One of the things I appreciate about my childhood is growing up in a city called Montebello, CA. The population is predominantly Mexican and neighbors East LA and Monterey Park. I remember during those years living and working in Shanghai the first thing I'd want to eat when I stepped off the plane was King Taco's in East LA on the way back from the airport.
The picture above is what I had for lunch today...and what I am now suffering food coma from as a result of eating it all. You know it's authentic when you've got to serve the guacamole up using an ice cream scoop. :D
Actually, I really AM on my way to Pinkberry as I blog about this. Tweeted about it and now I've got the Lady Tigra song stuck in my head. Seriously, hop on over to the site real quick and you'll hear what I mean. So what's the big deal about a frozen yogurt company? Apparently $27.5 million dollars from the Starbucks founder says they're going to be a huge deal in the the coming future. It's even set off a "yogurt war" between the original company Red Mango that it appears the founders of Pinkberry ripped off the concept from while visiting Korea. Sounds like a classic case of first mover advantage of a copycat company winning in the US market. Tapping into the Hollywood A-list hasn't hurt either for Pinkberry's branding.
So is it good? Well, it's frozen yogurt. A bit different in texture and taste from the usual fro yo we're used to. Not as creamy. Kind of tangy. Hard to describe but really good IMHO. At the same time, coming from a retail background I'm a sucker for a good retail concept. Pinkberry has it. They make TCBY look old school.
I wonder who will be first to market in China? Pinkberry or Red Mango? In my own version of the coming yogurt war in Shanghai (it's inevitable. I'm calling it now. You can't be a popular brand in any country these days without considering a play for China) ...so in my own version of the coming yogurt war, Pinkberry has the Starbucks style backing but their strong Hollywood A-List and hip hop style branding would probably not be as effective in the Chinese consumer market. Red Mango on the other hand could stand to do quite well in China. Korean brands are highly regarded and all they'd have to do was film a few popular Korean soap opera scenes in a Red Mango store and instant fame for their yogurt once it hit China. I'm serious. Don't underestimate the power of Korean pop culture on the Chinese consumer market compared to American. Just sayin...we'll see.
I was born in Taiwan. Immigrated when I was 2 and haven't been back for a visit in over 15 years. So while twittering away with my American-In-Taiwan Twitter buddy @bbluesman you can imagine how excited I was to come across this blog featuring nothing but authentic Taiwanese food.
Have a click here and you'll see what I mean. It's making me hungry. I'm going to eat a second dinner now...
