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Japan is in the age of ice cream. Ushered in by Dippin’ Dots (slogan: “The Ice Cream of the Future”) in 1995, and reignited by the much-hyped arrival of Coldstone Creamery a decade later, the ongoing campaign to win the hearts and minds of Japan’s frozen dessert lovers could be nearing a finish. The latest hopeful is RazzleBerry, a frozen yogurt shop launching next month with big backers and even bigger ideas.
Driving the RazzleBerry project is Gisen Sawamura, a 34-year-old restaurant and party promoter from Los Angeles, with the support of a group of nine influential restaurant owners calling themselves Team Japan.
Sawamura, who goes by the name “G,” is a natural promoter. “I first had gatherings in my backyard with friends. The word got around and what started out as 10 friends became 50, then 100, and so on,” he recalls. “Before I knew it I was promoting the most famous clubs in LA.”
Despite a budding career in California, G felt his calling was as an actor, and came to Tokyo to pursue his dream seven years ago. “I dropped everything and decided to move to Japan. Most of the people around me told me I was crazy… but that just added fuel to my fire,” he says.
G hit the ground running: “During the first few years in Tokyo, I did radio, movies, had my own English program and emceed concerts and events.”
Eventually he was approached in 2006 by the general manager of Roppongi disco Velfarre to open a new venue called Pandoras. “I was basically handed the $10 million space. I was to create the concept, design, staff look, operations and the menu — all within a month!”
The resulting restaurant-slash-style-bar in Kudanshita, near the Budokan, was a sight to be seen. With a white piano suspended from the ceiling, revolving floors, and a top-of-the-line projector and sound system, Pandoras was like the Bubble-era reborn. And, true to form, “after a year, the parent company went belly up,” says G.
His next project was revamping the popular Cardenas Charcoal Grill in Ebisu, which is when he was approached by Team Japan. Though the group’s eventual goal is to “bring authentic Japanese dining to America,” G decided to first leverage his considerable resources and expertise to launch RazzleBerry.
Citing recent frozen yogurt booms in LA, New York and Korea, G says the timing is right for a fro-gurt craze in Japan. “The concept I came up with for RazzleBerry is ‘sexy and cute,’ or ero-kawaii.” The shops will be decked out in pink and purple, black chandeliers and the 18 toppings, ranging from fresh fruit to Oreos, are to be displayed “like gems.” Staff have been recruited from modeling agencies and will wear uniforms designed by trendy Japanese fashion house Dazzlin.’
One way G plans to promote RazzleBerry is through a media blitz in Japanese women’s magazines. He also tapped Jeff Miyahara, the only Japanese producer to have worked with music luminaries Timbaland and Boyz II Men, to create a string of catchy pop and hip-hop tunes. The first, “RazzleBerry Jam,” is already being spun in the city’s nightclubs, and G plans to release new songs monthly.
And the product? Two flavors — plain and green tea — of tart, non-fat frozen yogurt, with “all the benefits of eating real yogurt,” G enthuses. The first shop opens under a big pink tent poolside at Toshimaen amusement park from Saturday, followed by a second, more central branch in Shinjuku on July 20. G is tight-lipped about future locations, but does drop some hints of what’s to come.
"I already have a lot of people lining up to open franchises, and I don’t even have the franchise scheme done yet!”
This story originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).
© Japan Today
30 Comments
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Youdontknow
Hip New Frozen Yogurt retailer hopes to be Japan's next big thing..........keep hoping.
UnagiDon
"Hip new frozen yogurt retailer", just what every child aspires to be.
Altria
Yo G Wzup
Sarge
"Two flavors - plain and green tea"
You've got to be kidding.
chardk1
This guy just plain steals the idea of the popular Pinkberry chain in Los Angeles and has the nerve to act like he came up it. Look, you want to copy someone else 100% because Japan has different copyright and trademark protection, fine but don't be this obnoxious about it.
wilbur
how can you be an 'entrepreneur' when the product has been around for 25 years ?
blvtzpk
Yo Yo Yogurt! Check it out, dawg.
blvtzpk
You bring it to Japan, put a spin on it, and play on people's ignorance, naivete, and nationalism.
You have now finished Marketing 101. ;)
blvtzpk
"What's the 'G' stand for?"
"G"
"Hmph! It was a genuine question!"
Mark_McCracken
Not hip. Not new. Adding fruit to yogurt? Umm, TCBY has been doing this in Japan since at least 1991.
taj
Thanks for the "pinkberry" connection chardk1. A look at both sites (and the Wiki page on Pinkberry, is making me wonder if there are some licensing fees being paid. (Right down to the dancy/rappy girly songs.)
"Pinkberry's menu consists of Original, Green Tea and Coffee (introduced in January 2008, for their third-year anniversary) flavored frozen yogurt style desserts, in three sizes:..."
I wonder if "coffee" will be the next Razzleberry flavour.
shayouzoku
who moves from LA to tokyo to become an actor?
chardk1
Taj, if G actually had any relationship with Pinkberry he would be playing it up the way he plays up his mostly self-described career as an actor and entrepreneur. Japanese LOVE claiming they have overseas success, why would he not comment on Pinkberry if he was somehow connected with it? No way, he clearly had a bowl in LA, immediately went home and called some IP attorneys in Japan and then lifted the idea. If I were Pinkberry I'd figure out some way to sue him anyway, just because it's so obnoxious.
Mark_McCracken
"who moves from LA to tokyo to become an actor?"
Future frozen yogurt retailers.
GJP2006
TCBY folded several years ago - at least on the main island of Honshu - are they back?
Altria
Talk about a frosty reception.
All yoplait-er haters are gonna be in for a world of yog-hurt when G gets all over yo boink.
Mark_McCracken
"TCBY folded several years ago - at least on the main island of Honshu - are they back?"
Right you are. TCBY's down to just 2 shops at Air Force Bases in Okinawa. I stand corrected. TCBY was mixing fruit with yogurt as far back as 1991.
PrinceskaNo1
when the yoghurt is frozen, the bacteria in it dies. you cannot have health benefits from frozen yoghurt.
Nessie
The health benefit is having less fat than ice cream. And can you back up your claim that the bacteria die?
wilbur
japan's got more famous people that nobody else has ever heard of than any other country in the world
PrinceskaNo1
Nessie, have you ever made yoghurt by yourself? You need good active bacteria. High temperature and very low temperature damage the bacterial and it loses vitality (freezing - warming affects the vitality). Try to freeze yoghurt and then warm it and make new yoghurt with it. You will see that the new yougurt will be too watery and will lack acidity. The more sour is the yoghurt, the more live bacteria it contains. Most yoghurts sold in the market here do not have live bacteria. It means they have no beneficial effects. Most of them contain preservatives, sugars, flavours etc which are not good for health. And when they lack the bacteria, they do not have any good effect on the immune system. The only good yoghurt for health is Meiji. They keep to the original bulgarian recipe and have the bulgaricus and thermopilis bacteria in it.
SpanishEyez37
Dippin Dots-isn't that the ice cream that looks like colored rabbit poop?
Sarge
Mark ( 01:55 ) - Good answer.
SpanishEye - Colored rabbit poop? Not colored cat poop?
blvtzpk
RazzleBerry? Pinkberry? Catchy names! So why didn't MY Frozen Yoghurt franchise, Dingleberry, get off the ground. Any ideas???
usaexpat
The age of ice cream eh? Anywhere that's hotter than hell in the summer is a good market and the Japanese sure seem to like their ice cream. Good business plan but I'm sticking to Hagen Daz thanks anyway.
urufuls
Does the Snozzberry taste like Snozzberries?
serindipity
You can sell anything in Japan regardless of taste or health benefits as long as it comes in packaging that makes all the yocals go, "eh, kowai iiiiii!"
Nessie
Princes, no I haven't made yogurt. Have you performed bacteria cultures on teh yogurts you've made? I'm still curious if you can back up your claim with a citation to scientific evidence backing up your original claim:
Differences in water and acidity could be due to lots of different things, not necessarily the elimination of bacteria by freezing. Things without bacteria get watery when you freeze them, not because of bacteria but because the water forms ice and separates from the solid fraction.
cleo
There are lots of 'plain' yoghurts on the market that don't contain gunk. I make my own yoghurt very often (at least once a week) and I get good results using virtually any brand of 'plain' yoghurt as the starter.
Nessie
My friend who makes yogurt regularly freezes her cultures, with no ill effects on the bacteria, she says.
Still waiting for your evidence, Princes.