Rēis & Irvy’s Frozen Yogurt features the world’s first and only Robotic Frozen Yogurt Kiosks. It has recently built their first location in SM North EDSA, Quezon City, the first in the Philippines! Two weeks after its soft launch, it finally had its grand opening last Saturday. I was lucky to be handpicked and notified as a blogger to cover the event. 😀
The first 50 customers in the queue were given complimentary vouchers used as tickets in purchasing frozen yogurts via a robot. Yes, you read that right. Rēis & Irvy’s Frozen Yogurt is equipped with a robot, which acts like a vendo machine, that prepares and serves customized four-layer yogurt with different flavors and toppings to the customer’s exact specifications. The store concept can be easily remembered with three steps: 1. DESIGN your 4 layers of freshness; 2. WATCH a robot prepare it for you, and 3. ENJOY your creation!
Review of Rēis & Irvy’s Frozen Yogurt (SM North EDSA, Quezon City)
Ambiance: ★★★★☆
While the kiosk, mini counter and dining area cover only less than 50 square feet of the mall ground, customers can line up to get their yogurt on the entire space in the open. The theme was pretty top notch, with pink and white as the obvious color motifs. High chairs were comfortable to sit on. The LCD featuring guidelines on the kiosk gave an impression of modernity. I thought the robot machine itself could capture attention and raise curiosity and interest to prospect customers passing by. But it also helps to have a human staff to accommodate questions on how-to’s and make the ambiance look more “approachable” (since people may tend to feel reluctant or shy to use a frozen yogurt self-serving machine that’s new to their eyes).
On the opening day, customers (mostly children) got to choose any robot to be painted on their arms, hands or faces. Mom was pleased to give it a try. 😛
Service: ★★★★☆
As this outlet is more of a self-service one, customers would have to buy a coupon (PHp 125, standard) from the cashier and line up in front of the kiosk. Once the ticket is inserted, the presentation / ordering begins…
After feeding your coupon to the machine, the next screen lets you pick a flavor of the yogurt, then you just have to press on the button to proceed to the next screens to choose your first topping, second yogurt and second topping respectively.
The last step is to choose a robot (Cid, Irvy, Reis or Rev) who will “dance” to get the ingredients from different tubes and entertain you for about a minute before serving the cup of frozen yogurt. The output would be the same, but the movements on how the treat is made vary according to the robot selected. I bet kids would absolutely be excited to see and experience this. 🙂
The screen interfaces were very user-friendly. If you’re used to manipulating a tablet, a smartphone or any device with touch-screen technology, then you won’t have a problem interacting with this machine. Else, you can approach the human staff and ask for assistance. 🙂
Food: ★★★★☆
Only up to two flavors can be programmed to be added in the machine. At this time, chocolate, vanilla and mixed chocolate and vanilla are available. The flavors will be changed and rotated every two weeks.
Toppings that can be added are: muesli, chocolate pieces (like M&M’s), peanuts, chopped cashews, rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles. One can also go without topping/s or ask the staff to put on more toppings (optional, two more toppings for PHp 25).
My version consisted of the following:
- 1st layer (yogurt): chocolate and vanilla yogurt
- 2nd layer (topping): muesli
- 3rd layer (yogurt): vanilla yogurt
- 4th layer (topping): chopped cashews
The frozen yogurt was refreshing and cold with a smooth and creamy finish but not mouth-coatingly rich. At at predefined weight of 10oz, the serving was enough for me to finish quickly in one sitting. Toppings were generously portioned. As for the flavor, vanilla and chocolate seemed like the usual ones we see in other yogurt outlets (nothing special), so I’m looking forward to trying unique flavors like wild berries, green tea, kiwi, peach, cherry and pomegranate from Rēis & Irvy’s (if ever they offer such in the future). 🙂
Price for Value: ★★★☆☆
Next to ice cream, yogurt is another scream-worthy choice these days. Redefining the way yogurt is delivered, Rēis & Irvy’s creates lasting memories as it brings out the WOW factor and offers a highly interactive user experience that is unmatched in generating customer excitement. I thought that the price (PHp 125) was comparable to other froyo chains in the Philippines:
FYI: The White Hat (small cup for PHp 85 with toppings that start at PHp 20), Californiaberry (small cup for PHp 60 with toppings that start at PHp 20), Green Mango (PHp 70 with 3 toppings), Ice Cream Bar (PHp 120 with no toppings), Cold Spoon (small cup for PHp 60 with toppings that start at PHp 10), Yogurbud (PHp 85 with three toppings).
Still, it’s quite expensive for me lah! 😛
Me with Lydia Jones (Owner from US), Eiri Mina (Rēis mascot) and Joy Reyes (Marketing)
Operating Hours:
Mon – Thu: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Fri – Sun: 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
It was awesome meeting you Roch! I hope we meet again in another time. 🙂
Ditto. Yes, in some other events. 🙂
[…] Saturday, after gracing the opening of Rēis and Irvy’s, Mom and I began searching for a nice restaurant for lunch. On our way to the main building of SM […]
Served by a robot? That’s pretty cool. You think they will open in Cebu soon?
I think they would focus opening branches here in Metro Manila first before branching out to other areas in the country. 🙂
It looks like they have a very nice branding and concept for their yogurt. I think it would do well even with its price.
While the concept is not new as there are many vendo machines supplying soft drinks and other beverages, this one is a novel for yogurts.
WoW! totally cool machine 🙂 Parang wala pa nyan dito sa Mindanao 🙁 Will check pag napadaan ako sa North Edsa pag uwiko 🙂
It’s the first in the Philippines. They will be building more branches soon. 🙂
I notice that you rated ambiance to food 4 stars and the price 3 stars. Does this mean that the price is costly? Is that what you want to tell us?
That is correct. I think yogurts are naturally just expensive.
That is absolutely a unique way to grab a cup of yogurt. I can see that a lot of people love to try that.
This is one testament that it’s not only the taste that would make people want to try it or keep going back to it but also the presentation.
Robot as a server is absolutely pretty cool. Yes I agree to that price you mentioned is really costly. But I think curious people are willing to try that robot.
This stall is all about innovation but since we’re in a Filipino setting, they still require one headcount to serve customers and attend to their needs. I don’t know when we’d be able to accept that technology can be on top of all things and we don’t have to depend on humans anymore.
that’s one fun yogurt experience! Do they have a branch here in Ortigas?
Nope, not yet. But maybe very soon they will open a branch there. 😉
i love yogurt + my little man used to like it too when he was a teensy-weensy bit! we must try this one the next time we visit SM North. I am sure my son will be thrilled to see a robot serving yogurts 🙂
Yup! Most kids do! I think you will enjoy it yourself. Have fun. 😀
Hi Roch. Thank you for writing about us. We appreciate your comments a great deal. We have started offering new flavors – melon for the past 2 weeks and have lined up some very special ones, to be announced on our FB and Instagram. 🙂
Hope to see you again!
Oh you’re welcome! Yay! I will drop by again soon to try those new flavors. 😀
oh i love yogurts! hope they can serve more options. nice robot:) i will check this out and bring some friends:)
Watching the robot dance while you wait for your yogurt is such an inventive idea. I’m also going back to catch my next cup soon! 🙂
I’ve tried this one and to be honest medyo wala sa bundok, hahaha! Good thing mabait yung nasa cashier and kind of figured na first time ko, haha. Anyway, super love the taste of the yogurt and the price is just right considering the generous serving.
Haha I’m glad you liked it. 🙂