Pinkberry to open in Park Slope on July 20th

HOLY. CRAP. Did you know that "Pinkberry" isn’t just your Midwestern aunt’s cutesy name for her lower lady bits? TRUE STORY. It's also the name of a Cali-based chain of frozen yogurt joints. FRO YO. YOU KNOW, YO? Ok. That is the last time I will call it that. Stupidest snack name ever.

As Erica mentioned in her April Pinkberry-tingling post about the current state of Park Slope frozen treats, this summer Park Slope residents are getting a Pinkberry of their very own--on July 20th to be exact.

I recently had a brief chat with Pinkberry’s Director of East Coast Operations Pete Casey, and he told me that in the weeks leading up to the opening on 7th Ave and Garfield they'll be stopping by local businesses to hand out samples of their frozen yogurt. By the 19th they will be hosting a friends & family opening from 6-10pm where the public can try a small version of their frozen yogurt with a topping. The next day, they'll officially open.

As to why they finally decided to take the plunge into Park Slope, Pete said that he just thought Pinkberry & Park Slope was a great match. Pinkberry is all about putting out a fresh product in an environmentally-friendly way. OBVS Park Slopers eat that shizz up. He didn't seem concerned about the competition in the least. Suck it, Culture.

Since they’re an international chain, they'll have the standard flavors to start: original, chocolate, mango & peanut butter, alongside two seasonal flavors. For the summer, those'll be watermelon & strawberry.

Speaking of international chains, after opening the first store in early '05 & kinda reinventing/upscaling frozen yogurt, Pinkberry now has almost 200 locations in 17 countries, so they're a serious one. Larry David loves Pinkberry. Their fans are called "groupies." They went national thanks to a venture fund started by the founder of Starbucks. With that in mind, I'm curious as to how comfortable people are with them moving to the neighborhood. While they're not an evil franchise like McDonald's or a citation-ridden Subway, they're not mom & pop by a long stretch.

Sure the two folks running the store are from the NYC-area. Sure Pinkberry's building neighborhood connections & partnering with Brooklyn American Breast Cancer for an event. These are good things. Still, I wonder. Are incoming chains just a part of Park Slope's future? And if said chains seem to be good people should we care? I guess if they have fresh & tasty frozen yogurt, it's cool.

Read way more from Shawn at eatdrinksnack.com.