Update: Feb 15, 2014: This restaurant has since shut down.
Qoola has already been reviewed by a lot of other blogs with great reviews. I’ve been here once and this would be my second time. What keeps me coming back is the Mochi topping they offer. As I’ve stated before, I ♥ anything chewy!!
The interior is really clean and fresh. It was brightly lit and overall gives a really good ambiance. The two times I’ve been here has been a weeknight and it was pretty quiet. They were pretty chilly nights too so that could explain that too.
This picture was taken from the first time I was here. Clockwise from top left is Green Tea yogurt with mixed flavored Mochi, original yogurt with raspberry, and Pomberry yogurt with mixed flavored Mochi.
I thought the fruit topping was kind of stingy. After all, you only get 5 measly raspberries for (I believe to be) $0.89. I would not have been happy with that. Mochi topping was the same price.
The price for a small yogurt is $3.95.
This was from my second visit. The top one is the “cleverly” named Qool-bama, after you-know-who, consisting of original yogurt, blueberries and raspberries. That was a whopping $5.73. As Boyfriend said, they made %1000 profit on that one. Again there were the 5 measly raspberries.
Bottom is Strawberry yogurt with original Mochi. They no longer have Pomberry and Strawberry is their new flavor of the month.
This time, as we were taking pictures of the products, the staff told us that the store policy is that we can only take pictures if we were in them. I had a moment of “Wtf?!” in my mind. I wondered if I told them that I was a blogger it would’ve made a difference. But then there are so many amateur bloggers like me out there I doubt they would give a sh*t.
So we didn’t give a sh*t either and continued taking pictures. Outside though =P
Overall things were ok. I was a bit peeved at the comment though. I also found that their yogurt is a bit soft. It doesn’t look nice. Prices are also not too friendly (*ahem*5 raspberries *ahem*).
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Enjoyed reading about your visits to Qoola. I agree with you about the raspberries. 5 raspberries look lonely on the yogurt; imagine the same amount on a waffle with more than 3 times the surface area.
Have you tried the other frozen yogurt places yet? Froyo Swirl, Blueberry World (I think that’s the name…the one on Broadway)?
Dear Wendy (& Boyfriend) of Eat N About,
Thanks for taking the time to come in, try our food and write about it. I’d like to address a few of the concerns that you brought up.
1. Fresh raspberries are one of our high cost items (for us to purchase) and there isn’t much margin even at the 5 raspberry portion. We don’t serve frozen fruit, which is much cheaper, so to be able to serve fresh, we determined that 5 was the magic number.
2. Store picture policy. Bottom line – everyone is welcome to take photos in the store as long as it’s not photos of our super secret ninja training manuals. Our staff have been given notice of this policy. I am sorry that you were told otherwise.
3. Soft yogurt – We have been playing around with ways to “firm” up the consistency as sometimes it can be softer than usual. We attributed this to the fact that our yogurt uses a fresh liquid base, rather than powder, which holds the firmness better because of it’s granular base. After reading your post, we went to the shop even earlier this morning determined to get to the bottom of it once and for all.
We basically took the serviceable elements of our machines apart, cleaned them one by one, replaced any parts that had any hint of wear and optimized all aspects that could be optimized. We then tested it and it seems like those tweaks did work.
Since we are the only provider of fresh frozen yogurt in Vancouver, if there is an issue, we will need to work with the technicians to see what we can do to create the optimal product for our customers. This is new for the service techs also so your feedback is much appreciated.
We will continually strive for even better quality so if you do come back down for the chewy toppings, please let us know how we’re doing.
Thanks for keeping us on our toes and know that we’re listening to our customers, reading your posts and doing what we can so that we can provide you all with a pleasant experience when you visit our store.
Please do not ever hesitate to contact us if you have comments or suggestions. We are here to serve you.
Warm regards,
Jess @ Qoola
I see your point with the soft yogurt. It would be great if somehow it could be made firmer because it melted pretty quickly!!
I’m not 100% sure if frozen yogurt will stay as firm as long as ice cream, frozen custard or gelato but we’ll do our best to accommodate this request. Thanks!
It really has started to bother me that Qoola keeps claiming to be “the only provider of fresh frozen yogurt in Vancouver” when Froyo Swirl also serves fresh frozen yogurt and was the first to do it. It seems to me that, if I were starting a business, the first step would be to research what similar businesses there are in the area, so I doubt that they don’t know about Froyo Swirl.
Wow is that true? That is pretty disturbing. Hopefully the Qoola people sees this and can address that.
Hi Wendy,
Our response to poster “Melissa” is as follows:
We pride ourselves in offering a fresh frozen yogurt which is made from fresh liquid yogurt. There are predominantly two ways of producing frozen yogurt: one made from a powdered base; and one made from liquid yogurt. Powdered yogurt is heat treated and therefore the majority of the probiotic cultures and nutritional value are reduced. Comparatively, our liquid yogurt does not go through the same heat treatment process nor is our yogurt made from mixing powered yogurt onsite. That being said, by using liquid yogurt we have a finite shelf life, whereas if one were to use powered yogurt, the storage of the yogurt is much longer since one can just mix the powered yogurt with water/limejuice/milk (or any type of “mix” to make the yogurt) at their convenience.
If you were to compare and decide which process (powdered versus liquid) is considered fresh yogurt, I believe the majority would go with the latter.
We of course perform extensive due diligence and are aware of other yogurt shops out there. There appears to be a confusion over fresh versus natural yogurt. If anyone wants to know the difference I would be more than glad to provide information on this topic. There are a few very established yogurt stores that have been in the city for many years and there are some great yogurt shops that have opened within the past year. Bottom line to people who want to know for sure – just ask your favorite establishment what they serve.
We are excited and committed to provide the best products and service to our customers and enjoy that other yogurt stores are doing the same.
With our motto of Pure Heart + Pure body, are intent is to provide transparency, education, and a quality product to our customers.
Sincerely,
Aaron
Aaron,
I’m a little confused as to why you chose to write about the differences between powdered and liquid yogurt when Froyo Swirl uses and has always been using fresh liquid yogurt. All of the information you presented is actually quite interesting but it doesn’t really pertain to the matter at hand.
Melissa,
At the time of my post, I actually called FS to confirm, once and for all, the facts. The lady that answered the phone would not give me a straight answer as to if it was powder or fresh, stating that “the owner mixes it”. Why they wouldn’t confirm one way or another is confusing.
I’m not quite sure where you are getting your information unless you are 1.) the owner or 2.) someone that works for FS or is friends with them because there is not one instance where they have stated or advertised that they carry fresh frozen yogurt – on their site, in their collateral or otherwise. You would think that it would have been one of the most prominent selling points as it’s one of the most valued aspects of this product.
It’s laudable that you would want to get the facts straight for a brand that you love or have a vested stake in. However, we’ve never specifically targeted any of our esteemed competitors by name, only touted what we know to be true here at Qoola. We have our LAC seal, we have our documentation and we would never, ever try to mix a food product such as this on our own. We have a dairy that does this for us so that what we offer is absolutely the best quality.
Rather than spending time trying to tear down what we are trying to sincerely accomplish with our business, it might be more prudent to spend that time building up your own.
Aaron
Aaron,
I genuinely apologize if you thought I was trying to tear down your business in any way. I am simply a loyal customer of Froyo Swirl and was trying to correct your claims of being the only frozen yogurt shop in Vancouver using fresh liquid yogurt. I do not work there and am not friends with anyone who does, as you suggested.
The reason I know they use fresh liquid yogurt is simply because I go there often and they have explained to me how they make their yogurt. I don’t know why the girl you spoke to did not share this information with you, as they eagerly volunteered it to me when I came in for the first time. It also is not specified on their website that they use liquid yogurt, but it does say that they use “real probiotic yogurt.” Perhaps they need to make it clearer that the yogurt is liquid on the website, but they do make it clear in-store.
Again, I am in no way trying to tear you or your business down; I am simply trying to help other consumers like me make their own decisions based on the facts, rather than on marketing claims. I believe Qoola should stop claiming to be the only ones who use fresh liquid yogurt, since this is not the case.
Melissa
I liked Qoola, their frozen yogurt does taste fresher than most other frozen yogurt places I’ve tried before. But you gotta admit the place is a bit pricy for what you get. *hint hint the 5 rasberry lol
Besides, if I am really looking for all that “probiotic culture” stuff, I would just go buy myself a tub of real yogurt… for $5.75 you can get a really big tub btw.
Aaron, you gotta be kidding me on this. You’re ripping into someone who’s a fan of frozen yogurt but just happens to like one or your competitors more than your own place? That’s like some guy who asks a pretty girl out for a date, gets turned down, and then tells his friends she was unattractive anyway.
Great site this eatnabout.wordpress.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor 🙂
Aaron, is that a new way of promoting business? not listening to customer comments?
we customers have rights to like other shops… we dun need to be competitor owners to speak our thoughts!
u didn’t have any evidence saying other yogurt stores used powder~ that’s only ur assumption! plz dun assume other shops use powder only because their yogurt doesn’t melt as quickly as yours do! maybe there’s something u should learn from other shops…
one more question, are raspberries really that costly… that u are charing 89 cents for 5?! get real~
qoola’s yogurt is too heavy and creamy than other frozen yogurt places, altho they claim they use real yogurt, does that mean they dun use “real” yogurt at other fro yo places? every frozen yogurt place like blueberry, scoop, and froyo swirl offer yogurt with probiotic too…
personally , i think this place is just way too expensive, i know it looks clean and all….but first time i went and asked for a sample, the girl who works there was full of attitude
in the end i did bought a green tea yogurt with mochi,
i have to say the mochi tasted lke….candies….i would recommend mochi at Scoop…
and i wish they have bubbles at Qoola…
I agree that the workers at the Denman location do have an attitude problem. I’ve been there multiple times and all times either I or some other customer has been subject to their attitude. Once, I went with a friend and when I asked for a sample, I took 2 spoons so that my friend could have a taste too. Now as you know, they serve the samples in the sample paper cup things. I wasn’t going to lick/suck from the cup then pass it to my friend. When I took the spoons, the girl at the counter told me “You know, we ask that you only take spoons if you’re going to order something”. I couldn’t believe it. To make things worse, after I did order something, she gave me another spoon!!!! What was the point of the comment if they’re not diligent enough to enforce it themselves?
On the same occasion, after I’ve been informed about the picture policy (see comment #3), in that they welcome picture taking, I saw a customer taking pictures of the store. The same girl proceeds to ask him “May I ask what the purpose of your pictures are for?”. That girl really needs a talking to.
wow,
Lots of discussion about Qoola. Frankly, I’ve tried it and I’m not impressed.
Their product is overpriced for what you get and their mochi is like candy, not a texture you expect of rice balls. Either get it right or don’t offer it as many customers know what mochi should taste like.
I think there are too many good options around to waste energy debating the merits of this place.
Qoola is way overpriced for what it is and they are VERY stingy with the toppings compared to Tuttimelon. Staff are not very friendly and when it gets busy, the place is a pig sty!
I completely agree with Wendy, Melissa and Cindy from the posts above. Qoola is outrageously overpriced and their yogurt isn’t even that good! They say they care about good customer service but never have I seen it in action! I always get horrible service (no smiles whatsoever), they are slow and incompetent! They move around slowly even if there is a huge line and they just throw the yogurt on the counter when they are finished making it. Plus my yogurt is way too soft, my strawberries were mushy and the chocolate were melted! This is a ridiculous yogurt store, I don’t see how they can attract any customers at all. I would never go there again in my life even if the yogurt was free!