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2011-08-20
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Yoppi seems to be trying to play catch up with Tuttimelon, which is also a self-serve froyo from California. Tuttimelon, I actually went to in California before it opened in Hong Kong, and the chain in HK is not bad. Yoppi, never seen nor heard of it in California. It's not big in California, compared to Red Mango, Pinkberry or Yogurtland, which is probably why Yoppi is trying to make it big in HK. I looked up their branches on OpenRice and it seems that they already have more shops open n
First of all, my yogurt was tasteless. I tried the signature tart, peach, and a third one (possibly lychee or passionfruit, but forgot already). The two flavored yogurts actually tasted bland and similar so I don't even remember what the flavor was. The signature tart was not bad, but Yomama and Berrygood original tart flavor (which are also located in Central, Berrygood just a couple blocks by) are much better. Yoppi's yogurt does not balance the taste and tart as well as others. It was tart, but somehow didn't taste like real yogurt and at least one of my flavors was runny... watery. For the most part, the other two flavors were cold enough (firm). this taste issue seems to be a case of poor water/milk mix recipe? I questioned whether this was actually genuine yogurt. Perhaps my particular yogurt was mixed wrong? Hard to know, might visit a different branch to compare. I believe the yogurt is lower quality when compared with others.
Second, the toppings area was dirty and messy and staff were nonexistent. I liked the special containers that you turn the knob in order to get the toppings out, but the tradeoff in mess is not good. There were cookie crumbs and and other candy spilled all over the counter. I looked around to see if someone was working there and there was not even anyone at the cash register! I waited and waited and WAITED... almost 2 minutes before someone from the backroom finally came to the cashier. That's very annoying with a frozen product that is melting. My yogurt melted a little during my waiting and that's probably why one of my yogurts became runny and so service affected product on this trip. Why was there only one staff there? I noticed the other staff came back about 5 minutes after I sat down so I guess she took a break. Bad service and bad training, if any. And I'm sure most of my regular readers know that poor service basically results in my low, low rating.
Third, the pricing was confusing and annoying. We are in Hong Kong which uses the metric system. Yogo, Tuttimelon, etc, they all use metric per 100 grams for pay by weight yogurt. Why does this shop think they can confuse us with paying by ounce (oz)? So they can charge us more? Ding! Exactly! I wonder: am I the only one who has calculated it? The result: this shop charges more than the other shops, when you do the math! I get very upset when shops deceive customers with things like weight and now it's so obvious with ounces. So they are not only trying to save money by being understaffed, they are also trying to make more money by overcharging while hiding it. I paid over $30, I think it was $34 and I didn't expect to pay over $25 (there was hardly anything in my cup!)
I'm not all negative though. I will say that this shop had quite a nice decor. The colors and lighting is quite bright and comfortable and I kind of like the shop atmosphere. The location in Central is definitely more convenient than almost all others in this district, but when another self-serve shop opens here after my below-average experience here, I am just waiting so that I can move on to something better.
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