The Decline of Qoola Frozen Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. It’s painful to document a froyo chain’s demise but I need to document good and bad news. It seemed like a few years ago, Qoola was growing quite a bit and becoming Western Canada’s self-serve frozen yogurt chain. They added a froyo truck, introduced new products, switched to organic Canadian froyo, and introduced new store concepts like Qoola Fresh which included healthy entrées, desserts, and sandwiches.

Qoola started with one store in Vancouver, BC in 2008. While it didn’t initially serve Canadian yogurt, it later made the switch to organic frozen yogurt from Ontario’s Mapleton’s Organic Dairy Farm. I visited the original location in Vancouver while it was still serving American froyo and wasn’t self-serve.

Now every time I try to visit their website, I get a message about a mass injection attack. This has been going on for months, so I am assuming that they aren’t paying attention to their website. I’m not able to visit the website to see their list of locations. Most of them were in British Columbia.

There are still occasional tweets, FB posts, and Instagram posts from @qoola, but these are few and far between. Their current LinkedIn profile says that they have 18 locations. I have a feeling that number hasn’t been updated in quite some time. What’s particularly alarming is how several shops didn’t even last a year.


OPEN

1. Richmond, Aberdeen Centre 
2. York Lanes, York University 
3. Garden City 
4. Guildford 
5. Robson, Vancouver 
6. Hillside Mall, Victoria 
7. Uptown, Victoria 

CLOSED

1. Cook St. Village Victoria 
2. Coquitlam Centre (grand opening in 2017, already closed) 
3. Metrotown, 2250 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4N2 
4. 2945 Jacklin Rd, Langford, BC, V9B4V5 
5. Park Royal, West Vancouver 
6. UBC 
7. North Vancouver 
8. Westshore Town Centre, Victoria 
9. Square One, Mississauga 
10. Pacific Center, Vancouver 
11. Oakridge, Vancouver 
12. Yates, Victoria 
13. Orchard Park, Kelowna 
14. Market Mall, Calgary 
15. Woodgrove, Nanaimo 
16. Greenbelt, Makati, The Philippines 

There were 4 locations in late 2011, 16 locations in December 2014 and 21 locations in 2016. They acquired two Yeti Yogurt locations in 2016 and both of those closed quickly. Twenty one might have been the peak number. Things are looking grim for froyo in the Pacific Northwest area.

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

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.