FROZEN ASSETS ICE CREAM RETAINS POPULARITY EVEN AS COMPETITION HEATS UP.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

For an industry that prides itself on staying frosty, the frozen treats business finds itself getting increasingly hot.

Americans spend $20 billion annually on ice cream, yogurt and the like, and industry research shows their appetites are growing more ravenous. Even out here in wheatgrass-juice-drinking, gym-tripping, I'll-have-that-salad-with-dressing-on-the-side Los Angeles, the sweet desserts have found a cool niche in diners' hearts and stomachs. With an imminent summer, when the industry makes upward of 60 percent of its revenues, local vendors and producers are expecting Angelenos to be craving chocolate and munching on marble fudge.

``Here, people are willing to fast and go to the gym, but after all the hard work, they like to give themselves a reward,'' said Andy Harris, producer of ``The Restaurant Show'' on KABC Radio (790 AM). ``An over- the-top dessert really satisfies that need. That's a genuine trend - Southern Californians have a sweet tooth that they like to take care of. No one has anything on us in terms of dessert.''

In his research, he's seen restaurants adding upscale root beer floats and rich, pricey sundaes enjoying a renaissance. Gone are the days where health conscious diners snacked on nonfat frozen yogurt, replaced not just by any run-of-the-mill treat. No, consumers want fat, and lots of it - the International Ice Cream Association reports butterfat-heavy premium superpremium combined for a 55 percent market share last year, dwarfing the 4 percent for reduced-, low- and nonfat ice creams. Frozen yogurt held a 4 percent share, with sherbet and sorbet combining for 5 percent.

This comes as no surprise to Don Whittemore, owner of Dandy Don's Homemade Ice Cream. He's watched his superpremium concoctions, sold in upscale markets and restaurants, boom in popularity. With business growing each year, the Van Nuys-based emperor of ice cream predicts an even bigger boom this year as diners' appetite for indulgence only continues to grow.

``You can blame it on comfort food - ice cream is the top of the heap,'' he said. ``People just want to enjoy their lives more. Watching your diet with nonfat desserts is dead.''

Fifteen years ago, this would have seemed like heresy, someone having the audacity to suggest that fat's a good thing. In those fat-hating times, frozen yogurt ruled the scene, available in nearly every imaginable venue. But, said John Carlson, director of marketing for Baskin-Robbins, their ubiquity proved to be their doom.

``The late `80s were all about frozen yogurt,'' Carlson said. ``You could get it on any corner, and you even started seeing it in gas stations. Lately, we've seen more of a trend toward the indulgent, richer products.''

Yogurt's not totally knocked out yet, but it's noticeably faded from its heyday. At the family-run Yogurt Cinema in Woodland Hills, proprietor Kari Ing said that sufficient customers remain to keep things busy, but they're mainly serious calorie watchers.

``There are enough people on a diet who want something sweet but not fattening,'' she said. ``When people cut out the fat, they come to us.''

For sweet-toothed snackers looking for the taste of superpremium without the calories, gelato provides an Italian option. Haagen-Dazs sells a line of the intensely flavored, densely compacted dessert, and experts see the treat with strong potential in coming years. In West Hills, a sign promises the impending opening of Gelato Caffe at the corner of Platt Avenue and Victory Boulevard, at the site of a defunct Frosty's Frozen Yogurt. Sherman Oaks' Aromi Cafe, praised as the San Fernando Valley's best gelateria, has watched its 30 flavors catch on quickly since its opening last year.

``It's low fat, and it's delicious, so you can have as much as you want without getting filled up,'' said Alfred Aghajanian, the cafe's owner. ``Not many people know about it yet, but in four or five years, eventually I think it will be as popular ice cream.''

While smoothies and black pearl tea vie for consumer attention along with ice cream, most diners opt for the old reliable.

``I'm not much of a smoothie person,'' said Michele Rothschild, a West Hills homemaker, enjoying a snack with her sons Andrew and Matthew at Baskin-Robbins. ``It's got to be a hot fudge sundae or nothing else. People jump on a fad for awhile, but they always go back to what they know and love. It's cool, refreshing and rich.''

Theories abound as to why the dessert's popularity endures, from childhood association to a bizarre economic need to show one's wealth through lush snacks. But leave that for the pistachio psychologists, the fact remains that ice cream's popularity won't melt anytime soon.

``People don't want any substitute - they want the real thing,'' Whittemore said. ``When we're doing catering, we used to see people order the yogurt because they felt guilty, even though they'd put some hot fudge on it. Now, they bypass the guilt and they want the ice cream.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Christina Tseng, left, and Andrea Lean enjoy ice cream sundaes at Baskin-Robbins in West Hills this past week.

(2) Don Whittemore of Dandy Don's Homemade Ice Cream has seen sales of his superpremium concoctions boom more and more each year.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

(3 -- color) no caption (ice cream cone with 5 scoops)

David Sprague/Staff Photographer