The advantage of Facebook-friending Robeks Claremont

Some time ago, I discovered that the Robeks smoothie place in Claremont had its own Facebook page, and I went ahead and joined it. Which ended up paying off.

The page itself is private, so I can't really show it to you, but last weekend they announced that they were going to have a "Free Coffee Smoothies" special on Tuesday between 6pm and 7pm. Customers could sample three of their new smoothies - coffee, mocha, and hazelnut - and the first fifteen people who signed up on Facebook would then be eligible to get a free 12 oz coffee smoothie. However, you had to give Robeks the right to make a Facebook/MySpace commercial of your experience.

By the time I saw the announcement, more than 15 people had already signed up, so I knew that I wouldn't get the free smoothie, but I figured that I'd try the samples.

Unfortunately for Robeks, the hour of their special happened to be the exact same hour that a fierce rainstorm was pelting Claremont. Therefore, by the time I arrived at Robeks at around 6:20 pm, there were fewer than 15 people in the store.

Way fewer.

As in, five people - if you count the two employees.

So the best laid plans of mice and smoothie shops are at the mercy of freak Southern California weather.

They did ask my ratings of the three smoothies on a 1-10 scale, and I gave the coffee smoothie a 7.5-8, the hazelnut smoothie a 6 (I'm not a hazelnut fan), and the mocha a 9.

And because of the low crowds, Robeks gave me one of the coupons anyway - which I then proceeded to give to my daughter later in the evening. (She's the one who introduced me to Robeks anyway, so I owed her something.)

Oh, and they didn't feature me in a Facebook or MySpace commercial - but I am admittedly way outside of their target market...

Incidentally, if you're an Inland Empire Facebook user, just search for "Robeks Claremont" and you'll find their page.