 Jack in the Box "Real Fruit" Smoothies Really Disappoint
This week, my mother and I decided to give your "real fruit" smoothies a try. We visited between 2-4 to take advantage of your half-price offer. We had also printed $1 off coupons from the Jack-in-the-Box website.
When we first presented the manager with the coupon, she rudely informed us that she would not take our coupons because we had made copies of them ourselves. We explained that they had been printed off the website, that they had not been copied from a newspaper ad or mailer. I could tell that she did not believe us, and she then replied that she would not take the coupon because we were already using the "half-off" coupon. No coupon is required to take advantage of the promotion between 2-4, and the small print on the coupons was completely illegible, but I conceded that it might, in theory, say "Not valid with any other offer" on there someplace. The issue was not so much that she would not accept the coupon, but the tone of voice in which she handled the situation.
We went ahead and ordered our smoothies anyway. We were in the drive-thru, so we were able to watch while they were being made. A male employee ran out of orange syrup while making one smoothie and went ahead and added the yogurt and blended it anyway. We pointed that out to the manager, and she did volunteer to remake it for us.
When our smoothies were finally ready, we were very disappointed with the end result. I had not truly been expecting Jack-in-the-Box to put fresh fruit ingredients in their drinks, but I was appalled by the syrup that is being passed off as "real fruit." I don't doubt that there is some percentage of fruit juice in the mix, but the main ingredient would appear to be corn syrup. I have used a mixed fruit concentrate to make smoothies at home, but it has a consistency much more similar to fruit preserves than to Kool-Aid. I ordered the Strawberry Banana smoothie and my mother ordered the orange. Neither drink had a particularly distinctive flavor; we let each other try both drinks just to make sure. My drink was creepily similar to Pepto Bismal in both color and flavor, and had about as much "real fruit" taste as Pez.
I would strongly suggest that Jack in the Box reconsider the ingredients that are going into the "real fruit" smoothies, or rethink the viability of a smoothie as a fast-food menu item. Coincidentally, I saw a Jack-in-the-Box smoothie that had been abandoned on a shelf in a department store yesterday, so it would seem that other members of the general public find them as distasteful as I do.
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by OCEANIC RIFT Posted Fri June 26, 2009 @ 8:39 PM
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Dear Molly A.,
I too was interested in the fruit smoothies at Jack-in-the-Box. At
the order speaker I asked how much banana they put into the smoothie
and he hesitated then said it came in a syrup. I requested the
ingredients at the food window which I believe by law, are supposed to
be available to the customer. It took the manager awhile to dig up a
large folded paper and locate the ingredients of the liquid that they
put into the smoothie. Water and corn syrup were at the top. Maybe I
missed it, but I didn't see any fruit. Just fruit flavorings. It
does say real fruit on the order menu however. Maybe I should look at
the ingredients again.
I then asked if they used real milk and ice cream in the milk shake.
That was better with milk and cream ingredients at the top. I just
hope it wasn't from China with melamine in it. It tasted like a shake
should.
Point being, since they can make a decent milk shake, combine a
vanilla flavored milk shake with some blended fruit and I think people
would be more excited about it.
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by ssdf f. Posted Tue September 16, 2008 @ 12:52 PM
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"Ahhh I'm so angry at jack in the box because I was expecting
something amazing and cheap from a fast food restaurant, and then when
it didn't happen I'm shocked. The employee making minimum wage
prepared it wrong too. Sure, it would've cost 30 cents if they had let
me use both coupons, but it's the principal!"
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by Tightwad Turner Posted Tue September 16, 2008 @ 11:44 AM
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The Jack In The Box Smoothie is nothing but a glorified Icee. I asked
for a list of the ingredients in their smoothies and found it was full
of sugar and corn syrup. They did not want me to keep the ingredient
list. They wanted it back. This is not a healthy product at all. The
main ingredients are from Minute Maid and the Coca Cola company which
owns Minute Maid. It's best just to order the Iced Coffee instead. At
least they put real milk in it and you can control the sugar you put
in it, if you so desire.
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by Debba Posted Tue August 26, 2008 @ 3:06 PM
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I paid full price for my fruit syrup. I feel very deceived by their
commercial. They are trying to market this corn syrup as a healthy
"real-fruit" smoothie. I should have refused it at the counter when I
saw it's florescent color.
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by Howard P. Posted Mon July 21, 2008 @ 9:29 PM
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Molly...You're right! I went there today and ordered the strawberry
banana smoothie for the first time. I thought I'd take advantage of
the half off price.
I noticed that they had four 1qt cartons of the different mixes right
on the front counter where people would pick up their orders, which I
thought was very unusual. The attendant proceeded to mix the different
smoothies right there on the counter and just left the four cartons on
the counter unrefrigerated.
I then mentioned to one of the attendants that I was concerned, to
which he replied, "Don't worry about it". I then told him that was no
way to speak to a customer, but he just ignored me, so I asked the
cashier to please refund my money and then I walked out. I am going to
report this incident to Jack in the Box tomorrow.
I called my wife and told her what had happened. Five minutes later
she called me back and told me about your comment on the internet.
After reading your comment, I'm so glad that I didn't end up drinking
any of the stuff.
Thanks, Howard
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Mmmm there's nothing more refreshing on a hot summers than a cold
fruit syrup smoothie......YUCK!
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Great letter.
If they're not putting actual fruit in the smoothie, sounds like
they're lying. From what you describe, these smoothies don't sound
very appetizing. I'm glad you didn't pay full price for them!
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Hey...I like PEZ.
As for the coupon fiasco many places will not take printed off coupons
such as you had. But my question then is why make them availale to
begin with? Walmart and many places refuse to take printed off
coupons.
For the smoothies...many places are making smoothies now using yogurt
and fruited syrups instead of fresh fruit...its easier than keeping
fresh fruit on hand and in most cases (not yours evidently) made
correctly these Smoothies are very good.
Sounds like their ads are decieving yet they do read "real" fruit not
fresh fruit. And these fruit syrups are generally made from real
fruit.
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