Smoothie King — Restaurant in Affton

CONCLUSION:

Overall, to compare to the other local smoothie king locations, this location off Gravois seems to be significantly less effective, more time-consuming, have lower customer service quality, and be substantially Les socially satisfying then any of the other smoothie King‘s that I frequently order from in the St. Louis area and is easily overall the lowest ranked smoothie king franchise I’ve ordered at In my life!

They have a lot of work to do!

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DETAILS:

This particular Smoothie King franchise location is very small and is for drive-through only without the option to order inside or choose ingredients from the inside menu.

I am not 100% positive if it is the perception from looking inside such a small work space, but the inside employees seem to be nearly tripping over each other and aimlessly dawdling listlessly often simply doing nothing but waiting for another employee completing an order ahead of them to complete their current task and move out of the work station area, it almost seemed like an asynchronous process since the employees seemed to be so backed up. they asynchronous Lee are able to start the next process of getting the ingredients assembled and smoothie blended properly.

Have gone to this specific location three times now (simply due to the location convenience) with simple orders and I can confirm that the average wait time for the employees to correctly finish my order and the overall total entry-to-exit Transaction time each of the 3 occcuraencesordered at this location were ALL TWO TO THREE TIMES longer as my typical average wait times in the other local smoothie king franchise locations that I frequently visit in St. Louis (the one off Hanley and Dale and the one off of Manchester road are GREAT!).

My final observation worth noting before you make this your smoothie king of choice, was the extremely poor service-orientation and confrontational disposition of the store manager/team lead at this Gravois location since she was it markedly more defensive and less amicable to customers than any other smoothie king staff I’ve interacted with. She was dismissive of all of the questions that I asked as well as alex of the inquiry made...

I have had multiple issues with this one location. Two weeks ago I requested a refund which I was told I would receive, but I have not yet. I've called multiple times and emailed twice as many. So here is my review hoping someone will finally give me back my money and I can move on with my life.

Just to recap what the issue was.

I ordered 2 smoothies from the store on Gravios in Affton Missouri. Our drive to the store was 15 minutes. The order said it would be ready in 10-15 minutes, perfect. When we pull up to the drive through and tell them we are here to pick up our order they said they have it and to pull up to the window. Again, this would be 15 minutes after I originally placed the order. Since we were the only customers there I would assume the smoothies are done if not close to it.

So, why did it take another +15 minutes to make two smoothies??  We waited over 30 minutes for an online order. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the whole point of ordering online was to skip any wait.

We ask the employee (a teenager, so not even an adult) why it took so long. He informed us he is the only person in the store and TWO ingredients were out of stock and he didn't know what to do because he JUST STARTED WORKING THERE 3 DAYS AGO.

That is the craziest choice I've ever heard coming from management and I've worked in the industry before. The lack of responsibility from the employees and this smoothie king is shocking. I honestly feel bad for that poor kid. Needless to say I will not be returning to this smoothie king and would like my money returned. It is not on the customers for a lack of...

Disappointed.

I've spent a lot of money here at this location - always stopping by when I was in town. Also, I always tip the employees 25% or more for my drive-through smoothie.

Recently, after paying and tipping, I realized that I forgot to provide my QR code for scanning my discount and points credit. I knocked on the window and asked if the employee could add it. They paused, thought it over, and told me "no". Then, they explained a convoluted system that involved me taking notes and doing home work, rather then them spending 1 minute to void the transaction and ring it up again.

No big deal, I guess. I was disappointed, though.

Then, on my way home, I found that my smoothie was not blended properly, and the bottom was filled with unblended ingredients. Some of it tasted kinda gross, and the texture was awful. I had to throw away the last 5 ounces of the 20 ounce smoothie that I paid $10 for (after tip).

So, after 6 months of loyal patronage, I will be finding a new Smoothie King location. I am intentionally not listing the employees name or gender, to avoid getting anyone in trouble. In the past, they have been great. But, I have tipped this particular employee $7 in the last month. In essence, I give them the discounts that the app provides me. After my tips, I save nothing. If employees at Smoothie King on Gravois don't appreciate that money, I know other food workers at other locations will. And, the franchise owner will definitely appreciate the ridiculous amount of money I spend...