Praised Pinkberry chain reaches local fans

A tart wave has just crashed in Orange County. Its followers are ready, descending on the Bella Terra shopping center for the tangy dessert treat they call addictive.

Frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry opened its first store in the county in Huntington Beach Monday. The chain has exploded in popularity in Los Angeles county, with lines out the door nearly any time of day at its dozens of stores, but now the cult-inspiring chain is eyeing markets farther down the 405.

Not all the customers at the 6 p.m. opening were longtime fans; there seemed to be a few new converts. As Theon Thrift, 20, Huntington Beach, finished up his first taste of the dessert with two friends, he said he’d come again.

“Definitely, this is delicious,” he said.

Franchise owner Davis Ahn called his prominent spot in the plaza a great place for his business, even with a Ben and Jerry’s and a Jamba Juice within a 100-foot radius.

“I never worry about the competition,” he said, adding that there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic. “I turned away 100 people yesterday who thought the store was open. I told them to come back today.”

More Pinkberry shops are planned in Orange County and even San Diego, company spokeswoman Ching Hsieh said. Locations in the works include the Irvine Spectrum Center and Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Pinkberry started the craze for the retro ’80s dessert with a Korean twist: soft-serve nonfat dessert with a yogurty tang, topped with fresh fruit, breakfast cereal or even chocolate chips. The result has far fewer calories than ice cream or full-fat yogurt. But numerous competitors have sprung up in the past couple of years.

The chain that started the fad isn’t the first store in town with an updated take on frozen yogurt. Beachberries Yogurt, 300 Pacific Coast Hwy., and Beach City Yogurt, 16895 Beach Blvd., both set up shop in the last year, bringing their own recipes for tart yogurt and their own committed followings.

But Pinkberry fan Sayaka Page, who lives blocks from Bella Terra, knew exactly what she was waiting for.

“Oh yes, I’ve probably been to every location in Los Angeles,” she said, eating a cup of plain Pinkberry with bananas, coconut and Cocoa Pebbles. “This is like the best day of my life.”