Frozen Yogurt shops were one of the most popular places to be in the early 2010’s, but since then, almost all of them have shut down except for two: Orange Leaf and Red Mango. By frozen yogurt, I am referring to the ‘serve yourself’ shops where there is a wide array of flavors to choose from and toppings to apply yourself (which is why TCBY is not included). Since these are the only two self-serve fro–yo places in Omaha, it was decided that they would be compared and scored. To do so, I went to both locations and attempted to get roughly the same creations with what was available. I scored both places on three factors: store aesthetic, flavor variety and the bang for your buck.  

The journey started at Red Mango. The last location standing of Red Mango is at One Pacific Place. The store itself was what one would expect from a classic frozen yogurt bar: popping colors, funky furniture and bright lighting. The neon green walls gave one a nostalgic feeling of a post–YMCA volleyball game in 2013. Although the overall design was outdated, it was clean and consistent throughout the vicinity which is why it got the score of 7/10. The frozen yogurt itself was also not too bad. Although red mango is notoriously tart in flavor, there were many options to choose from, ranging from taro to Nutella flavors. I went with cookie butter and chocolate which is a pretty basic choice. For toppings, I had brownie bites and cookie dough, once again very simple. Since there were so many choices in yogurt flavors and toppings, I gave them a 9/10 for variety. Since I would be also trying Orange Leaf that night, I only filled it up 1/3 of the way. Once it was time to pay and the yogurt went on the scale, the total price came to about $4 for 4.5 ounces of yogurt. I would say Red Mango is quite tasty, but their prices can be a little high, especially the entire cup were filled. Therefore, I gave them a 4/10 for the pricing score. Red Mango’s overall score is 6.5/10 considering all factors.  

At Orange Leaf, there was a similar look going on with the geometric shapes and bright color scheme. The only difference was more orange coloring and their trademark curvy chairs. Because of the standout furniture and general cleanliness at orange leaf, they got a score of 8/10 for store aesthetic. Once getting the actual frozen yogurt, it became more apparent that the frozen yogurt shop model is consistent through franchises, meaning that they have the same layout and flavor options. The Orange Leaf fro–yo was a little sweeter, but the toppings (brownie bites and cookie dough) were very similar. Although they had the same amount of options, the flavors were not as distinct as red mango, and more basic, which is why I scored them at 6/10 for variety.  I got about 4.5 ounces of fro–yo at Orange Leaf and it costed around $3, which is considerably cheaper than Red Mango. The value at Orange Leaf was respectable, so I scored them at 9/10 for value. That makes the overall score of Orange Leaf to be 7.6/10.  

Orange Leaf and Red Mango hardly vary, but Orange Leaf seems to have beat Red Mango based on minuscule differences.