Crackberry (Pinkberry nickname)
Pinkberry frozen yogurt began in California in 2005, but quickly opened over a dozen shops in New York City. Fans of the frozen yogurt product claim that it’s addictive and have called it “Crackberry.” Non-fans of the frozen yogurt have called it “Stinkberry.”
“Crackberry” has been cited in print since at least August 2006.
Wikipedia: Pinkberry
Pinkberry is a franchise of upscale frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Los Angeles, California. There are currently over 100 stores, mostly located in Southern California, 14 in New York City, New York, two in New Orleans, Louisiana, two in Denver, Colorado, one in Atlanta, Georgia, one in Nashville, Tennessee, two in Charlotte, North Carolina, two in Massachusetts, four in Texas, one in Fairfield, Connecticut, one in Fairfax, Virginia, and two in Hawaii. International locations include one in Mexico City, several in the Middle East, two in Lima, Peru and one in Moscow, Russia.
The first store opened in January 2005 by Korean Americans Shelly Hwang and Young Lee. The tart, frozen dessert has a groupie-like following who sometimes refer to it as “Crackberry”. The company acknowledges its cult-like following by maintaining a “groupie corner” on its website.
4 August 2006, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Pinkberry addicts cramp the style of one neighborhood” by Deborah Netburn, pg. E1:
It has been called Crackberry and frozen heroin juice by its fans and detractors because many of the college kids, television writers and well-to-do families who cheerfully queue up as many as four nights in a single week agree with food blogger Rosie O Neill who wrote recently “I would get Pinkberry IVed into my veins if I could.”
The Hot Crew
So How Was Your Weekend?
August 28th, 2006 by huphtur
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•Biked around Hollywood and Beverly Hills on my poseur rig. Enjoyed potholed Wilshire Blvd and blinged out Rodeo Drive. Made a frozen yoghurt pit stop at Pink Berry, which confirmed why the critics call it “Crackberry”.
Gothamist
Camera in the Kitchen: Pinkberry
By youngna park in Food on October 6, 2006 10:33 AM
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Often hailed as “crackberry,” the craze is for a chilly treat made of real frozen yogurt—slightly tangy, slightly salty, and ringing in at a mere 20 calories per ounce. The yogurt comes in two and only two flavors, plain and green tea, and assorted toppings from fresh fruit to cap’n crunch are available for 95-cents apiece.
New York’s first Pinkberry opened last week so Gothamist decided to get in on the addiction and headed up to the storefront on 32nd Street, in the heart of Koreatown.
Brian Yaeger’s Blog
Nov 13, 2006
“Crackberry” my ass: Virgin/Final trip to Pinkberry
There’s a cupcake shop in New York that apparently makes women squishier than the sight of George Clooney’s face nestled between their legs. An analogous frozen yogurt shop opened in West Hollywood called Pinkberry and, no exaggeration, there is a nightly line replete with velvet ropes and a bouncer that takes an hour to wait through…
Chicagoist
A New Kind of Crackberry Coming to Town
By Laura Oppenheimer in Food on August 20, 2007 10:00 AM
The dropping temperature and pouring rain didn’t stop us from getting excited when we read that three new frozen yogurt places will be opening up in Chicago in the near future. Frozen yogurt? Like TCBY? Yes, but better. This isn’t just any fro-yo, as Chicagoist likes to call it. We’re talking about Pinkberry (A.K.A Crackberry), which is either the best thing since sliced bread, or a huge crock of marketing shit.