Sweet Cece's vs Pinkberry

Pinkberry is taking the world by storm - well ok maybe that is an exaggeration, it is at minimum gaining speed across the US, with copy-cat yogurt chains popping up all over the place. I first had Pinkberry in 2007 while visiting my brother (the Great Moomsi) in Los Angeles. I was quite amused by the product Pinkberry offers. I am probably one of the few who actually enjoys eating non-fat plain yogurt straight from the container, so I much enjoyed their tangy, unsweetened yogurt. The fresh fruit bar of toppings was also a plus along with many others both normal and non conventional. I remember going to NYC and being excited to see Pinkberry on the corner near my friend's place and the excitement that the approaching opening date of Pinkberry on Newbury Street brought, but now that Pinkberry is the 'in' thing, I think I want out.


Recently though, I have discovered a new tough competitor and perhaps lethal threat to Pinkberry's reign on top and it is called Sweet Cece's. Pnkberry usually has 4-6 flavors to choose from (and while I would normally not see this as a drawback, since you can focus on quality), Sweet Cece's had about 8 (including plain/original). Sweet Cece's is also self serve and is then pay-by-weight purchased (an ingenious strategy if you ask me, because who really just fills up the cup 1/2 way??) Their topping bar is also much more expansive then at Pinkberry. I took a gander on Pomegranate, plain, heath bar and peanut butter flavors. I enjoyed the creaminess of the yogurt itself. Each flavor was the same consistency which can be hard to mimic and the fruit flavors at Sweet Cece's didn't mimic creamsicles like they can at Pinkberry. The heath bar was a perfect replica of the candy bar and the pomegranate was tangy and slightly sweet. Peanut butter was delicious, though honestly, it is hard to mess up peanut butter.

The topping station was slightly overwhelming but it was much easier to control your portion of topping then it was pulling flavor levers. I only went with a few toppings, but was super excited to see snow caps as an option - for some reason I have always loved those! I also opted for the cheesecake bites. I am a sucker for a good cheesecake, and I always opt for the cheesecake bites at Pinkberry but am always disappointed. I gave the cheesecake bites another chance; I thought 'new place - new cheesecake bites' and these ones did not disappoint me. Truthfully, I was sad I didn't get more of them! They were actually pieces of cut up cheesecake instead of the processed topping bites. (Closest comparison of poor toppings I can think of, is when you get cookie dough that has the floury coating over it - that is the first red flag that that stuff came out of a giant box full of little cookie dough balls instead of fresh cut from a cookie dough log. The cheese cake balls from Pinkberry are the same deal - but the ones from Cece's were the bomb.)

I really think that Sweet Cece's has a good shot at a large market share portion should they chose to expand. I wish this business venture well!!