Like all good trends, everything comes back in style. With a twist. I remember in the 80's, frozen yogurt became the thing to get and TCBY's, Columbo's and Everything Yogurt were everywhere you turned. Then, one by one, they all seemed to go out of business. I don't know if it was the diet crazes or what, but yogurt wasn't cool anymore.
Now, it's like Super Fro-Yo's are popping up everywhere. Red Mango, 16 Handles, TCBY is BACK but supersized with crazy toppings. They're cooler, hipper, self-serve, and you now pay by the weight. So, basically, you go to get a "cup" of yogurt, and come out like $10 lighter in your wallet.
I've never been to Red Mango. But, I have been to the 16 Handles in Garden State Plaza and the new TCBY by the restrooms on the first floor of Paramus Park. I'm sure there are more, but I'm not driving around Bergen looking for frozen yogurt- I just happen to be in the mall approximately 4-5x a week and there they are.
16 Handles, GSP: They're more of a kiosk in the center. They're not in the food court or sit-in kind of place. They do have some small tables behind it, but I don't know if people notice you can sit there. Or the people sitting there are probably mostly California Pizza Kitchen people waiting to get in there.
When they first opened, they were NEVER opened on time. They didn't even open at 10a when the mall opened, they opened at 11a, but never actually AT 11a. And if they were open sometime NEAR 11a, they were missing at least 2 flavors. I wrote a letter to corporate, they apologized, gave me a $10 gift card, and promised to open on time. They started opening at 10a, having all flavors going by 10:30. They've been more punctual as of late.
But, then I had a RIDICULOUS experience there on Saturday. They had a Groupon for $16 worth of yogurt for $8. I bought it. I should have read the fine print, my own fault, but you had to use all $16 at once. Well, who the hell is buying $16 of yogurt at one time??? I guess if you had a family of 4 or something and you ate a large size, you'd have no problem, but my average serving costs about $3.
My Groupon was about to expire so I brought a "Pack-It" cooler bag to the mall and starting filling cups. I filled one with a flavor I knew and handed it to the kid behind the counter so he could put it in a bag. I wanted to try "Euro Tart" before getting a whole cup of it. I asked if I could taste it. He said, put some on the rim of a cup and if you don't like it, throw the cup out. I found this odd, being that most places like that have those little white tasting cups, but whatever. I couldn't maneuver the yogurt on to the rim so it got IN the cup. I asked for a spoon. With a straight face, the kid told me, "It's our policy not to give out spoons". Of course I was like, "huh"? He said it again. I said, BUT I'M ALREADY PURCHASING THE ONE IN YOUR HAND. So, could I possibly get a spoon for that one. "No.". But, not just "No", but "No....:::attitude:::, It tastes like greek yogurt.". Um, ok. Thanks for being a taste describer, but there are many kinds of Greek yogurt, and I'd like to try it out. I had to just stick my finger in it. (oh yum.) It was fine enough- I had to get out of there. So I got it.
I will say, the last one I got was Pina Colada "Tart" and it was good. I ate it on the way home because it wouldn't fit in my cooler bag.
They have a decent amount of toppings. Mostly fruit, but some other sweet stuff, and the Blackberry was really good. I also really like the Birthday Cake and Red Velvet Cake. My standby is just the regular vanilla blueberries and strawberries. I get the small cup and it costs between $2.50-$3.50. I'd say it's kind of on the pricey side because I really don't get that much. A few swirls. It's always kind of a shock when you pay by weight because you just have to eyeball it and hope for the best.
http://16handles.com/about.php
TCBY, Paramus Park: Now THIS is a self-serve that dreams are made of. Not mine because I can give or take ice-cream and/or fro-yo for the most part. It's one of those things that I don't think about but then once I'm eating, I'm like, hey, I should eat this more. Anyway- we went there with friends two weekends in a row and B (husband) had it and so did all of them. They had so many toppings, many candy-type things, brownies, chocolate things, nuts, gummies, cookies, etc.
They have a few little table but it's also more of a grab and go type of place. It's also right by the door, so I guess you could do your shopping, grab some TCBY and walk out. It's big, it's bright, there are usually tons of tweens & teens hanging around.
My friend Nicole said she could start coming there all the time. Suffice to say she liked it.
http://tcby.com/menu-nutrition/soft-serve/
Red Mango: http://www.redmangousa.com/default.html
***Sept 14, 2011*** Just saw that Frozen Peaks is opening sometime before the end of the year in Bergen Town Center. I don't think it's a chain because it has no website yet- it just says "coming soon", but here's the link and watch for it! http://www.frozenpeaks.com/
Tara...I was at 16 Handles last week and another woman had the same GROUPON PROBLEM! They told her as she was trying to pay for the cup of yogurt she had adorned, so she turned to my mom and and I and asked to pay for our yogurt, and we'd give her the cash. Which was fine with us, since they are cash only anyway. I do think the fine print on those Groupons can be tricky! Oh, and my fave flavor there is Cheescake, which I cover in blueberries and strawberries!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame Groupon. I own a business and we've done a Groupon-like site locally. You decide what you want to do for your company's "deal". I don't know if there is a minimum sale price. That groupon was $8. I don't know if they could've offered a $5 one for $10 worth of yogurt instead. May not have been worth it to Groupon with credit cards and such. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI just think 16 Handles is a poorly run company. Or if it's a franchise thing, then it's this particular franchise that runs theirs poorly. The people who were working when I first complained to them all had attitudes, were slow and slovenly, late, etc. This time, with the spoon issue, that wasn't because of the Groupon- it was a "16 Handles policy". It doesn't make sense to have a place like that & not have small cups or spoons to taste with. They'd rather waste a whole giant cup? Even in places they give free soda refills you have to save your cup because those logo cups cost money. It's baffling. But to add insult to injury was the kid trying to tell me what the flavor tastes like. Because it matters what his opinion of what it tastes like when I have to eat it.
I was going to write them again because I was fired up that day but I never got to it. And they just don't seem to care what's going on over there.