Yogurt boom melts away: Another Orange Leaf closes; Lexington goes from 6 locations to 1
Has the frozen yogurt boom melted away?
Lexington is down to one Orange Leaf yogurt after the restaurant near Hamburg announced on Tuesday that it has closed.
“Thanks for 9 years of memories! We have decided to close this store as our lease ends. We look forward to continuing to serve you at our other locations in Lexington (Orange Leaf Tiverton) and Louisville (Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt Gardiner.),” the store posted on its Facebook page.
Orange Leaf, which lets customer pour a cup of yogurt and add toppings and then pay by weight, entered the Lexington market in 2011, taking over three closed closed Graeter’s stores with the help of investors that at the time included University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari, who would often push the chain on his social media channels.
Partners Evan Morris, Bryce Anderson and Jeremiah Sizemore opened Orange Leaf locations on Romany Road, in Palomar Centre along Harrodsburg Road and at Brighton Place along Man o’War Boulevard.
They later opened a fifth store on Tiverton near Fayette Mall, as well as one in Townley Center off Leestown Road, and a store in Richmond, near the Eastern Kentucky University campus.
The Townley Center location closed in 2014 after Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen opened next door and expanded.
The Romany Road Orange Leaf closed in August 2017 after sales fell off despite tweets from Coach Cal and nearby schools; the Palomar location closed in August 2018.
With the closing of the Brighton location at 3090 Helmsdale Place, just off Man o’War near Hamburg, only the location at 152 West Tiverton Way remains open.
A decade ago, there were frozen yogurt shops across Lexington, including Fro-Jo’s at Lexington; Nati-Creme near the University of Kentucky campus; Menchie’s near Fayette Mall; and Yogurtland announced plans to come to CenterCourt on South Upper. Pinkberry was said to be shopping for a location and Red Mango eventually partnered with Tollhouse Cookies on a location on South Broadway.
But all are now gone.
