> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Three frozen yogurt shops battle for Downtown Santa Monica's dessert crowd - URL: https://www.smdp.com/yogurt-wars/ - Published: 2007-06-27T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T00:18:11.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Business, Downtown, #archive-import *Snack spots begin to crowd the local scene with sweet, sour treats* DOWNTOWN, SM First it was a bubbly tapioca drink, then it was a decadent cookie and candy infused ice cream. Now a light, slightly sour delight is making waves in the world of desserts. In the yogurt universe dominated by heavy hitter pinkberry, three smaller frozen dessert shops are trying to carve their own niche, setting up in what was uncharted territory just one month ago — Downtown Santa Monica. The three challengers — Citrus Valley, YoGreen and Kiwiberri — so far seem to have the upper hand on pinkberry in the Santa Monica yogurt scene as the dessert leader has yet to open a franchise in the city. But the three yogurt shops will have to battle each other out for Santa Monica’s yogurt supremacy as they are all located within one block of each other. YoGreen opened on Colorado Avenue near Ocean Avenue at the end of May. Citrus Valley started its first of many shops to come on Broadway, just off Ocean Avenue, at the end of May. Kiwiberri expects to open its doors in early August just two doors west of Citrus Valley. “It’s everywhere all of a sudden,” said Dona Davoodi, stopping at YoGreen on Tuesday afternoon. “Ever since I heard of pinkberry around Christmas, these places are everywhere.” The Asian style yogurt, less sweet and more sour than its American counterpart, experienced a boom in Korea just two years ago. The product was subsequently introduced in California with the opening of pinkberry and soon after, Kiwiberri. All of the players involved in Southern California’s dessert battle have adopted the same concept — a serving of yogurt to start, piled high with toppings, ranging from fruit to candy to granola to crumbled cookies. But shop owners say that’s where the similarities end, claiming that their yogurt is healthier, lighter, less sweet, more sweet or contains less fat. Some say their product is less expensive while others point to the extended variety of toppings offered in their store. What they do agree on is that it’s not a matter of competition amongst each other, they all just have something different to offer. Courtney Warren, enjoying a cup of yogurt on Tuesday afternoon with her friend, believes YoGreen uses more natural ingredients because it’s the only brand that doesn’t stimulate an allergic reaction she often gets after eating dairy products. Others can’t seem to tell the difference. “It tastes the same,” Kate Sommers said, while enjoying a treat at YoGreen. SANTA MONICA SAYS YO TO YOGREEN The founders of YoGreen, business partners Shane Kim and Terry Kwon of Downtown Los Angeles, say they debuted their natural non-fat frozen yogurt two years ago at an annual festival in Korea Town, renting a small booth and seeing how the local Korean-American population would react to the new sweet and sour dessert. “Everyone liked it,” Kim said. “Everyone asked if we were going to open a shop, but we couldn’t find a good location.” The two friends owned a coffee shop in a strip mall at the corner of Sawtelle and Olympic boulevards in West Los Angeles and tried to replace it with a yogurt shop last year. But pinkberry got to the shopping plaza first, securing the only yogurt store license from the landlord and opening a franchise in the same strip mall, Kim said. “Many people think pinkberry is the original, but pinkberry is the most famous,” Kim said. The partners closed the coffee shop and started looking around, eventually setting their sights on a small square-shaped spot on Colorado Avenue. At first glance,YoGreen gives off the same appearance as pinkberry, using a similar green and reddish color scheme and swirly fruit logo. Kim said the reason why they decided to use green in the store’s colors is to play off the business name, YoGreen. Also, unlike pinkberry, which uses a green and pink color scheme, YoGreen uses a green and red combination, he added. The product is also different. While pinkberry offers plain and green tea yogurt, YoGreen supplies the dessert in plain and blueberry. “Our frozen yogurt is more icy and the price is lower,” Kim said. Just like pinkberry, the YoGreen yogurt has zero fat per serving size. JUST LIKE PINKBERRY? Kiwiberri launched almost two years ago in Claremont, sparking accusations that it was a rip off of pinkberry. “We both tried to get it out here, but unfortunately, we were a bunch of college buddies scraping up change to buy a broken down yogurt machine and get the business started,” Evan Chi, vice president of business development for Kiwiberri, said referring to pinkberry. “We did start to grow, we grew our own fan base and like any other smart business, they knew we were on the rise and did what they could to dig out their niche.” Kiwiberri currently has locations in West Los Angeles, Korea Town, Rowland Heights and Claremont, with more in store in the future for Florida, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Orange County. Its decision for opening in Santa Monica on Broadway was based on the old saying: Location, location, location. “It was right in front of I Cugini...we couldn’t let it go,” Chi said. Similar to pinkberry, Kiwiberri offers its product in green tea and plain yogurt. The store boasts more than 25 different toppings. Chi doesn’t see Kiwiberri’s proximity to Citrus Valley as a problem. “We have different things to offer and people recognize the Kiwiberri brand,” he said. BUILDING A DIFFERENT IMAGE The business partners that founded Citrus Valley fell in love with yogurt during a trip to Korea last year, bringing home the concept to California. Upon returning back home, the owners read numerous articles claiming that other yogurt businesses were copycats of pinkberry, said Audrey Chai, one of three business partners along with Monique Kim and Leah Ra. Copycat — it was a label they didn’t want tacked on to Citrus Valley. So Chai et al decided to offer other products in the store, specializing in different varieties of tea and salads. Though the salads have been temporarily discontinued until the end of summer in order for the store to focus more on what it calls “yogurt ice cream,” the tea continues to be a big hit. Also popular among Citrus Valley’s loyal customers is the yogurt and waffle combination. “You can mix the yogurt with the waffle and it tastes super good,” Chai said. The decor is also a departure from the bright colors of pinkberry, Kiwiberri and YoGreen. In line with the Citrus Valley theme, the interior of the store is decorated in warm colors, giving off a southwestern feel. The owners of Citrus Valley don’t see themselves as competing against pinkberry, but rather other similar yogurts coming out of Korea, Chai said. There are several more Citrus Valley locations in the works, including one in Arizona and another in the San Fernando Valley or Irvine. WHEN WILL YOGURT GO AWAY There’s debate about whether yogurt will take the route of boba milk tea drinks, once popular in the late 1990s to the early part of the decade, which are now increasingly hard to find. Kim believes the yogurt phase will last another three to five years, eventually dying out, much like what happened to boba. For now, he wants to concentrate on a good product, something that continuously draws in traffic during the warm summer days. “It’s going to die out some day,” Kim said. “I know it’s not going to go too long.” Chai believes yogurt is more than boba, a trend, but something that will outlast its tapioca counterpart. “There’s a lot of specialists saying it’s a trend, but it’s going to last a long time,” Chai said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/062707-17_01.jpg) RUBBING ELBOWS: Yo Green, left, has recently opened a location on Colorado Avenue. (Photo: Photos by Fabian Lewkowicz) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/062707-17_02.jpg) RUBBING ELBOWS: Yo Green, left, has recently opened a location on Colorado Avenue. (Photo: Photos by Fabian Lewkowicz) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 27, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)