By 2026, endless lines are as much a part of New York City culture as yellow cabs and dollar slices, as consumers file up for hours for everything from Mamdani-designed soccer jerseys to lipgloss. But if you see a line snaking around the block this summer, there’s a good chance those patient shoppers are waiting for just one thing: frozen yogurt.
Millennials will remember the 2000s heyday of froyo chains like Pinkberry and Yogurtland. But a new crop of shops like Mimi’s, Birdie’s and Go Greek have revived frozen yogurt as a must-have treat for the TikTok generation. New York Times Magazine writer Amy X. Wang counted 74 people waiting in line at the Spanish frozen-yogurt import Myka’s West Village location one Saturday.
Beauty brands, seeking foot traffic and summer-appropriate activations, are now also lining up to get in on the frozen yogurt boom.
“[Go Greek] is such an L.A. staple. We all know when you go to L.A., you’ve got to get an Erewhon smoothie, and you have to go to Go Greek,” said Caroline Joseph, senior brand and marketing manager at skin-care brand Korres, of the frozen yogurt chain Go Greek, which opened its first New York City location in Noho in April.
To promote its Greek Yoghurt Probiotic Foaming Cream Cleanser, Korres teamed up with Go Greek to create a “Greek Glow” bowl with olive oil and honey, available at the yogurt store’s locations in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami as of Sunday. In addition to a bowl with a co-branded cup containing a Korres discount code, customers will receive a deluxe sample of the cleanser.
“When we’re talking about the ingredients that we make our skin-care with, they are all things that we know firstly as food,” Joseph said of the appeal of the food-based collaboration. She said Korres estimates that the partnership will reach some 2,500 consumers. “The other part of it is, I think, consumers are so used to seeing these experiences being strictly for influencers and press. And to be able to reach a broader audience and give everybody the same fun unboxing PR experience is really special”
While not every beauty brand has Korres’ Greek heritage, Go Greek has emerged as the go-to froyo beauty collaborator. The chain, first launched in 2012 and now with stores everywhere from Miami to Riyadh, has also collaborated with Crown Affair and Saltair. Hair-care brand Ouai’s June pop-up in Williamsburg saw more than 2,000 attendees come out for Go Greek frozen yogurt and Ouai product samples. Go Greek did not respond to Glossy’s request for comment.
Frozen yogurt, like Erewhon smoothies or iced lattes, offers a useful palette for brands looking to engage in sensorial marketing. And the treat’s purported health benefits — Go Greek’s website describes its froyo as being packed with “muscle-building protein” — can appeal to wellness-minded consumers.
“It makes sense that frozen yogurt would be a thing right now, because it really sits at that intersection of indulgence and wellness,” said Rebecca Demmellash, strategy director at branding agency Pearlfisher. “Food represents pleasure, it represents ritual, it represents nostalgia, sometimes it represents wellness. And so I think that, for beauty brands interested in being relevant in culture and creating community around their values, it’s a natural next step to look at food.”
But frozen yogurt’s greatest asset may be its ability to drive foot traffic. Kiehl’s will also launch a nationwide Go Greek partnership starting June 26. In addition to creating a bowl inspired by its Better Screen sunscreen franchise, the L’Oréal-owned skin-care brand will also bring in co-branded Go Greek carts to offer yogurt samples at select stores.
“We’re trying to find ways to bring experiences to our stores in a moment where retail traffic isn’t at the hottest,” said Guillaume Monsel, Kiehl’s U.S. head of marketing, of the strategy behind bringing Go Greek into its stores. “So how do we make our stores a bit more attractive, as well, for consumers to come and spend time beyond exploring skin care?”
For Kiehl’s, the Go Greek partnership is part of a larger strategy to create edible, immersive moments around its skin-care products. In 2025, the brand collaborated with New York coffee chain Rhythm Zero on a coconut-mango matcha beverage.
“Before, you were selling products. That was traditional advertising. Now people are seeking experiences,” said Monsel.
But as brands insert themselves into every corner of consumers’ lives in search of novelty and virality — The Ordinary launched a failed cross-Brooklyn bus route in May — they also risk alienating consumers facing marketing fatigue.
“Stunts are fleeting, virality is fleeting. We’ve all been through the cycle so many times, so to create something more lasting, you have to bring a meaningful contribution to people’s lives,” said Demmellash. “I think people are exhausted by marketing, but they still want novel experiences.”
And consumers are fickle when it comes to trends, food being no exception. Those old enough to remember the peak days of Pinkberry likely also recall the rise and fall of countless other food fads — cupcakes and cronuts also had their moments in the 2000s before being supplanted by the next trendy treat. Pinkberry, once a go-to spot for young celebrities to get snapped by paparazzi, closed 74 of its locations between 2014 and 2018.
But for now, as long as consumers are lining up for frozen yogurt, beauty brands are along for the ride. And marketers will happily take any opportunity to get their brand name in the public eye. Korres’ Caroline Joseph noted that, even after customers have finished their frozen yogurt, the co-branded cups can still serve as a makeshift billboard.
“Yesterday I took a picture of the trash can on the corner of Broadway and West 3rd [outside of Go Greek], and there were a few Korres cups,” she said. “I was like, ‘I’m so happy to be in the trash.’”
