@TastiDLite Announces 1000th Follower Contest

Tasti has been all up on the Twittersphere for just over a year now--it's clearly a huge priority (rightly so) for the online team. They've been using the account to interact with customers, announce store openings, hold contests, post photos, ask questions, and more. The team has been running the account quite effectively.

For some reason, the follower count hasn't quite hit the growth I'd imagine they are hoping for. The rather personality-less Pinkberry account has almost four times the followers (in less time). It's especially perplexing given the fanatic relationship customers tend to have with the company. Presumably in an effort to bolster up the fanbase (=follower count), Tasti has announced a contest. There are currently 971 followers. The 1000th follower receives a personalized private party at the Columbus Circle flagship store for 20 friends with free Tasti, a "fail whale" cake, product samplings, and giveaways. Lovin' it!

The strategy is tricky--at what point will the follower count hit the tipping point in which a block of friends can band together FTW? We shall see. Nine new followers signed up in the past 24 hours. (Hopefully the contest is protecting against fake/spam accounts people might create in order to win the contest?)

In any case, we'll be...following...the contest. Tasti's social media strategy is pretty spot on.


(In related news, Tasti D-Lited heads back to New York in less than week! Tasti time!)

25 Things About Tasti

A few months late on the trend, the Tasti blog posted "25 Random Things About Tasti D-Lite" today. Many facts I didn't know--a lot of interesting stuff in there:

5. There have been at least 2 marriage proposals at Tasti D-Lite locations in the recent past that we know of. Pictures of one Tasti D-Lite wedding can be found on our Facebook Fan Page.
11. The most popular Tasti D-Lite flavor is the collective variations of Peanut Butter. The second most popular flavor is Cake Batter.
18. The most popular topping is Rainbow Sprinkles.
19. There are currently 193 Tasti D-Lite related pictures on Flickr.
23. Tasti D-Lite franchise opportunities are now available in 48 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and in select markets worldwide.

The Tasti team gave us a shout out in item number 8! Thanks, guys!

First Impressions of New Store Design

So my Peanut Butter Cup reunion with Tasti D-Lite didn't turn out to be the best, but more exciting than the treat was seeing what the new updated stores look like!





I have to say I was pretty impressed. The location (UES) was pretty much a hole in the wall, but they made it look good. Even next to "Hot 'n Crusty," the store seemed classy, modern, and fun. The new logo looks great, as does the new menu board. All sorts of food items are promoted now--the smoothies, sundaes, and shakes. I'm looking forward to trying them all this summer. I didn't snag a picture of it, but there was an LCD screen in the store, too, displaying hip local information.

In any case, I've got to say I'm pretty impressed with the results. Tasti's rebranding was accomplished quite masterfully, despite the closure of a substantial percentage of its stores in the process. Woot.

Peanut Butter Cup

So we were finally back in the city this weekend and got our Tasti fix! It's been quite a number of months since we were last in Tasti range after the New Haven store closed. It was the first time we got to see a rebranded store and we'll post about that later.

Unfortunately, we weren't blown away our first flavor in months. We had very high expectations for Peanut Butter Cup--it's our favorite candy. Unfortunately, the taste just didn't translate into frozen form. The mixture was oddly...bitter. It left a bad aftertaste, as well. It goes to show that sometimes the best tastes in food form aren't necessarily the best Tasti flavors. Alas.

NASTI (1 of 4 stars)

90 calories/serving

Tasti Launches Flavor Alerts

It's been a while since we've had a post at Tasti D-Lite--as we're stuck in New Haven without Tasti, we aren't able to review frequently, and Tasti news has been quiet.

But today there was a pretty nifty new feature on Tasti's website worth mentioning. Tasti Flavor Alerts will text or e-mail you when a nearby location is serving your favorite flavor. When we're in New York, we'll be sure to set it up for all of our four-star reviews.

Wall Street Journal Takes a Look at Tasti Expansion

The WSJ's Ellen Byron took a look today at the state of Tasti's worldwide expansion. The article noted some new details of the expansion plan, including that new products will be introduced such as baked goods.

James Amos, who, along with New York private-equity firm Snow Phipps Group LLC, acquired the New York-based frozen-dessert business for $21 million last year, is forging deals to expand the chain nationally and internationally with new store formats, additional flavors and new products such as energy drinks and baked goods.

The Journal notes that Tasti's success and appeal is thanks in large part to a group of devoted fans, who have given the brand a cult-like status. Byron raises the question of if this "distinctly New York phenomenon" can resonate across the country and across the world.

The article noted some impressive statistics about the geographic distribution of the expansion.

Two Tasti D-Lite stores opened this month in Seoul; expansion into Israel and Mexico is in negotiation. Late last month, Tasti D-Lite signed franchising deals for a minimum of 16 stores in Tennessee and at least 40 in Texas, including San Antonio, Austin and Houston. It is working on expanding into California and adding to the seven stores already in New Jersey. Next month, Tasti D-Lite plans to open two flagship stores in New York, including one on the ground floor of the Empire State Building.

Lastly, the article covered Tasti's effort to redesign and revamp the several run down locations currently in operation in New York. The program is surprisingly expensive.

Since closing the deal, Mr. Amos has been working to persuade Tasti D-Lite's existing store owners to transition from their previous licensing arrangement to a franchise, which gives the company more control over stores' appearance and operations. He has been selling the idea by promising financial incentives, updated store designs, as well as marketing and back-office support. Each franchise requires an investment $230,470 to $439,600, depending on factors such as size and location, the company said. Royalty fees of 5% of a store's gross sales are required weekly. Franchises also can expect to pay to build their brand. Contributions to a "marketing fund" amount to 2% of gross sales every week.

Rocky Road

Rocky Road is a pretty standard Tasti flavor--except the infusion of nut flavor leaves a pretty bad aftertaste. It's got a nice, rich chocolate taste nevertheless. As there isn't much to say about the flavor (which probably isn't worth ordering), it seems like a good time to comment on the Danoo TV screens I've spotted in a few Tasti locations. I've seen similar screens at The Coffee Bean when I was in Las Vegas. The content on the flat-screen monitors are customized for the location--news, weather, scores, events, nearby attractions (powered by Yelp), YouTubes, and more. They really add a sense of class to Tasti locations--it will be interesting to see if more screens will be deployed in the coming years.

D-LIST (2 of 4 stars)

80 calories/serving

New Haven Location Still Closed...But Not For Long?

We've been enjoying our summer in New York, but in no time, we will be heading home to New Haven, where the only Tasti location in Connecticut still hasn't reopened after closing for the winter. The previous owner of the store, Carole Chu, had to close to store for medical reasons, but Tasti is confident a location in New Haven (whether at the old location or not) will soon be a reality. Director of IT BJ Emerson said:

We have been responding to inquiries for the New Haven area. It is just a matter of time before a new franchise location is opened.

Here's hoping!

PB Moosemellow

In May, with much promotion, Tasti launched two new flavors: Green Tea and PB Moosemellow. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to try PB Moosemellow (basically another name for Moose Tracks ice cream--"Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and famous Moose Tracks® fudge"). Tasti's newest flavor was still being promoted with the placard pictured here--and it did not disappoint. As mentioned many-a-time, Tasti's peanut butter flavors are generally the best and the added chocolate component was great. The taste, however, was not that different from Peanut Butter Fudge, which we gave three stars. (And, on this post, commenter Laura noted that all the peanut butters tend to taste the same, which is definintely somewhat true.) While Green Tea was a natural thing to add to the repitoire (as Pinkberry's Green Tea becomes increasingly popular), it's unclear why PB Moosemellow was necessary. But, nevertheless, I'm happy it was invented, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

100 calories/serving

Toasted Almond

There's something less satisfying about going to the non-Tasti-branded outlets--the stores which serve Tasti, as well as other things. This particularly location was a candy shop on Madison Ave., which sold candies, Tasti, and weird animals such as this sheep. And you get your Tasti in a plain white cup instead of a cool Tasti one. The whole experience is just somewhat dampened. Yet, out of the dreariness emerged a surprisingly great flavor--Toasted Almond. It's sweet, but with a real tang and kick to it. The first bites are startingly good, but the kick loses its impact by the end, preventing it from getting four stars.

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

80 calories/serving

Goji Smoothie

I figured it was finally time to start trying Tasti's newest products. I tried a sundae a few weeks ago and was impressed, so yesterday I moved onto the new line of Jamba Juice-like smoothies. I got the Goji Berry Smoothie--which has frozen strawberry, fresh banana, Vanilla Tasti, and goji berry mix. Given that smoothies are an important effort by Tasti to diversify the menu, let's break this one down:

1. WTF is a goji berry!!???? I think the customer is supposed to just be like, "Hmm... it sounds Asian and trendy--must be good for you and delicious!" Wikipedia informs that the most common name is actually "Wolfberry," which sounds much less Asian, trendy, and delicious. Rather, it sounds kind of hairy--I see why they went with goji. It turns out that Tasti is part of a pretty interesting trend:

Renowned in Asia as a highly nutritious food, wolfberries have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for about 1,900 years (Gross et al., 2006). Their undocumented legend, however, is considerably older, as wolfberries are often linked in Chinese lore to Shen Nung (Shennong), China's legendary First Emperor, mythical father of agriculture, and herbalist who lived circa 2,800 BC. Since the early 21st century in the United States and other such developed countries, there has been rapidly growing recognition of wolfberries for their nutrient richness and antioxidant qualities, leading to a profusion of consumer products. Such rapid commercial development extends from wolfberry having a high ranking among superfruits expected to be part of a multi-billion dollar market by 2011.

Who knew Tasti could find inspiration from China's legendary First Emporer. Superfruits are fruits with crazy awesome nutritional value and keep you healthy and are delicious. Tasti clearly read the memo on superfruits as a multi-billion dollar market--all four smoothie flavors (acai, goji, pomegranate, and mangosteen) are all superfruits. They do not include the more traditional, but less trendy superfruits such as blueberries or cranberries. In any case, these new superfruit smoothies clearly fit in Tasti's healthy but yummy niche and their new brand image. (Side note: The good thing about numbered posts is that you can skip boring stuff like this!)

2. These smoothies are expensive!! A small cost me $5.75! It was very filling and the price is about the same you'll find at Jamba, but this price will keep most from having a smoothie as anything but an occasional treat.

3. The server was definitely not very well trained on these smoothies. He looked completely perplexed when I ordered and then had to leave the counter to go look at the promotional poster to see what was in the goji smoothie. He also didn't know the price and had to look it up in the binder. It appears the smoothies aren't selling too well yet...

4. The process of making the smoothie was very poorly presented as well. The server opened up the fridge and took this huge bottle of "goji mix"--which is syrupy and sugary and kind of gross looking. The whole point of these superfruit smoothies is how fresh and healthy they are--and right in front of your eyes, they show you how processed and sugary they must be. Obviously, they aren't going to import fresh gojiberrry, but don't let me see exactly what the gross mix looks like! Make it where I can't see it! It reminds me of when I was 14 and ran to get my favorite soft serve at a Red Sox game and watched them for the first time pour the lumpy, entirely disgusting mix into the machine.

5. So--I made it to point 5 and haven't yet mentioned HOW IT TASTES. And, in fact, the answer is quite positive. The smoothies are great! Without ice, the smoothies aren't as cold and chunky and Jamba--in fact, I amazingly enough, preferred Tasti smoothies to Jamba Juice. The gojiberry was a unique and good taste, and the strawberry/banana/vanilla Tasti really complemented it well. It's very tart but sweet. Nutritional value was not posted on the poster or online. Do any readers know? Comment away! I'd imagine it's not too many calories. In any case, I'm excited to try the other flavors! And Tasti's diversification efforts are off to a good start!

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

O Tasti!

This post's title is not only an exclamation, but also the flavor of the day! O Tasti is presumably a spin on the O Henry candy bar and is one of the more amusing Tasti spins on a trademark. While the candy bar has peanuts, caramel, nougat, and chocolate, the server informed me this one was only caramel and (yet another) peanut butter. As always the Peanut Butter was delicious--but the caramel actually hurt the flavor--the two strong tastes battled for predominance rather than complementing one another. So we'll knock the rating down for ruining a good thing. O Tasti!

(This Chase logo was the closest we could find to an 'O'.)

NASTI (2 of 4 stars)

90 calories/serving

Cookies 'n Cream

When I saw Cookies 'n Cream on the day's menu at Tasti, I was perplexed at how it would differ from Oreoes 'n Cream, which is the same thing in traditional ice-cream speak. But props to Tasti for pointing out that there are other kinds of cookies you can eat 'n cream besides Oreos! Cookies 'n Cream basically tastes like chocolate chip cookies (minus the chocolate chips), and it's quite good. I don't think I have a delicate enough pallate to taste the cream, but I trust that it's there. In any case, the flavor ends up being pretty standard and delicious, but nothing out of the extrordinary. It's commentary on the skewering of "Cookies 'n Cream" in colloquial lexicon is interesting but not enough for four stars.

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

80 calories/serving

Black Cherry

Unfortunately, this will be our first picture-less review, as our photo of Black Cherry didn't come out well, which is too bad because it has an interesting and distinctive pink color. This pink color, however, is also unfortunate, because it only adds to the Pepto-Bismol/Tums taste. The flavor is strong and sustains itself...but it just isn't good. I am a fan of Black Cherry as a flavor in general, so I was in the target audience, it just doesn't work with this texture. Alas--can't win them all. My friend and I split a large mix-in Tasti--they blend the topping into the Tasti, McFlurry-style. It was quite good and definitely made up for the Black Cherry disaster.

NASTI (1 of 4 stars)

80 calories/serving

Peanut Butter Fudge

Over the past few months, I've been quite vocal in my support of Peanut Butter Tasti flavors. Today, I had the honor of trying yet another--Peanut Butter Fudge. The Tasti scientists clearly have the Peanut Butter formula down pat--and it's no surprise Peanut Butter flavors are their most popular. Peanut Butter fudge adds a subtle deep chocolate aftertaste to the typical Peanut Butter taste, and it works well. Of course, as I've discussed before, I don't want to give four stars to every Peanut Butter flavor, and Fudge had the bad luck of coming after several of its counterparts and having much more to offer.

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

90 calories/serving

Bloggers Reacts to New Tasti Logo

Back in March, we analyzed Tasti's new logo and branding initiative and were generally favorable. Today, Brand New takes a closer look at the new logo and tagline and likes it as well:

That said, the new logo is tempting — sort of like peeping at a dessert through a key-hole. Forms, and elements from the previous identity are reassuringly present; including the sweet pink and rich blue. The dollop holds its own without a thick badge, and the expression is now less Droste Effect without the fancy glass bowl. Avenir is refreshingly light as a support to brand the otherwise slick and generic symbol. The lockup is proportionally top-heavy with the huge dollop of product floating over the loose type.

The comments are supportive as well, although many readers noted the new logo looking a little like...excrement. I'm not sure I see it.

Cake Batter

The act of purchasing Tasti D-Lite today was highly unusual--the closest location to my office is a weird little "Candy Shop" on 38th and Madison. Most suprising? There was a cat in the store! This Tasti Cat (as my friend Sarah called it) was quite cute and clearly had to be in the picture.

The presence of a cat somewhat made up for the kind of bland flavor. I didn't have the highest expectations for Cake Batter--it didn't have much flavor and was just very vanilla-y. It did taste fairly refreshing though on a hot day. I got half Peanut Butter because I couldn't resist myself, and the mixture improved upon Cake Batter--but mostly because it was just a diluted version of one of my favorite flavors. No need to crank up the Flavor Locator for this one.

D-LIST (2 of 4 stars)

80 calories/serving

Banana Pudding

The extent of coincidence in life is sometimes just too overwhelming. Yesterday afternoon, I posted about the new flavor locator feature and included a screencap of my unsuccessful test search. As you can see, I searched for "Banana Pudding," as I had decided it was the flavor I most felt like at the moment out of the hundreds of options.

The bad news is that the Flavor Locator doesn't appear to be fully live for all stores yet. The good news was that when I stopped by the Tasti closest to my apartment that night, they, of course, were serving Banana Pudding. I feel like I must have done something right yesterday in order to receive such a sweet reward.

For the most part, Banana Pudding did not disappoint. The flavor was strong and sweet. However, by the end of the cup, I felt nauseated--which is unusual for a Tasti flavor. The taste just doesn't hold up throughout a whole cup. It would be superb, however, mixed with another flavor--even Dutch Chocolate--to counterbalance the thickness.

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

80 calories/serving

TastiDLite.com Launches Flavor Locator

The Tasti website continues to expand and innovate--this morning, they launched a "Flavor Locator." Users can select a flavor and type in their zipcode, and the locator tells them the nearest location serving that flavor. Unfortunately, most of the ones I tried were not found within a 50 mile radius, so it somewhat serves to remind you of what you want, but can't have. Nevertheless, it's a pretty nifty feature and should be useful for that burning craving.

Chocolate Decadence Sundae

This was my first foray into the complex sundaes offered by Tasti D-Lite--I figured it was about time. It filled a large drinking cup (maybe four or five times a small cup) and had two layers of chocolate Tasti, cookie crumb, and hot fudge. Then it was topped with whipped cream. All for 390 calories! You definitely can't help but wonder how that calorie count is possible. The man behind me in line saw the sundae being made and snarked--"There goes the diet for the week!" (Was he trying to tell me something?) In theory, my "diet" for the week was fine, but it's definitely hard to believe. The sundae was delicious--creamy, rich, and flavorful. It was definitely thick though, and you couldn't order a smaller size. It was a little expensive, too. I'd say it's a great thing to split with friends and probably should be treated with a grain of salt (can it really be healthy?), but probably shouldn't be taken on by oneself.

TASTI (3 of 4 stars)

390 calories/order