{"id":222295,"date":"2026-05-06T18:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/222295\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T18:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:54:08","slug":"is-frozen-yogurt-cool-again-a-nyc-chain-bets-big-on-calif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/222295\/","title":{"rendered":"Is frozen yogurt cool again? A NYC chain bets big on Calif."},"content":{"rendered":"

Although\u00a0frozen yogurt<\/a> seems synonymous with California, some of the biggest chains in the category have come from elsewhere. The behemoth TCBY<\/a> started in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1981, growing steadily in that decade and into the 1990s, and the very first frozen yogurt chain, Everything Yogurt, launched in New York City in 1976.<\/p>\n

And now, another growing brand hopes to be the next big thing in frozen yogurt by expanding into California. 16 Handles, the New York City-based self-serve frozen yogurt chain, is planning eight franchised outposts across the state. The new locations are slated to open in Del Mar in northern San Diego County, South Orange County,\u00a0Northridge<\/a> in the San Fernando Valley and Milpitas<\/a> in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

16 Handles is known for its 16 rotating flavors of frozen yogurt,\u00a0soft serve ice cream<\/a> and sorbet; more than 50 toppings ranging from candy to fresh fruit to sauces; and charging customers by the weight of their finished sundaes. The company currently has more than 40 locations, mainly on the East Coast.<\/p>\n

Founded by Solomon\u00a0Choi in the East Village in 2008, the brand is now majority-owned by Neil Hershman, an executive who bought his first franchise in 2019 at the age of 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpanding into California has been part of my long-term vision since acquiring 16 Handles nearly four years ago. There\u2019s always been that East Coast vs. West Coast conversation (more directly New York vs. California),\u201d\u00a0Hershman told SFGATE via email. \u201cI wanted 16 Handles to wait for the right moment because California already has an incredible dessert culture and incredibly high customer expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe patiently searched for the right operators \u2014 all highly experienced, community-driven locals, as well as the right real estate, distribution partners, and momentum behind the brand before making the move. Today we are negotiating on amazing locations in hot markets across the state, and we\u2019re excited to soon introduce West Coast customers to what we believe is the best self-serve frozen yogurt experience out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to CNBC<\/a>, 16 Handles made $20.6 million in sales in 2024 and was tracking at $12.5 million for the first six months of 2025. It joins expanding chains like Fullerton-founded Yogurtland and Beverly Hills-based Go Greek Yogurt in the state\u2019s ongoing frozen yogurt renaissance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although\u00a0frozen yogurt seems synonymous with California, some of the biggest chains in the category have come from elsewhere.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64,71092,72982,72983],"class_list":["post-222295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-sfgfood","tag-sfgla","tag-sfglafood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}