Pinkberry vs Qoola
Ever since Pinkberry arrived in Vancouver, I’ve been pretty loyal to them when it comes to frozen yogurts. I may cheat a little here and there with the likes of Yogen Fruz to get their blended yogurts, but in the spirit of comparing yogurt with “toppings”, let’s forget about the fact that I cheat because I cheated with someone else 🙂
You see, around the same time Pinkberry started popping up all over Vancouver, another chain also came into the scene…
Qoola, a Canadian company, born in Vancouver for that matter, came onto the scene to give Pinkberry a run for their money. Now it took me a few years, but I’ve finally, for the first time last week, tried Qoola out.
Now here’s the difference between Pinkberry and Qoola.
Sizes & Pricing
Pinkberry – Mini, Small, Medium, Large, Take Home
Qoola – charge by weight (measured in grams)
Frozen Yogurt Flavor
Pinkberry – Usually carrying 4-5 flavor at each location with “original” always available.
Qoola – about 5-6 flavour at each location, anything from fruit, sorbet, tart, and mixed fruit flavors.
Topppings
Pinkberry – Depending on the size, you’re given 3-4 toppings (a few spoonful each) per order. They do have some premium toppings for an extra charge.
Qoola – Though no “premium topping” charges, again the whole bowl’s charged by weight.
Variety wise, they are about the same.
Extras
Pinkberry – Parfaits, Blended shakes, Waffle Cones, Take Home Tub.
Qoola – Smoothies, Waffle Bowls, Belgian Waffles, Take Home Tub.
Now since I’ve only visited Qoola once ever, I can’t say this is a fair comparison, but first impressions are VERY important in ANY aspect of a business, or well, life in general. Amidst a shopping trip at the mall with my brother, we both had a “sweet” craving. He wanted to go for a McFlurry at McDonalds, and I was looking for a bubble tea. Somewhere along the way, we came across Qoola, and I thought hey why not?
Grabbed a plastic (reusable) bowl, looked at their yogurt choices (the only one that spoke to me was raspberry pomegranate) and put maybe… 2-3 inches worth in the bowl, went over to the toppings choices and filled it with 3-4 spoonful of mochi, 3-4 spoonful of these popping pearls, and a hint of raspberry sauce on top.
Now if I were to compare this to a Pinkberry size, It’d be the equivalent of their small. My bowl at Qoola weight in at around 200g? maybe 3? and my total cost came just under $6 CDN.
Now my brother got sucked into their marketing and ordered their new Belgian Waffles (about $3 CDN for 1 waffle about the size of my hand) added even less frozen yogurt than myself, and 2 toppings… his weight (oh and on top of the $3 you paid for the waffle, it’s included in the weighing) came to just under $9.
The “frozen” yogurt weren’t really “frozen” either. I had to eat mind super fast (and we were in an air conditioned mall food court) because it started melting as soon as I put it in the bowl. I get that it’s “soft serve” but it’s still suppose to be a “frozen” yogurt.
Quality vs Quantity vs Price = happy customer? Well we weren’t impressed. After seeing our receipt, though he enjoyed the waffle, my brother and I both regret choosing Qoola over McDonalds and definitely preferred Pinkberry over Qoola.
I’m all about supporting local businesses, but when it comes to food….. I look at Quality, Quantity, and Price.
Next time I cheat on Pinkberry, I’ll stick with Yogun Fruz.
ps. I baked macrons last weekend too….I just have to upload my pictures to the computer. Post coming soon!