Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Quickly Froyo – Worth 59 cents?


Fro-yo girl here. I know this is old news but I’m still bothered by Quickly. On the one hand, they’re bringing fro-yo to many places that didn’t have fro-yo before. On the other hand, they come across as unprofessional, sloppy, and second-rate.

They need to have someone proofread their website which says: “a varietal selection of flavors and toppings dispensed daily for seriously health conscience customers” and “we believed customer are the foundation of the business, and while others focus on costs, margins, and profits, we focus on total satisfaction of every customer.”

First, I’m sure they’re profit driven as well though they are too cheap to hire a decent web designer. Second, the customer service I receive at Quickly is usually much worse than I receive at other fro-yo and tapioca shops. With over 126 reviews on Yelp, the Irving location averages 2 stars and many people complain about the service they received: http://www.yelp.com/biz/quickly-san-francisco-4

I first noticed the Quickly Fro-yo sign at their Irving Street location, which happens to be on the same block as Tuttimelon. Quickly’s tactics really bothered me – it’s fair to undercut Tuttimelon on price but they stood in front of Tuttimelon handing out their flyers.

At 59 cents for a small cup of original tart fro-yo is a price that’s difficult to resist – by far the cheapest around. Their frozen yogurt was developed in cooperation with Dreyer’s and is, according to promotional materials, not made out of a powder mix. It is milky, creamy and softer than usual. The flavor is okay, not great, not horrible.

Tuttimelon’s original tart (99 cents for a small) is much better tasting than Quickly’s and Tuttimelon also is more generous with both fro-yo and toppings. Quickly sometimes has stale toppings, like dried out mochi balls. Despite Quickly’s tactics, Tuttimelon is still more popular.

Some (perhaps all?) of the Quickly locations now require you to buy at least one topping in order to get the 59 cents promotional price. Sneaky. Is it worth 59 cents for a small fro-yo? Probably so if you’re desperate and there’s nothing else around. Would I pay over $2 for a small cup of their fro-yo? Definitely not.

You can find Quickly cafes that serve Quickly fro-yo by checking their website: http://www.quicklyfroyo.com/locations

They hope to open stand alone Quickly Fro-yo shops worldwide, including locations in SF and San Mateo. The stand alone stores will have more than one fro-yo flavor (right now I’ve only see the original flavor).

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

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