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Diana Lee is a self-proclaimed yogurt freak. The Atherton resident and Gunn High School alum is so passionate about the gut-friendly, high-protein snack that she quit her tech job to start her own yogurt company – and she’s documenting the entire journey on social media.
On Nov. 12, she posted a video to social media announcing that she was undergoing a significant career change, titled “Quitting 6-figure tech job to sell yogurt.” The post garnered nearly 200,000 views on TikTok and significant attention on Instagram. Since then, she’s been hosting Peninsula-based sampling events and pop-ups as she slowly builds her brand, Yogurt Freak, from scratch.
“I was just really sick of going to yogurt aisles and not seeing any flavors that I wanted,” Lee said.
Lee grew up in Korea eating traditional Korean food, most of which her grandma would make at home. For gut health, she often would eat kimchi, but at age 10, she and her family moved to Palo Alto, and yogurt was much more accessible as a gut-healthy snack.
The “aha moment” for starting her own yogurt brand came after spending a few months in Korea and frequenting cafes specializing in yogurt.
“I was like, ‘Why isn’t this here?’” Lee said. “And then I realized that I could put my own twist on it with flavors that I grew up eating.”
Inspired by Lee’s Korean heritage, she tops thick, triple-strained yogurt with marmalades featuring Korean fruits or syrups made from Korean teas and finishes them with a sprinkle of crunchy freeze-dried jujube chips (which taste like a date).
While flavors rotate regularly, she currently offers yogurt featuring yuzu-Hallabong (honey citron and sweet tangerine from the Korean island of Jeju); omija (traditional Korean tea that’s sweet, salty, bitter, spicy and sour all at once); and maesil (tart green Korean plums).
“I love the way that people’s faces light up when they try something new, like trying yuzu for the first time, or trying omija,” she said. “And it’s a great way to experience new cultures.”
The yogurt is strained for 16-24 hours to achieve a texture somewhere between Greek yogurt and cream cheese, with customers saying it’s slightly less tangy than traditional Greek yogurt. Because the yogurt is less sour, Lee said she can use less sugar and can modify how sweet a customer wants their yogurt by adding more or less marmalade or syrup to their cup.
Her dad, an acupuncturist, acts as Yogurt Freak’s “unofficial consultant,” Lee joked, explaining that his knowledge of traditional medicine helps inform her choice of ingredients. For example, omija is used in traditional Korean medicine to support liver and kidney function, enhance immunity and treat respiratory issues.
Flavor is still paramount, Lee said, but she also aims to make her products healthy. She finds that her prior work in UX content strategy at Shipt and as content and design lead at DoorDash is helping her develop her yogurt business.
“I’m taking a lot of lessons from being in tech, where you are very experimental with just getting feedback, and you are really, really, really focused on the customer,” Lee said.
One way she’s been getting feedback is through free sampling events. Her first ones were in early December in Atherton, Sunnyvale and San Mateo. Using social media to spread the word, about 700 people RSVPed, and nearly 300 showed up. The free samples spread the word about her product and gave Lee insights into how customers responded to various flavors and textures.
On Jan. 31, Yogurt Freak held its first pop-up, selling 4-ounce jars for $7 and 6-ounce jars for $9 at Boba Pup in Santa Clara. Lee sold 200 jars, with walk-ins selling out in 15 minutes. It was Lee’s first time collaborating with another brand, as Boba Pup and Yogurt Freak created a yuzu-Hallabong jasmine matcha latte inspired by Yogurt Freak’s yuzu-Hallabong yogurt.
Lee hopes to continue having pop-ups once or twice on weekends and less frequent weekday pop-ups. As she develops new flavors, she also plans to hold free sampling events. All pop-ups and sampling events will be announced on her Instagram and TikTok. Yogurt Freak’s next pop-up will be at Mr. Sun Tea in Mountain View on March 1 from 2-4 p.m.
Lee’s long-term goals are to get the permitting and facilities to make her own yogurt from scratch, scale her operations and eventually stock Yogurt Freak at grocery stores.
She’s currently working on an upcoming collaboration with Snowtime in Campbell, a Korean dessert shop specializing in bingsu, a Korean shaved ice dessert. While the flavors have not yet been announced, expect yogurt bingsu to pop up at Snowtime in the near future and potentially get added to the menu based on customer response.
“I want to expose people to new flavors,” Lee said. “I want them to be able to connect through food.”
Yogurt Freak, Instagram: @yogurt.freak.
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