What Happened to Frozen Yogurt? 

Steve, I was involved in the introduction of Froyo in the 70's, again in the mid 80's thru early 90's and again the most recent craze from '09 to date. Many of your points are exactly right, but many other factors were involved. The engagement through "self serve" was key, not only in drawing/mixing flavors, but in adding toppings, not to mention the selection of flavors, a key factor that helps many hand dips stores today. Customers loved the model, a big problem I saw was multi faceted, to many getting into a get rich quick model made many mistakes, poor site choice to start. All wanted plaza shops, many with no anchor for foot traffic, many that charged premium rent rates. I had some very profitable shops who's rent after the initial lease went to $11/12K a month, which was unsustainable. Next, many cut corners on decor because of equipment cost, not a huge deal, but it matters. Many wanting 6/7/8 machines were looking at $125K+ and chose poor, imported machines which failed quickly causing their product to present very poorly. I also feel to many of the equipment companies guided people to gravity machines which if not in perfect working condition served a very "wet" product in a "weigh & pay", of course presenting a heavy dish with no ability to stand up. I advised many to go with pressurized machines for a more consistent product, but of course additional start up costs. Lastly, and the most important factor I told the very first chain that opened in Ohio in "08 when they asked me to distribute for them. I looked at their inventory list and saw something that alarmed me, I asked where their other cup sizes were? I was told the 16oz cup was the only choice, it was the key to be profitable, I replied it would be the reason it fails, the portion was too damn big. Had they let consumers spend less on thier own, many more would've survived. It caused a phenomenon I've never seen, my friend know what I do and would ask, "hey, do you sell that froyo?", it was always followed by a strong positive and a strong negative, "I love their froyo, mixing flavors, choosing toppings!", "but I took the wife and kids and it was $32!". Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, had you given the customers a 5 gal bucket, they would've filled it and experienced sticker shock when paying. Sweet Frog was one of the few chains that listened to me and introduced a smaller size, they still have stores that are doing very well, consumers like the model and the product. At peak, we were selling 250,000lbs of froyo a week, it has dropped to about 75,000 lbs a week, but if run right, is still a profitable concept.

Why did the popularity of it fall off so sharply at the end of the 20-teens?

Yep, I was a teenage yogurt pimp in the 1980’s. It was so much fun, did not even feel like work.

The new Trend seems to be Gelato.