Glendale/Whitefish Bay: Snapshots: Kopp's Frozen Custard

For the past two nights in a row, I've gone to Kopp's Frozen Custard in Glendale(which, incidentally, has a beautifully redesigned website) for a hamburger with the works and a scoop of the flavor of the day.  Oh, the rigors of researching blog posts!  Seriously, between all their locations, I've probably been to Kopp's location a dozen times or even fewer in the last five years.  However, the trend is definitely moving upwards.

Don't get me wrong: even if the flavor o' the day, every day, were Crunchy Granola, I wouldn't be head over heels in love with the place.  For one thing, it's pretty much a public health and environmental catastrophe.  That being said, the menu, seemingly as timeless as Mount Rushmore except for the prices, has not followed the trend of piling on.  Healthier items aren't rolled out when the winds of fashion blow in that direction, but neither are unhealthier ones.  (Apparently the prevailing winds are in the unhealthy direction, though I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of mainstream eating habits.)  I see you now have the option of adding Nueske's bacon, but that's about it.  Portion sizes on the non-custard food items are probably now healthier than comparable restaurants, though I'm not sure which restaurants those would be.  Kopp's seems to serve a different demographic than McDonald's or even Culver's.

I have to qualify my statement about the menu: for two or three years starting in about 1994, they had espresso drinks at the Glendale location.  It's hard to even speculate why.  I'd say it was a cool thing to do, but if I ever had one of the beverages, I have absolutely no recollection of it. 

Speaking of coffee, I see a lot of Kopp's in Alterra--the more so as Alterra grows.  In fact, yesterday I thought of this whole theory of sorts, namely that both don't follow more or less phony "scripts" for interacting with customers.  I worked at Kopp's (with minimal hours per week) for a long summer in 1993.  I remember having to watch videos about how to make the sundaes, but I don't remember being taught how to interact with customers or ever receiving any guidance in that respect.  Lest I be misunderstood, I'm all for scripts, despite their phoniness.  Both nights, I noticed the cashier often barking "Next in line!" and once, actually just "Next."  For real?  I wouldn't have responded positively.  Sorry, if that's how you summon me from a line, you better be stamping my passport.  Not taking my money. 

Comments

[popegreg]

Huh? You're losing me here. Why is Kopp's "pretty much a public health and environmental catastrophe."?

[Michael Miller]

Oh, dear. How much time to you have? Public health because of the prevalence of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and similar conditions in our society. Environmental because of all the disposable packaging and tableware--all those plastic cups and dishes are made from oil. I didn't mean to single out Kopp's though. Obviously, I don't find it so disagreeable that I refuse to ever go there. I could go on for days--don't get me started!

[True Religion Outlet]

Times and Roku is what thye ARE NOT doing by keeping old business models while inventing new ones. Sort of one hand not knowing what the other is doing. Roku rolls out new platforms but hasn't tackled the key question of selling more boxes. You need one for each TV. Why not discount multiple orders for people with more than one TV? Financial Times wants to make online access free or pay depending upon the frequency of use, but it continues to charge customers TWO fees if the customer subscribes to print AND wants an subscription online as well. Do the people in office A ever talk to the people in office B