Freshëns Yogurt, MCO

Freshëns is a chain I've been vaguely aware of for years, usually noticing it off to the side in a food court somewhere. 

"Freshëns is a healthy “fresh casual” concept, which offers prepared to order food inspired by fresh ingredients, as well as our signature fresh blended smoothies."

Their concept is healthy stuff, salads and bowls, plus smoothies and yogurt.  Frozen yogurt that is.  I do actually quite like froyo, so I'm not sure why I wasn't ever interested in it before, but, probably because when I've been near food courts I've had other priorities.  Anyway, the chain is actually quite successful it seems, with more than 350 locations, and has been around for 30 years.

That said, not all locations are created equal, particularly in the land of franchises.  When I was recently flying out of Orlando, I took a quick look at what food options would be available to decide if I'd purchase lunch there, or pack my own, and, wow, everywhere got such awful reviews.  Freshëns in particular just got scathing reviews.  I couldn't really believe it could be *that* bad, thinking likely it was just people who wanted healthy options upset that it wasn't actually as healthy as they though (lots of reviews mention chemicals, etc).  I was still curious enough to cruise by ... also, I had 1.5 hours before my flight, and nothing better to do really.

Food Court Location.

The Freshëns location at the Orlando airport was in a food court at the entrance to gate areas 30-59, next to another healthy type place, and Wendy's and a generic Asian place.  Everywhere else had quite long lines, but Freshëns was relatively empty.  This could have been because their card reader was broken, so they could take cash, or tap payments only.

The location doesn't offer the full Freshëns menu, just smoothies and yogurt, along with some very sad looking packaged bagels and cookies, and generic chips and oatmeal.  It is hard to describe, but, it sorta had a run down feel to it.

The signage didn't say what toppings were available, nor what flavors of yogurt, but I could see the machine in the background, with one side broken, and the other said "vanilla".  I asked if they had only the one flavor, and the staff said yes.  I asked if it was sweet or tart, and I didn't get an answer, but instead, she did just hand me a cup with a small swirl in it - a regular cup, not a little sample cup, and no spoon. I wasn't quite sure what to do - did I stick my face in it?  I said, "and spoons are ....", kinda trailing off.  She pointed down to the end of the counter area.  I walked away to try my sample, fully expecting to hate it.

I didn't hate it, but, it wasn't really something I'd ever pay for, or go seek out, if I was anywhere else.  After cruising around the entire terminal area to see if there were better options, I returned, as, well, there just weren't any good options - a Wendy's Frosty actually probably would have been better, but, the line for Wendy's was soooooo long.

I approached again to make my order.  I asked what toppings were available, specifically, if they had any fruit.  The cashier rattled off a list of fruits in rapid succession, no clear pause between them, and far too fast for me to even take in.  And then glared at me.  "Do you want fruit?", she said.  All cups of yogurt come with 3 toppings included, so I fully intended to pick 3.  "Uh ... raspberries," I said, hoping those were in her list.  "We don't have raspberries", was the curt reply.  I then was able to look past her at the cold well where the fruit was ... it was all smoothie fruit, that is, frozen fruit, or, semi-frozen fruit.  There wasn't actually any *fresh* fruit.  It all looked quite sad.  I was also able to see the dry toppings, about 8 different things, none labelled either.  I made my selections as fast as I could, mostly because she looked like she hated me.  I can't say this was pleasant service.

A few minutes later, as I stood off to the side eating my froyo, she made a smoothie for the next customer, and went to put it on the counter for the customer, and, well, missed the counter.  The smoothie went crashing to the ground, and made a horrible mess.  She didn't even seem to say sorry to the customer who was now covered in smoothie, and who needed to wait for a new one to be made.  So, on the service front, I certainly understand the reviews.  It was worse than expected.

Yogurt with Mango, White Chocolate Chips, Peanuts. $6.49.

So, the frozen yogurt.  Was it sweet or tart style?  Um, yes?  It was kinda both.  It was also kinda icy, certainly not smooth and creamy yogurt that makes you think it is ice cream, but, not chunky icy.  It didn't taste vanilla in any way, mostly plain, lightly sweet, lightly tart, very, very, very generic yogurt.  It reminded of old school frozen yogurt, what I remember from the 1990s, and haven't had much since.  Which, actually, most likely is exactly what it is - the business has been around that long, and perhaps just never pivoted to embrace newer trends.  The yogurt was actually rather refreshing, as it wasn't too sweet, and the icy nature added to the refreshing feel.  It nearly tasted healthy actually.  It seemed like a reasonable thing to eat before a flight, not something that would bog you down.

But then of course there are toppings.  I opted for mango as my fruit topping, as the others just looked so abysmal.  It was semi-frozen mango, but, it was sweet and fairly flavorful, and went well with the yogurt.  I also opted for the white chips, not knowing if they were yogurt or white chocolate, but they seemed to be the later, fairly sweet, fairly clearly just made of oil and sugar.  They were a large size chip, which isn't as nice for froyo as the little chips.  My last selection was the nuts, which I think were just peanuts, little bits, that seemed about the same as what you get in a package at McDonald's.

So ... not exactly great yogurt, and definitely lower end toppings, but I did actually enjoy it.  Captive audience, boredom, etc.  If I was there again, and wanted a cold treat, and the line for Wendy's was too long, hey, I'd get it again.  ***.

I got the "regular" size, there were only two sizes available, this and a larger one for $1 more.  If the toppings had been higher quality, I'd say it was a reasonable price, but, the lack of fresh fruit really was a downfall.