You Won't Have Yoreka to Kick Around Anymore

After closing their location at The Prado in Sandy Springs in November, local Fro-Yo chain Yoreka has now closed its only other operating location, in Little Five Points. Located on Euclid Avenue, Yoreka L5P opened in August and closed last week. Further indication of the closure: Yoreka's Facebook page has now disappeared, its Twitter has not been updated since August, its website displays an error message when you click "contact" and their phone goes straight to voicemail.

A member of both Q3 and Q4's DeathWatch, Yoreka is (was) one of, if not the worst of the local Fro-Yo options. Having tried just about every Fro-Yo in town, including national chains and local joints, Yoreka missed multiple marks and was just not gonna make it with so many other better options in the market.

Yoreka planned to open a location in Sembler's TOWN Brookhaven project. I had recently been told that instead a new Fro-Yo joint called "Swirl" will open at TOWN. While Yoreka did adapt to market demands and change their pricing model from a "pay by size" model à la Pinkberry, as they offered at the Prado, to the now more popular "pay by ounce" model à la Yogli Mogli, they failed to improve the product itself, and so suffered the same fate as the Prado location.

I touched on the possibility that the burger craze may be waning in popularity last week when I broke news of the Burger Club's closure (and possible relocation) , but am hesitant to do so now with yogurt. Much like The Burger Club's closure, I believe there are just many other, better Fro-Yo options in town. Places like Three on the Tree in North Buckhead or The Yogurt Tap in Decatur and burger joints like Farm Burger in Decatur and Grindhouse Killer Burgers, downtown and soon to be in midtown, offer better overall experiences than those of their competitors and therefore do well and are expanding. Customers WILL travel for good food at fair prices, but WILL NOT continue to patronize establishments that do not meet most, if not all, of their needs.

With the winter months being the toughest for the Fro-Yo business, it will be interesting to see which shops are still open next spring.

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