Llaollao on the hunt for agencies and partners for Singapore return

llaollao Spain, the yogurt brand’s global headquarters, has confirmed to Marketing that it is currently on the lookout for agencies and collaborators “to define a relaunching strategy” of its brand in Singapore. This was said by Pedro Espinosa, founder and CEO of llaollao, who added that llaollao’s team in Singapore is currently leading the search.“As we have previously mentioned, one of our goals is to maintain llaollao in the country. We are already developing actions to keep our leadership in the frozen yogurt industry and above all, to meet the demands of our customers,” Espinosa said in a statement to Marketing when asked about marketing plans.The company is already in the midst of searching for new locations to reopen llaollao – one of its main short term objectives. While it cannot offer any specific date yet, its goal is to be operational once more during the first quarter of next year.On the decision to make a public statement on its Facebook page to distance itself from Yolé, the new brand its former franchisee D+1 Holdings is now promoting, Espinosa said that over its eight years in business, llaollao has always placed primary importance on product quality. As such, it has been investing constantly to keep improving its product.For this reason, it is very important for us to untie llaollao from any other frozen yogurt brand whose quality standards are unknown.“As the leading frozen yogurt company, we know very well this industry and the companies that are operating. Given our expertise, we can state that Yolé Frozen Yogurt is a completely new brand in this sector,” Espinosa said.The company also felt it was most important to explain to all its customers what had happened. After four years operating in the Singapore market, Espinosa said that there were many customers who had given their trust and loyalty towards its product.“Considering that not giving any explanation regarding the sudden disappearance would be a sign of disrespect to our consumers, we have decided they should receive the information directly from us,” Espinosa added.It had also received a large number of messages on its Facebook page from customers asking for an explanation. As such, it felt Facebook would be an adequate strategic channel to answer all questions about this sudden closure.“The closure of the llaollao outlets in Singapore has been very disappointing for us given the importance of this market in which our product has been highly accepted,” Espinosa said.He added that from the moment the news showed up in the media, the company has been receiving positive messages from its customers. This was along with “a continuous request” to maintain its presence in this region.“This feedback is very satisfying for us as it is a way of showing evidence of our quality product. This encourages us to keep working hard in order to be back again very soon,” Espinosa said.The past two weeks saw llaollao’s abrupt exit from Singapore, and a quick replacement by yogurt brand Yolé which saw the conversation of 29 llaollao outlets in Singapore to Yolé stores. In a statement to Marketing at the time, a D+1 Holdings spokesperson said at the time that the company felt the llaollao menu was “exhausted after three years” of being in the business.Following llaollao’s impending re-entry into Singapore following its public statement made yesterday, this sparked conversations on whether or not llaollao’s re-entry would hamper any of Yolé’s plans to establish itself. The reaction to llaollao's return caused a stir amongst fans of the brand, which saw many promising to wait for its re-entry into Singapore. However, several comments also questioned if the sudden exit was a marketing stunt.The exchange was also likened to that of popular bubble tea brand Gong Cha, which also made its abrupt exit in the middle of this year to make way for LiHo, a new bubble tea brand promoted with the local appeal. This followed a dispute with the brand's franchisee, RTG Holdings. However, Gong Cha has since made its return to Singapore, launching with several outlets across Singapore as of the start of this month.