seal refrigerated yogurt products must contain at least 100 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture and frozen yogurt products must contain 10 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture . this level was based on a survey of leading research scientists involved in clinical studies of the health attributes associated with live and active culture yogurt . 16 pinkberry appears to have altered its dessert recipe and has now earned the right to call its product real yogurt . pinkberry officially received the live and active cultures seal from the national yogurt association on april 17 2008 almost 3 years after the initial real yogurt lawsuit was filed . 17 the pinkberry jingle heard on its web site is sung by the 1980s musician tigra from l trimm . apparently in response to the recent lawsuit against pinkberry claiming that its product is not real yogurt for a while pinkberry had removed all lyrics to this jingle on its web site except for the word pinkberry which repeats over and over again at the chorus prior to this change the jingle had lyrics that characterized pinkberry s product as yogurt and compared its product as better than ice cream . 18 the original jingle is now playing again on the web site . the unproven health benefits attributed to yogurt that were previously posted on the walls of pinkberry e.g. cures colon cancer fights yeast infections have been removed . 19 see also edit list of frozen dessert brands los angeles portal companies portal food portal references edit gold scott ; blankstein andrew ; kim victoria 2012 01 18 . pinkberry co founder young lee accused of chasing beating transient . los angeles times . contact . pinkberry . retrieved on december 14 2015 . pinkberry 9311 e via de ventura blvd scottsdale az 85258 a b c netburn deborah 2006 08 04 . the taste that launched 1 000 parking tickets . los angeles times . archived from the original on december 6 2006 . retrieved 2007 01 25 . pinkberry s success story small biz scene usnews.com pinkberry raises 27.5 m socaltech.com jennings lisa may 11 2009 . fro yo chains in heated battle to ice competition . nrn.com . chang andrea april 19 2010 . frozen yogurt seller pinkberry to close original store in west hollywood . los angeles times . retrieved 2010 05 10 . steinhauer jennifer 2007 02 21 . heated competition steaming neighbors . this is frozen yogurt . new york times . retrieved 2007 03 29 . emily bryson york meltdown ahead for yogurt shops los angeles business journal may 14 2007 archived here by internet archive . boyle matthew 2007 05 25 . it came from los angeles . fortune magazine . retrieved 2007 06 20 . http nrn.com mergers acquisitions kahala brands buys pinkberry http www.latimes.com business la fi pinkberry sold kahala 20151214 story.html http www.pinkberry.com frozen yogurt seasonal frozen yogurt pumpkin feldman lindsay 2007 02 26 . pinkberry concept of yogurt gets set to infuse manhattan . the new york sun . retrieved 2007 04 21 . yoshino kimi 2007 06 21 . pinkberry passes test but cold war goes on . the los angeles times . retrieved 2007 06 21 . aboutyogurt.com live & active culture yogurt live and active culture lac yogurt facts after three years pinkberry finally approved as frozen yogurt . seriouseats.com . 2008 08 17 . retrieved 2008 08 17 . dessert trend what s in pinkberry npr pinkberry s legal jam . laobserved.com . 2007 06 14 . retrieved 2007 06 14 . bibliography edit yoshino kimi 2007 05 10 . pinkberry in culture clash . los angeles times . retrieved 2007 05 10 . dead link further reading edit maese kathryn 2007 06 04 . little tokyo s cold war . los angeles downtown news . retrieved 2007 06 04 . external links edit official site v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter