Wednesday, August 29, 2012

How Big Do Those Cups Need To Be?

The cup at Mangoberry is human-sized
Great moment at Tutti Frutti in Fulton: A woman chastises her three boys for ignoring her instruction to get the smallest cups, only to round the corner and realize that the giant bowls in their hands are the smallest available.

How big do yogurt cups need to be?

The by-the-ounce yogurt trend has been great fun for me.  I like the sour and fruity yogurts, and I love topping off with mochi and the little round balls that burst when you bite them.  (Occasionally, I need to ignore the fact that those balls look like a 1970s fishing bait that was some a troublingly-similar type of fish egg that you slid on the hook.)

But the bowls are ridiculous.  They run from huge to huger to hugest.  I have eaten a perfectly fine dessert that barely covered the bottom on a bowl.

Mangoberry in Clarksville has a plastic cup.  It's still a big cup, but you can layer nicely.  Yogurt - toppings - yogurt - toppings - yogurt.  That's a cool innovation -- although the Rita's folks would say that they have been layering Italian ice and custard forever.

11 comments:

  1. I don't buy frozen yogurt at not-by-the-ounce places because I can only eat 1 or 2 ounces at a time, meaning the rest of the 8oz serving gets wasted.

    2 oz of frozen yogurt looks really, really lonely in even the smallest cup at Tutti Frutti, even if I add some strawberry chunks and mango boba. I assume that's the point - you have the opportunity to feel virtuous because "it's only half of the smallest cup!"

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  2. I quit going to those places because it was impossible to get a decent size portion of yogurt. No matter how hard I tried, I got much more than I wanted or needed.

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  3. HowChow, did another MangoBerry open up in Clarksville or did you mean Catonsville?

    Also, I'm not certain but I feel like if you get less yogurt at these places, then you end up paying quite a bit for the weight of the cup.

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  4. As a owner of Whirlz Yogurt Bar in Dorsey Search Village Center I understand the frozen yogurt cup sizes and concerns, We will be offering a 16oz and 24oz. cup and have a smaller kid sized cup that will be available for those small hands and smaller frozen yogurt cravings. Cup size issues can be resolved with the help of the Whirlz community - look forward to opening soon and meeting all your frozen yogurt wants and needs.

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  5. I think that some of these places deduct (or tare) the weight of the cup so you just pay for the weight of the yogurt. Others don't, so the weight of the cup is included in your total ounce total. However, I don't think that the cost of the cup itself goes up depending on how much you get. It's a flat weight.

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  6. Bryan, Will Whirlz have any soy frozen yogurt? We can't have dairy but love the soy peanut butter flavor at Tutti Fruiti. We go to Yama Sushi often and would love to stop by for a mochi afterwards! Thanks, Liz in Ellicott City

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  7. Bryan, as long as you allow adults to use the kid size cup, you have me for a customer. I don't live far from Dorsey Search, so would definitely come by. I do like the tang of good frozen yogurt. But even a 16 oz cup would hold more than I need to eat at a sitting.

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  8. Yes, whirlz will have 10-12 rotating flavors, the base mixes will be Non-fat, Low-fat, Stevia and Non-Dairy. You can keep up to date on Facebook and our website with the flavors every week.

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  9. Marcia,
    As owner of Whirlz, I want you to keep coming back for more, smaller kid size cup will be available for adults too. I understand your question loud and clear, there is nothing more frustrating than a $10 cup of yogurt that you overindulge yourself in a 16oz cup. I get it. Come on by and tell me what you think when we open, October 2012. Thank you for your comment and hopefully your support, see you soon.

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  10. I took my kids to Sweet Frog on Route 40 this afternoon, and I was happy to see that they offer smaller cups. I will certainly check out Whirlz when it opens, too.

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  11. Yogopop on Meadowridge Road has smaller cups available now as well.

    ~kam

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