If you happen to have Asian people come over for dinner and treat them to an après dîner treat, know in advance that the highest compliment your dessert could ever hope for from this group would be that it was light, not too heavy, and not too sweet.

Therein lies the rub to the success of hundreds of yogurt shop owners across the world.

Credit must be given to the Koreans for figuring this out in the early 2000’s. In fact Korean based company – Red Mango, was the first retailer to receive the National Yogurt Association’s Live and Active Culture Seal. Their success has sprouted many Yogurt chains across the nation. Some notable mentions include Pinkberry, Yogurtland, Yogurt World, Yoberry, Yoguberry, Red Berry, Berries and Beans, Tartini, YoCup, and YoMomma (kidding).

Even though every yogurt place comes with signage about the probiotic benefits of consuming yogurt, it has to be said that Asians are not well known for their health consciousness (see: Orange Chicken, Katsu, Egg Rolls). Thus it is the very nature of yogurt that resonates with the heart of every Asian.

Your yogurt experience will vary depending on the type of place you go to. Some are completely self-serve and you pay per ounce (somewhere to the tune of 29-45 cents an ounce). Others (namely Red Mango and Pinkberry) sell yogurt in 3 sizes with a preset number of toppings. The common denominator of these stores is their offering of the plain tart flavor. The plain tart may take some getting used to – especially if one is accustomed to Golden Spoon/McD’s/Costco froyo.  It is a little sour at first taste, but finishes smooth and creamy with light dairy notes. Some will argue that perhaps the greatest draw to the yogurt craze is not the yogurt but the offering of toppings that come WITH the yogurt. It can’t be overstated that Asians love a good deal. To charge an Asian 70 cents per topping is the equivalent of robbing them at gunpoint. Yet hundreds of yogurt stores and ice cream places do this every day without an ounce of remorse. Hence their inability to secure the Asian market share. It’s not hard to understand why offering 10 different cereals, 15 varieties of fruit, 8 bottles of syrups, 6 types of various confections at no extra charge can be monetary heaven for Joe the Plumber Engineer.

So next time you have Asian dinner guests, save yourself the embarrassment of them scraping the frosting off of your triple chocolate ganache with mascarpone mousse torte. Pile them in the car and take them to your neighborhood yogurt joint.

CL