Pinkbarro

Pinkberry is a franchise of upscale frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[1] There are currently over 100 stores, mostly located in Southern California and New YorkCity.
The first store opened in January 2005 by Shelly Hwang and Young Lee.[2] The tart, frozen dessert has a groupie-like following.[2] The company acknowledges its cult-like following by maintaining a"groupie corner" on its website.
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Original Pinkberry restaurant on Huntley Drive near Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California
Hwang's first business venture wasto open a formal English teahouse on a tiny residential street called Huntley Drive in West Hollywood, California. However, after the city refused to approve an alcohol permit for Hwang and herbusiness partner, architect Young Lee, they decided to go with their second plan, which was a frozen yogurt concept reviving the craze of the 1980s.[3] People were soon driving across town and standing inline for up to 20 to 30 minutes to get their fix of "the taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets."[2] The second store opened in September 2006, and since then, stores began springing up all overSouthern California and also branches in New York. In October 2009, Pinkberry opened its first overseas branch in the State of Kuwait at the Avenues shopping mall, and in November it opened a branch inDallas.
On October 16, 2007, the firm took in a $27.5M investment from Maveron, the venture fund founded by Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, to expand the firm's concept nationwide.[4]


APinkberry location in the Mall of the Emirates, Dubai.
On May 1, 2009, Pinkberry announced its plans to expand its market both internationally and domestically, after receiving $9 million in second-roundfunding from investors. As part of its plans, Pinkberry has partnered with Kuwaiti retail conglomerate M.H. Alshaya Co. to open stores in several countries in the Middle East and signed with HMSHost...