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9 Facts About Llao Llao’s Departure from S’pore You’re Dying to Know

2017-12-07 , 10:23 am

Spanish frozen yogurt chain llaollao, like Gong Cha, has been part and parcel of our lifestyles for many years now.

In fact, I can remember all those times I visited their store outlet after school with my friends, squeezing out some pocket change for a nice cup of frozen yogurt, and trying to make eye contact with that cute cashier.

Memories.

But it seems that good things are never meant to last.

For like Gong Cha, llaollao’ll also be departing from our sunny shores.

*sobs*

A brief history lesson

Llaollao arrived at our shores four years ago, and to say that it was a success is a major understatement.

It was a phenomenon.

Offering frozen yogurt with a large variety of toppings, the brand kicked off and never looked back, attracting insane queues outside its flagship store at Marina Square and other branches.

In fact, it was able to draw long queues four years on, and in case you’re unaware, that’s a pretty mean feat.

Closing date

You would normally expect such a popular franchise to at least give an extended period of notice, just so that hardcore fans can get their final cravings in.

Alas, llaollao doesn’t seem to believe in that piece of logic, as it has announced that it’ll be closing on 7 Dec.

That’s today, for your information.

Which also means…

Yes, today’s your last day to get your llaollao fixes.

No reason indicated

D+1 Holding, the company that’s the master franchisee of llaollao in Singapore, confirmed that “it will no longer be continuing the franchise.”

However, the reason wasn’t revealed.

“D+1 Holding has terminated the master franchise of Singapore with llaollao Spain and will cease the operations of llaollao in Singapore,” the company told Channel News Asia.

It’ll be replaced by another European brand

The company has since secured the rights to European frozen yogurt chain Yole (which is pronounced yo-lay).

Subsequently…

All outlets will be converted

All 29 llaollao outlets’ll be converted to Yole stores by 9 Dec.

Guess you won’t have to wait that long to try the new brand out, huh?

Its successor also offers soft-serve

Just a heads up, Yole will also be dishing out natural frozen yogurt, as well as coconut soft-serve ice-cream.

Apart from the already wide selection of toppings, fresh new yogurt flavours (created with ingredients sourced from Italy and Spain) will be pushed out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Well, that’s one way to draw the consumers in.

Prices

And we’ve come to the all-important question.

Is Yole gonna be a store that will suck your money out like an unleashed vacuum hose?

Well, the answer’s… not really.

Prices would apparently vary from S$2.50 to S$6.95 for tubs and smoothies.

That’s roughly the same fare you would pay for llaollao, so no cause for concern there.

Customer expectations

Yole will purportedly follow the market’s expectations when creating new flavours too.

“Over time, Yole will study the market and their customer expectations to develop future flavours and add even more toppings,” D+1 Holding said.

Gotta say; that’s another way to pull in the trendy and sophisticated consumers.

Yole’ll apparently be better

The company is also fairly confident that Yole will be more than capable of filling llaollao’s gaping big shoes.

“Objectively, we believe Yole is a better product and has a wider menu. We also firmly believe that Yole will suit the Singapore market with exciting flavour innovations and well-known toppings from Spain and Italy.”

Guess we’ll see about that, D+1 Holdings. After all, if there’s anything to be learnt from the entire GongCha-LiHo episode, it’ll be that the new, improved version might not necessarily triumph over the old one everyone loves.

But hey, that’s just one case example.

Maybe Yole will prove us wrong.

Nevertheless…

Goodbye llaollao; you’ll be missed.

And to the hardcore llaollao fans…

Get yours today, before it’s gone FOREVER.

Since you’re here, why not watch a video about an NTU student who went all out to impress his crush, only to end up in…tragedy? Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com