[UPDATE EDIT]
My review when from 3 stars to a 1 star recommendation as a place to avoid. Here's why ... this place is steadily going downhill. It's becoming a hangout for non-customer sketchy teen friends of the staff, with no customers in sight. Today I ordered an Italian Grinder, what I got is not what I ordered, it's some sort of chicken salad with very old wilted lettuce (see photo). Despite my app clearly showing what I ordered and it even being printed correct on my receipt Eegee's refused to do anything, regardless that it was their fault they say it's against their company policy to replace a sandwich after it has left the store. Tell me who opens a wrapped sandwich they're picking up to go before they drive off? Write to their Tucson HQ? The owners ignore you. 30 stores and they can't even manage that and they want to convince people to buy franchises to this failing company? They blame their regional manager, their responses to negative reviews are canned "bot" platitudes and the owners ignore emails sent to them. I've updated my original review now, dropping it to 1 star after my 5th (and last ever) visit to Eegee's, I doubt they will still be in business next year. Save yourself the trouble, this place is a dump.
[ORIGINAL REVIEW]
Although I had never heard of this small Tucson based milkshake chain I was interested in trying them. I do everything I can to avoid the huge fast food chains, preferring to keep my money in town with local small business. This one isn't local but they are small (30 locations). My experience with them has been a roller-coaster ride to say the least. I actually have yet to try their shakes which is their main menu item, mostly due to their bait and switch ploy of offering a sample then pulling it away in the hope you'll pay for one instead. I mean how much could it cost them to make what amounts to a slushie? What has brought me back four times are their sub/grinder sandwiches, a decided secondary menu item for them. Each time I've ordered online, three of them using their app, which is appallingly bad.
So here's the positive news - they make a fairly good sub sandwich and it costs somewhere between a Subway and the way overpriced Jersey Mikes. You don't get anywhere near the number of options and toppings as Subway offers but you don't get any of the negative vibes that seem to come with Mike's way.
Now the bad news. Their Crismon store, which is them dipping their toe into the Phoenix area market, is underperforming to the point I wonder why they bother with it. I have never seen more than one other person there. I do see a lot of kids who are friends of the employees hanging out, chatting it up with the staff. As a customer I shouldn't have to ask them to move out of the way so I can buy something. And that's with the manager on duty standing right there! Reading other reviews it seems like bad-to-horrible customer service is their #1 complaint, you would think someone besides "Tina" would read these reviews and actually care rather than post flaccid cookie-cutter web-bot responses which offer feel-good homilies but zero action and results.
Back to that app for a minute - I know this is a small company trying to act big but I wonder sometimes if the three guys behind it are actively looking at the business or it's just an investment thing for them. They make a big point about earning "points" for each visit by scanning a QR code at the window or from your receipt yet the store employees don't know anything about it. They say they don't have any QR code thingie in the store and their receipts don't print QR codes. How could they be open so long and they don't know about their biggest source of return visits or worse, how the owners don't know that their trial balloon franchise store isn't set up to work with their app? Then there's that mystery "free" slurpie - when I tried (three times) to redeem it the store employees say it's for "next time" despite the app having a countdown timer that shows it expiring a couple of hours later. I mean how much would it cost them to just honor the damn drink offer rather than try to pretend it doesn't exist?
The bottom line is that most fast food franchises fail unless they are McDonalds, Subway or one of the major brands. There is absolutely nothing here to entice a new customer to drive in to this location in a dark vacant lot in a part of town than has no major business nearby and that totally dries up after 5 PM. And by the way, they don't even have a driveway, you have to hunt for by winding around Dutch Bros' parking lot.
They seem to be paying big bucks for a website and phone app but don't know how to use it and are unable to train and supervise their employees remotely 3 hours away from HQ. I can't say how the elusive drink that appears to be their main menu item is but I can say I like their sandwiches if they can keep the quality up and the price low (it seems the double meat option is already gone). read more