Taste of Tribeca is an annual food fest spotlighting the restaurants of Tribeca. Over 50 eateries participate in the 1-day festival, which raises funds for arts programs at local public elementary schools. This year, Downtown Yogurt Tribeca will participate in its first Taste of Tribeca.
We caught up with owner Mark Kahn, who in March expanded his Jersey City yogurt shop to 303 Greenwich Street in downtown New York.
What brought you to Tribeca versus opening a second shop in Jersey City?
MK: When we opened Downtown Yogurt in Jersey City in January of 2014, Jersey City had not yet had a frozen yogurt shop to call its own. At the time, there were already four shops in Hoboken, including a Red Mango and 16 Handles.
Downtown Yogurt was not a chain or franchise, but an independent concept, and we love Jersey City. It just made sense to open up store number one here on the corner of Newark Avenue and Grove. We looked to potentially grow in other New Jersey locations, but then began to visualize the benefit of being on the other end of the PATH line.
I walked by a beautiful potential location in Tribeca and researched the area. Like Jersey City in 2014, there was no frozen yogurt shop in the neighborhood, so we decided to take the brand to New York City. The Tribeca area has been extremely welcoming to us, much like Jersey City was in 2014.
What are the most popular flavors at Downtown Yogurt Tribeca vs. the most popular in JC?
MK: Vanilla and Chocolate are number one and two in both locations. The Pineapple Dole Whip has a cult following in both Jersey City and Tribeca. It’s actually very hard to find outside of Disney resorts, where it’s featured.
Our Vegan Almond Milk is killing it in Tribeca, so we are considering bringing that over to Jersey City. We mostly feature Frogurt based products in New York, which is the frozen yogurt served in Bloomingdale’s Forty Carrots Cafes. But we’ve made some exceptions.
Like Jersey City in 2014, there was no frozen yogurt shop in the neighborhood, so we decided to take the brand to New York City.
For example, the Cookies and Cream flavor in Jersey City just tasted better to most customers, and we converted our New York machines to accommodate that flavor. The Toppings Bar, which features items such as homemade “Nutella Crunch,” remains a key feature in both sites. One interesting thing about Tribeca is that we continually run low on Gummy Bears. This is puzzling, as Gummy Bears are not as popular in Jersey City. We’re trying to figure that one out!
You’ve done a lot of collaborations at the JC shop. Any collabs planned for Tribeca?
MK: We love working with Hoboken’s Açai Ya Later team and the Blue Mountain Tea team in our little pop-up corner in Jersey City. We’ve also collaborated locally with Cocoa Bakery, offering their granola as a topping, and with locally sourced suppliers for our fruits and specialized toppings. It’s fun to work with other teams and grow together with complementary products.
In our New York location, there are plans to collaborate with a SoHo-based artist and designer on a Downtown Yogurt “merch” line. This will take the form of painted tees, jackets, and maybe eventually sneakers.
Downtown Yogurt Tribeca offers Bassett’s ice cream. Any chance that’ll come to JC?
MK: Some customers do love ice cream instead of frozen yogurt. In Jersey City, we offer an old fashioned Jersey Shore-style soft serve Vanilla Custard Ice Cream. In Tribeca, we are stepping it up by partnering with the Bassett’s family of Philadelphia, the sixth generation owners of America’s oldest ice cream company. Bassett’s can be hard to find in New York, but it’s one of the best ice creams we’ve ever tasted.
As far as Jersey City goes, the entire Downtown Yogurt team lives right here in town, so we’re already big fans of Torico’s, Milk Sugar Love, and Bucket & Bay. Given these great, homemade ice cream options, we see no reason to add Bassett’s to the Jersey City lineup at this point.
This will be Downtown Yogurt’s first Taste of Tribeca. What’re you looking forward to the most and what dishes will you try?
MK: We’re pretty excited to be a part of Taste of Tribeca, where we’ll be featuring our Dole Whip Floats! The event benefits arts and enrichment programs at PS 150 and PS 234, two Tribeca elementary schools. Participating in Taste is an honor for Downtown Yogurt. It puts us in the company of some of New York City’s top restaurant names. Just from being in the neighborhood, we are already big fans of Dirty Bird for chicken and Poke Green for bowls. [Both will be at Taste of Tribeca].
I’m personally looking forward to trying out the items from some restaurants I haven’t yet been to, such as Scalini Fedeli, Locanda Verde, Tribeca Grill, and Wolfgang Puck’s Cut.
What To Know: Taste of Tribeca runs from 11:30am to 3pm. Tickets start at $45/pp and include 6 “tastes” of any dish/restaurant at the festival. Funds generated from ticket sales benefit public schools in Tribeca.
