{"id":133561,"date":"2026-01-14T19:04:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133561\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T19:04:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:04:06","slug":"low-calorie-and-vegan-soft-serve-available-at-brites-in-pacific-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133561\/","title":{"rendered":"Low-calorie and vegan soft serve available at Brites in Pacific Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 A new competitor has appeared in the soft serve market: An ice cream shop in Pacific Beach Marketplace called Brites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Located at 4315 Mission Blvd., Brites has taken over the space in the suite previously occupied by a tea shop and shares space in the underground parking structure anchored by Ralphs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brites Soft Serve is the shared vision of brothers Sihao and Sibo Yan, whose establishment offers a variety of low-calorie and vegan options, including unique flavors like hazelnut and matcha. The shop features a self-serve setup with fun flavors and sampling cups.<\/p>\n

Times of San Diego held a Q&A with the Yan brothers to find out how they ended up with a PB soft serve shop that they say is \u201credefining dessert with high-quality ingredients and innovative recipes.\u201d<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0Tell us about your background and how you got involved in this business.<\/p>\n

YANS:\u00a0We grew up in San Diego, spending most of our lives involved with sports and an active lifestyle. I attended Cathedral Catholic High School and\u00a0the University of San Diego, while Sibo went to Torrey Pines High School. Both of us have always wanted to work together and have been passionate about building something local, community-driven, with a strong emphasis on quality that we\u00a0would be proud\u00a0of. <\/p>\n

Brites was born out of something we were looking for, which\u00a0was that dessert shouldn\u2019t be an occasional guilt \u2014 it should fit into everyday life without compromising taste.<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0Are you a franchisee?<\/p>\n

YANS:\u00a0No, our location in\u00a0Pacific\u00a0Beach is our first store. We built the brand, recipes, and systems ourselves from the ground up. There were and are a lot of long hours, but it\u2019s great that we get to work with each other.<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0What distinguishes your soft serve?<\/p>\n

YANS:\u00a0Brites is a low-calorie, low-carb, soft serve that\u00a0is flavored in-house daily. We use true California milk, no seed oils and food coloring, and flavor our soft serve with real ingredients rather\u00a0than syrups or anything artificial. Our goal is indulgence you can enjoy regularly.<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0What is the difference between yogurt and ice cream?<\/p>\n

YANS:\u00a0People always ask us if Brites is ice cream or yogurt, and the answer is technically neither. We would call it ice cream, but our product is fat-free, so we legally cannot market it as ice cream. Thus, we went with soft serve rather than \u201clight ice cream.\u201d Brites is not yogurt since our product is not fermented with live \u201ccultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0Tell us about your self-serve process.<\/p>\n

YANS:\u00a0Our self-serve model puts the experience in the customer\u2019s hands. Guests have a great time customizing their personal bowl. They select the flavors, control their portion, and fill whatever toppings they\u00a0like. You pay by weight, which makes it transparent, customizable, and fun \u2014 whether you want a simple swirl or a fully loaded creation. <\/p>\n

We also\u00a0have a unique item called the Brizzy, where we use a specialized machine to blend the\u00a0soft serve\/toppings. Our take on the Blizzard or McFlurry. We are working hard to roll out take-home pints for people\u2019s convenience, as well as a soft serve cake that groups can enjoy at gatherings or special occasions.<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0Tell us about your experimentation with flavors.<\/p>\n

YANS:\u00a0Flavor development is a huge part of Brites and something we enjoy greatly. We constantly test, tweak, and refine recipes to balance\u00a0taste, texture, and nutrition. Apart from testing it ourselves, we rope in our friends and family, who are most definitely not afraid to show their disapproval. From classics like Italian Chocolate and Madagascar Vanilla to more creative and seasonal drops, every flavor goes through extensive R&D before hitting the machines. <\/p>\n

We also love rotating limited-time flavors to keep things exciting and give customers something new to look forward to. Our newest flavor, which we released this past weekend, is a festive Apple Pie soft serve. We also offer 10 unique flavors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TOSD:\u00a0What are your hours?<\/p>\n

YANS: Our hours are noon-11 p.m. on Sundays-Thursdays, noon-11:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 A new competitor has appeared in the soft serve market: An ice cream shop in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[68330,6569,30604,12258,74,76,75,68331],"class_list":{"0":"post-133561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-brites-soft-serve","9":"tag-exclude-homepage","10":"tag-ice-cream","11":"tag-pacific-beach","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-headlines","14":"tag-san-diego-news","15":"tag-soft-serve"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}