New Wave Frozen Yogurt Joints Assault Lincoln

The newest concept in frozen yogurt has hit Nebraska in a big way. It's basically a yogurt/topping buffet where you fill your own dish. The employees then weigh your dish to determine price. While this is new to Lincoln, the idea has been around awhile at least in California, because I remember Robert taking me to a place like this a few years ago in Sacramento.

In Lincoln in the past month or so, two of these yogurt places have sprung up. Red Mango Yogurt, and Cherry On Top Yogurt.





Cherry On Top is not yet open, but I had an opportunity to try Red Mango this past Thursday. This is near my office, so Erin and I and one other friend walked over to have a little afternoon frozen yogurt snack. The yogurt bar consists of about 10 different soft serve yogurt stations, each with a different flavor of yogurt. There are tiny sample cups so you can taste a flavor before committing it to your bowl. We each grabbed a sample cup to try it out.

The first flavor I sampled was dulce de leche, a caramel flavored yogurt. Immediately upon my first taste, I was struck by a very tart, almost lemony bite. It really tasted nothing like caramel. Other flavors had the same tart bite that overpowered the actual flavor. It was a little off-putting, but I went ahead and put some in a bowl to purchase. I went with 1/2 Madagascar Vanilla and 1/2 Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate. The topping bar had maybe 50 different items from fresh fruits to various candies and cookies. I topped with some strawberries and blueberries. Erin and her friend were so thrown off by that weird tartness that they opted to skip out on the snack all together.

My bowl cost nearly five dollars, and I never did really get used to that tartness. The Red Mango website says their yogurt contains Ganeden BC 30 probiotics to promote a healthy immune system. I'm guessing that might explain tartness. Considering that two out of three people in our group refused to buy the product, I have some concern about Red Mango's chances for success.