Showing posts with label recommendations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recommendations. Show all posts
Sunday, January 20, 2013
When I saw that J. Cuppacakes had opened a branch in Eastwood, I decided to give this cupcake another go. I know that my previous review was not that favorable but I was hoping that there had been some improvements since then.
J. Cuppacakes in Eastwood is located beside the Citywalk Mall entrance, right across Bigoli. The shop was as charming and as quaint as ever, with white wooden cabinets and shelves, floral accents, and pink decors all around. Very very pretty indeed.
As for the cupcakes, I bought 2 cuppies: red velvet (60php) and dulce de leche (45php). I am very disappointed to say that there has been no improvement at all on the red velvet. Read on to the photo captions to see what I thought of the cuppies, this time around:
No change on the packaging, still pretty.
Reminds me of Chinese food take out boxes, only a lot prettier.
Abundance of frosting but darn, this cupcake is SMALL.
It could pass for a kinda large mini cupcake, if my memory serves me right.
In all fairness, this cupcake tastes good. I loved the light frosting and the cream filling.
And would you believe that it was gone after 3 bites? That's 15php for one bite! This cupcake would have been worth it had it been bigger.
Looks nice but looks can be deceiving.
I can't believe that after the 5php price increase that the cupcake became even smaller!
Taste-wise, it was very so-so. Nothing memorable about both the cake and frosting. The frosting looks creamcheesy but it's not when you taste it. And I still got the impression that the cupcake itself tastes like spongy bibingka.
My final verdict is that for the taste and size, the cupcakes are so not worth it. There are so many more that can give you more bang for your buck like Sophie's Mom or Gigi's. Would be great for presents because of the packaging but if you're after the taste like I am, you may want to pass.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
When I saw that J.CO donuts was under construction near our office building in Eastwood City late last year, I felt happy. I have been hearing rave reviews about these donuts and I wanted the chance to try them out without me going out of my way just to do so.
When the store finally opened this week (not sure what day, when I went back to work on the 3rd, it was already open), I promised myself that I will not let this week pass me by without me trying even one donut flavor.
I finally had my chance after shift this morning. I knew that the place opens at 7am so I convinced two of my officemates to go with me after work. We arrived at around 7:30 and we were blown away by the line! What the eff??? We were not expecting the line to be that long since it's only been 30 minutes since the shop opened. We decided to go ahead and wait in line, initially planning to grab a box for takeout then have coffee and a donut in the shop.
Fast forward 1 hour and 45 minutes later... yes that's how long it took us to actually get to the cashier and pay for our donuts. After waiting that long with our aching feet, we decided to forgo the coffee and just get our takeout boxes. It's no wonder that despite the blockbuster line, most of the seats were unoccupied: people must have felt the same way that we did, that after enduring such a long wait, there's no way we can take staying in the shop just to get our caffeine fix.
Anyway, while waiting I quietly observed and tried to analyze why it takes too damn long to get your donuts. Here's my analysis and some recommendations:
Root Cause:
- They are understaffed. With the volume of customers that they have, they should have more staff to make the donuts and assist the customers.
- The staff at the counter are disorganized. Seems like they dip the donuts randomly instead of specific people having a task assigned especially for him/her.
- Too few people who actually assist customers: majority of the staff in front are making the donuts.
- The donut supply cannot keep up with the demand of the customers: most of the time, most of the trays are empty, resulting in customers having to wait before their order gets completed.
My Recommendations:
- Hire more staff! I think this particular branch can benefit from additional 2-3 heads.
- Assign people specific tasks so that confusion can be eliminated and it will be easier to troubleshoot issues.
- Create a separate queue for 'short orders', meaning for those who only want to buy 1-2 donuts or just coffee or just froyo. I think this will create more profit since people who just want a quick sugar or caffeine fix are easily turned off by the long lines. I for one will NEVER EVER consider wasting anything above 15 minutes just for 1-2 donuts. Cupcakes, I might reconsider, but donuts, no thanks.
- They might consider using the number system like they do in Globe business centers or banks. That way, people have time to sit down and relax while waiting for their turn, instead of standing in line and getting tired and disgruntled in the process.
One more thing, the male cashier on the morning shift at the Eastwood branch got on my nerves big-time! After enduring the waiting time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. it would have been a major consolation to be at least assisted by friendly and patient staff! But NO! This person appears to be very impatient, his friendliness VERY FORCED, and looks very unwilling to assist customers, and bordering on rude. The girl who assisted me and my friend with our orders messed up and bulked our orders in one number, though we never told her to do that. This cashier guy started punching our orders and when I informed the him that we will be paying separately, he talked to us accussingly as if it was our fault that the girl messed up, with gritted teeth and clenched jaw and all! What the eff? We did NOT need this after enduring the LOOOOOOOOONG wait. Although I was already cranky, I managed to control my temper by reminding myself that it's sooo not worth it. I even heard this guy say in an aggressive way, "Ayaw nyo ba ng order nyo???? Ano ayaw nyo????" when a customer took a bit of a while to get her order when her number called. C'mon, with that snaking line, how can this guy expect the poor customer to be in front of him in an instant? Very irritating! I recommend transferring this cashier guy to the kitchen or cleaning because he's one of the reasons why I was a bit turned off by the shop.
Anyway, here are pics of this morning's 'interesting' experience. Verdict will come after the pics:
(That's the head of the line)
View of the middle part of the line from where I'm standing from the end.
After 30 minutes, reached 1/3 of the line and this is my view of the end of the line.
Comfy chairs... wondering why the seats are not filled despite the blockbuster line... I found out soon enough.
Random shot... says free wifi... wish they would print the password so that customers need not go to the cashier to ask for the password.
Wow, they're also selling their own drinking merchandise like Starbucks.
View of the merch up close: I'll bet they'll also come up with their own planner for 2014.
Menu / pricelist of donuts and coffee. The dozen box is good value for money.
People busy making the donuts.
Caviar donuts!
Their bestseller Alcapone donuts.
The box.
Almost unboxed
And the unboxing! I chose the following flavors to try: Alcapone, Oreology, Tiramisu, Chocolate Caviar, Creme La Fame, Forest Glam, Funilla Glaze and Glazzy.
So I guess the question now is, are the donuts worth the almost two hours wait? The answer is a big fat NO. Granted that the donuts are good.... very good in fact.... great even, but they were not that divine for me to waste even 30 minutes on it. But that could just be me, since I do not have a burning love affair with donuts like I do with cupcakes and cheesecakes. If you are a certified donut lover, then I guess then the wait time will be worth it. It all boils down to personal taste: I just happen to fall into the small minority that still do not get what the fuss is all about.
Up next will be my review on each donut I actually get to eat.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
One of my best guy friends recently visited Korea and got me the Starbucks planner as his pasalubong (I requested, LOL). Based on the pics I saw all over the net, I thought they looked cute and for some weird reason, very Korean.
One good thing about acquiring this planner is that my friend did not have to drown himself in coffee just so he can get one for me. In Starbucks Korea, they allow straight purchase of the planner, unlike here in the Philippines. This is one practice that I hope PHL will start but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Anyway, I was very happy when I finally got the planner. My friend got me the orange, regular-sized version. I thought the planner looked really cute. What's included in the planner package would be the planner, a mini notebook and an elastic planner holder (?).
Here are pictures of the actual planner unwrapping:
One good thing about acquiring this planner is that my friend did not have to drown himself in coffee just so he can get one for me. In Starbucks Korea, they allow straight purchase of the planner, unlike here in the Philippines. This is one practice that I hope PHL will start but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Anyway, I was very happy when I finally got the planner. My friend got me the orange, regular-sized version. I thought the planner looked really cute. What's included in the planner package would be the planner, a mini notebook and an elastic planner holder (?).
Here are pictures of the actual planner unwrapping:
Planner still wrapped in plastic
Unwrapped!
Side by side with the mini notebook
Solo shot!
First page where we can see the serial number.
Weekly page
Monthly calendar
Space for notes
Freebies
Back view of both planner and notebook
This planner also comes in black or in handy-sized (no idea about actual dimensions).
Overall, I was very satisfied with the planner. The only nitpicks that I have would be that the pages are thinner than that of the PHL version, and the space for each day in the weekly page is a tad too small (well, the planner IS small, compared to the PHL one).
I think I'm gonna use this planner for my personal appointments.
Some sellers in Sulit are selling this planner so if you're interested you may want to check the following links:
http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/6972331/Starbucks+Coffee+Korea+2013+Planners?referralKeywords=starbucks+planner+korea&event=Search+Ranking,Position,1-3,3
http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/7261428/2013+Starbucks+Planner?referralKeywords=starbucks+planner+korea&event=Search+Ranking,Position,1-1,1
Here are the 2013 edition Starbucks Planner from different Asian countries:
Malaysia
Available for RM 138 or around 1900php, or free if you complete 15 stickers. I think the leather cover looks great, but the inside pages are compiled like that of a ring binder. I think this is also available in black.
Source: http://dululainsekaranglain.com/english/starbucks-2013-organizerplanner
Indonesia
No idea about the mechanics nor the available colors but I think this also looks very nice.
Source: http://postedby.tumblr.com/
Thailand
No idea about the mechanics either but I would assume that one would also need to collect stickers to get the planner free.
http://sbntown.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269470
South Korea
This is available in 2 colors: orange and black, and two sizes: regular and handy (?). This also comes with a free mini notebook. Looks very cute and I have the regular sized, orange version. This was given to me by my friend who recently got back from Seoul. Based from what my friend told me, I think like with Malaysia, you can get the planner either through stickers or by buying it. Price is around 900php if you want to do a straight purchase. I will write a full-review on this shortly.
http://blog.designdb.com/01045609637/bbs/dblogView.asp?catPKID=2&sGb=&sTxt=&oDm=1&bbsType=&page=87&bbsPKID=20632
Philippines
Like what I said in one of my previous entries, I really liked this year's edition: very classy looking! You can get this planner by purchasing 17 drinks (combination of Christmas and Regular drinks).
http://www.frannywanny.com/2012/11/starbucks-coffee-planner-2013-christmas-philippines.html
Not sure about the planners from HongKong or Singapore. Will try to research some more.
Anyway, right now, I like the PHL version best, followed by Korea, then by Indonesia. Do you have the same choices as me? :)
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Yesterday, my family and I went to SM North Edsa to check out the world's most popular cat on display: my all-time favorite cartoon character, Hello Kitty!
Dubbed as the Hello Kitty Village, this magnificent display of life-size Hello Kitty characters is located at the The Block Atrium. It was soooooooooo cute, and any Hello Kitty fan should not miss the chance to see this. Trust me, there are a lot of photo ops for rabid fans like me!
Check out a few of the pics that we took yesterday:
Dubbed as the Hello Kitty Village, this magnificent display of life-size Hello Kitty characters is located at the The Block Atrium. It was soooooooooo cute, and any Hello Kitty fan should not miss the chance to see this. Trust me, there are a lot of photo ops for rabid fans like me!
Check out a few of the pics that we took yesterday:
This kitty-fabulous display will be up until early January so I encourage Hello Kitty fans, kids and kids at heart to don't let this opportunity pass by. By the way, if you want to get the chance to pose with the Hello Kitty mascot onstage, make sure that you have at least 500php in your wallet, as you need to purchase 500php worth of Hello Kitty merchandise to be given the stage pass. And the mascot only makes an appearance every Sunday so you may want to time your visit on that day.
Overall, this Hello Kitty Village was worth visiting. I give this exhibit an two thumbs up.
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