Frozen Yogurt - History

History

Frozen yogurt was introduced in New England, north-east USA, in the 1970s as a soft serve dessert by H. P. Hood under the name Frogurt. In 1978, Brigham's, a Boston-based ice cream, candy and sandwich shop chain, under the direction of their VP of Marketing & Manufacturing, Jerry Lavely, a food industry innovator, who later became known as "The Foodmeister", developed and introduced the first packaged frozen yogurt called Humphreez Yogart. Around this same time, another packaged frozen yogurt product, called "Danny" debuted from Dannon. This variation was a raspberry yogurt product on a stick and covered with dark chocolate. Both were originally intended as a healthy alternative to ice cream, but some consumers complained about the possibly unexpected tart taste and manufacturers began production of recipes that contained more sugar. Frozen yogurt took off in the 1980s, reaching sales of $25 million in 1986. In the early 1990s, frozen yogurt was 10% of the frozen dessert market.