The McFlurry is a brand-name of frozen soft serve dessert produced and sold by American-based multinational fast food chain McDonald's. It is served in a plastic cup, with additional mixed-in ingredients such as candy and cookie fragments and sweet topping sauces. It was created in 1995 and officially introduced in 1997.
The McFlurry was created by Canadian McDonald's franchisee Ron McLellan in Bathurst, New Brunswick, in 1995. [1] [2] [3] In the U.S., the McFlurry was test-marketed in select regions in 1997. By March 1998, the product was available to all American and Canadian locations and has been gradually introduced in various other locations since then. [4]
Until September 2006, the McFlurry was served with a container lid having an opening that was of a size that caused some animals to become trapped with their head stuck inside the discarded containers. An outcry in the UK, particularly to protect European hedgehogs, caused a redesign in the container shape. [5] After "significant research and design testing", the company addressed the problem in 2006 by reducing the size of the opening to prevent entry of an animal's head. [6] In June 2019, McDonald's announced it planned to stop using lids on McFlurrys in the United Kingdom by September 2019, as part of a move to reduce the use of single-use plastics by the chain. [7] However, lids with circular openings are still being used in some other markets as of September 2023.
30 Rock prominently featured the McFlurry in the plot of its season 3 episode 11, "St. Valentine's Day". [8] Although some commenters interpreted the prominence of the product in the episode as heavy-handed product placement, [8] it was later reported that McDonald's had not paid to have it featured, [9] and the show's producers were even worried that McDonald's might sue them for featuring it without authorization. [10]
The McFlurry consists of whipped, soft serve McDonald's vanilla-flavored ice cream in a cup. The McFlurry has a specially designed spoon with a hole in the handle which is attached to a blender. Various types of candy or cookies are added to the cup, which are then blended into the ice cream using the spoon. McFlurry flavors vary from market to market, and new flavors are introduced regularly.
The ice cream in a McFlurry is the same that McDonald's uses for its cones and sundaes. [11] The ice cream is made from ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurized milk, extended with methylcellulose.[ citation needed ] CNBC reported that, from late 2016, McDonald's started phasing out artificial flavors from its vanilla ice cream. [11] The change was part of an effort to recover the more than 500 million customer visits it had lost since 2012. [11]
Despite referring to the McFlurry as "a quick-serve medley of gelatinous, innocuous ice cream that some reviewers might consider closer to caulk than dairy", Wil Fulton and Kat Thompson of Thrillist described the M&M McFlurry as "the epitome of low stakes, drive-thru fun", placing it at the end of their list of the 13 Best Fast Food Desserts. [12] Dan Myers of The Daily Meal included the Oreo McFlurry in its (unranked) list of 10 Best Fast Food Desserts, saying "You'd be hard-pressed to encounter anyone who isn't a fan of this sweet treat." [13]
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. In some parts of the world there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
A milkshake is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may also be made using a base made from non-dairy products, including plant milks such as almond milk, coconut milk, or soy milk. Dry ingredients such as whole fruit, nuts, seeds, candy, or cookies may be incorporated.
Oreo is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet fondant filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers and splits both Nabisco and the Oreo brand have been owned by Mondelez International since 2012. Oreo cookies are available in over one hundred countries. Many varieties of Oreo cookies have been produced, and limited-edition runs have become popular in the 21st century.
Drumstick is the brand name, owned by Froneri, a joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners, for a variety of frozen dessert-filled ice cream cones sold in the United States, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and other countries. The original product was invented by I.C. Parker of the Drumstick Company of Fort Worth, Texas, in 1928.
LOTTERIA is a South Korean company that operates a chain of fast food restaurants in East Asia, having opened its first restaurant in Tokyo in September 1972. Taking its name from its parent company, Lotte Corporation, it currently has franchises in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. The origin of the name is a combination of corporate names Lotte and Cafeteria.
Breyers is a brand of ice cream started in 1866 by William A. Breyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Snack Pack is a brand of pudding and gelatin snacks manufactured since 1968 by ConAgra Foods.
Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. ("Dreyer's"), is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, where its present-day headquarters office remains. The company's two signature brands, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream and Edy's Grand Ice Cream, are named after its founders, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy. The Dreyer's brand is sold in the Western United States and Texas, while the Edy's brand is sold in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
Ice cream parlors or ice cream parlours are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream, and/or soft serve, which is usually dispensed by a machine with a limited number of flavors. Ice cream parlors generally offer a number of flavors and items. Parlors often serve ice cream and other frozen desserts in cones, cups or dishes, the latter two to be eaten with a spoon. Some ice cream parlors prepare ice cream desserts such as sundaes or milkshakes, or even a blend.
Cookies and cream is a variety of ice cream, milkshake and other desserts that includes chocolate sandwich cookies, with the most popular version containing hand or pre-crumbled cookies from Nabisco's Oreo brand under a licensing agreement. Cookies and cream ice cream generally mixes crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies into vanilla ice cream, though variations exist which might instead use chocolate, coffee or mint ice cream.
Chocolate ice cream is ice cream with natural or artificial chocolate flavoring. One of the oldest flavors of ice creams, it is also one of the world's most popular. While most often sold alone, it is also a base for many other flavors.
Mövenpick Ice Cream is a brand of ice cream of Swiss origin produced initially by Nestlé. Since 2016, Froneri - a joint venture between Nestlé and R&R Ice Cream - manufactures it.
Sold at Hungry Jack's, Burger King's Australian franchise, a Storm is a flavoured ice cream dessert similar to McDonald's McFlurry ice cream. The product consists of vanilla flavoured soft serve ice cream served with either one of four flavours; Cookies & Cream (Oreo), Flake, Mini M&Ms or Bubblegum. The selected flavour is then whipped together with the ice cream using a blender. Limited time toppings such as biscoff have been created.
Parfait is either of two types of dessert. In France, where the dish originated, parfait is made by boiling cream, egg, sugar and syrup to create a custard-like or meringue-like puree which is then frozen. The American version consists of layers differentiated by the inclusion of such ingredients as granola, nuts, yogurt and liqueurs, topped off with fruits or whipped cream.
Vanilla is frequently used to flavor ice cream, especially in North America, Asia, and Europe. Vanilla ice cream, like other flavors of ice cream, was originally created by cooling a mixture made of cream, sugar, and vanilla above a container of ice and salt. The type of vanilla used to flavor ice cream varies by location. In North America and Europe consumers are interested in a more prominent, smoky flavor, while in Ireland, a more anise-like flavor is desired. To create the smooth consistency of ice cream, the mixture has to be stirred occasionally and then returned to the container of ice and salt to continue the solidification process. According to Iced: 180 Very Cool Concoctions, many people often consider vanilla to be the "default" or "plain" flavor of ice cream.
Stir-fried ice cream, also known as rolled ice cream, is a sweetened frozen dessert. It is made using milk, cream and sugars as well as other added ingredients to improve the flavor. The liquid mixture is stirred to incorporate air spaces on an ice pan and simultaneously cooled to −30 °C (−22 °F). The completed rolling process results in rolls of smooth, semisolid ice cream or gelato. The rolls are placed in a vertical position in an ice cream cup, topped off with various toppings and decorations, and eaten with a spoon.
Kue bangkit is a small biscuit in Malay cuisine made from sago starch, commonly found especially among the Malay communities in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. This biscuit has various colours, ranging from white, yellowish to brown, depends on the additional ingredients.
The McDonald's fast food chain has used multiple ice cream machines at its various locations, but primarily those made by the Taylor Company. In 1956, Ray Kroc, who would soon become the founding owner-operator of the McDonald's franchise business, made a handshake agreement with Taylor for that company to supply milkshake machines for the fast food chain as its exclusive supplier, and the strong relationship between the two companies has continued to the present day. The most prominent of the machines is the Taylor C602, which is used at about 13,000 of the 40,000 McDonald's restaurants and is notorious for reliability issues. In 2000, an internal McDonald's survey showed that a quarter of restaurants were reporting that the machines were nonfunctional. The machine is used to produce both shakes and ice cream desserts including soft serve cones, sundaes and McFlurries. In recent years, McDonald's has also allowed franchisees to purchase other machines made by Carpigiani.