There are few fast food desserts as decadent, satisfying, and dependable as the Blizzard.
But you might be surprised to learn that this frozen treat technically didn't originate
from Dairy Queen, and that it's not even ice cream.
Delicious soft serve with candies and cookies blended into the mix is pretty much definitely
going to be a surefire hit no matter what you call it.
In 1985, Dairy Queen was already a success story with a 40-year-long history of ice cream
treats like banana splits and Dilly bars.
But that year the chain added a menu item that would forever alter its history.
Obviously, that item is the Blizzard, and when it debuted, people couldn't get enough of it.
The Blizzard rolled out in Dairy Queen locations in 1985, and by 1986 the company was projecting
to sell 175 million Blizzards, almost twice what it sold in the first year.
Dairy Queen's president at the time, Harris Cooper, called it, quote, "the biggest thing
that has happened to Dairy Queen in the last 25 years."
Considering just how popular DQ's Blizzards still are more than 30 years later, it's fair
to say that Cooper was spot-on with his assessment.
The Blizzard wasn't invented in some high-rise boardroom or fancy fast food think tank, but
rather, by a Dairy Queen franchise holder in Missouri.
One of the company's most successful franchisees, Samuel Temperato owned 67 locations in the
St. Louis area at the time of the Blizzard's creation.
He would eventually expand his ice cream empire to 81 Dairy Queens.
Although Temperato took credit for bringing the Blizzard to Dairy Queen's senior executives
and held a patent on the Blizzard machine, he somewhat disagreed with DQ officials dubbing
him the Blizzard's inventor.
He made sure to give credit where credit was due, and as far back as 1986, he wanted to
make sure the public knew that the spark for creating what would become the Blizzard actually
came from a Dairy Queen competitor.
That competitor was Ted Drewes Jr., who ran the popular Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stands,
which are still in business today.
Drewes' popular item that helped him compete with Dairy Queen was his frozen custard concrete.
He didn't add candy to his custard, but Temperato saw the value in such an addition, and thus,
the Blizzard was born.
You would've been wise to purchase some Dairy Queen stock in 1984 right before the Blizzard launched.
Needless to say, when you sell 175 million of anything, business is good, and your stock
price moves upward.
To give you an idea of just how big an impact the Blizzard had on Dairy Queen's financial
health, in 1985 the company reported a net income of $9.6 million with $151 million in sales.
By 1986, financial experts estimated the company's net income to be $13 million from sales of
$185 million.
That's roughly a 26 percent spike in profit and almost all of that was due to the Blizzard.
At the time, Dairy Queen sold a 12-ounce Blizzard for just $1.29 and the 21-ounce version for
$1.99, and it didn't take long for the company's stock to rise.
In early 1985, it was at around $40 a share, but by mid-October it had already risen to
$72.50.
For shareholders at the time, the only thing sweeter than the Blizzard itself was the wealth
that came with it.
For ice cream lovers, working at a Dairy Queen might sound like a fantasy job, but it turns
out that making all those Blizzards can be draining.
When Dairy Queen rolled out the Blizzard in 1985, the treat was available in four different
mix-in flavors: Oreo, M&Ms, Heath Bars, and Snickers.
Ten flavors of syrup were available with 35 different menu combinations to choose from.
The Blizzard machine cost each franchise around $500 and its deafening whine was more than
a little annoying.
But the biggest pain of making Blizzards back in the day was crushing up all those mix-ins.
It's very easy to buy pre-chopped candy today, but that didn't used to be the case.
In fact, 30 years ago M&M/Mars flat out refused to sell broken candy bars and cited that a
"quality product" was a complete bar.
The only alternative was for Dairy Queen employees to spend hours crushing up the different mix-ins
to meet the public's Blizzard demands.
Most Blizzard-lovers probably don't realize how close they came to losing their favorite
flavors forever.
All those great mix-ins like Heath, M&Ms, and Snickers belong to the Mars candy company,
and in 2016 somebody with way too much power decided it wasn't a good idea to partner with
Dairy Queen.
Mars suddenly grew a conscience concerning how items like the Blizzard and McDonald's
McFlurry exceed in just a single serving the daily amount of sugar that the U.S. government
recommends per person.
We're not going to argue that an M&M Blizzard isn't loaded with sugar, but people generally
know what they're getting into when they order ice cream mixed with a candy bar.
Mars quickly took heat from critics who said that the company was being hypocritical and
silly since everything in the Blizzard was all junk food to begin with.
Mars eventually came to its senses, as you can still find mix-ins like Heath and M&Ms
on the Dairy Queen menu.
You might think that Blizzards are one of the most famous ice cream-based treats in
the country, but it turns out, they're not made with real ice cream.
That's right, this delicious frozen treat is an ice cream impostor.
It's still a very real dairy-based product, but it can't be categorized as ice cream,
and that has to do with the Food and Drug Administration regulations.
The science geeks over at the FDA don't take their ice cream titles lightly.
They require that for a product to technically be called ice cream, it must contain at least
10 percent butterfat or milkfat.
This is also why McDonald's has "shakes" and not "milkshakes."
Dairy Queen soft serve only contains half the necessary butterfat to meet the ice cream
requirement.
There are also some specifics regarding air, which is added to the soft serve to help it
become a little lighter for the blending process, which results in Blizzards melting quicker
than your standard ice cream.
If you've ever ordered a Blizzard, chances are you've seen a Dairy Queen employee turn
your treat upside down before handing it to you.
This somewhat bizarre practice of proving just how thick the Blizzard is didn't come
about after a Dairy Queen brainstorm session.
It turns out that Ted Drewes, whose custard was the inspiration for the Blizzard, is also
likely responsible for the upside down gimmick.
In the late 1950s, a 14-year-old kid in St. Louis by the name of Steve Gambler was a regular
at Drewes Custard who routinely challenged the business owner to thicken up his custard.
Eventually, just to shut him up, Drewes handed Gambler a custard upside down and asked him,
"Is that thick enough for you?"
Considering that Samuel Temperato took the very idea of the Blizzard from Drewes, it's
not too much of a leap to figure that he also took the ability to flip it from him, too.
Making a Blizzard so thick that it can be held upside down without spilling onto the
floor might not be rocket science, but there still is some science behind it.
It's all about temperature and viscosity.
The soft serve is stored at exactly 23 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure that it has the right texture.
Emulsifiers, the magical ingredients that slow down the melting process of ice cream,
give it a very high viscosity, allowing it to remain in its cup when flipped upside down.
Dairy Queen of course wants to show off that Blizzard science with the upside down test,
and it could nab you a free treat.
In 2015, the company announced that Blizzards that were not served upside down would be free.
The policy used to vary from store to store depending on how the owner felt about pushing
employees into odd customer interactions, but in 2016, it was announced that the offer
would even be available in drive-thru locations.
"Whoa!
Hahahaha!
You get two free ones for that."
It turns out that an employee forgetting the upside down test isn't the only way to get
a Blizzard for free.
Dairy Queen occasionally runs promotions to drum up excitement about its signature treat,
and nothing gets people talking like free ice cream.
In 2018, the chain was giving away free Blizzards in an effort to get people using its app.
All folks had to do was download the app and create an account to get a digital coupon
for a free small Blizzard.
"A Blizzard's not a bad idea.
That's why I was showing pictures of snow."
"Yeah, right?"
"Kind of thinking cool thoughts all the way around."
Getting a free dessert for using an app is fine and all, but it doesn't compare to the
wow factor that happened in 2010.
To celebrate the treat's 25th birthday, Dairy Queen unveiled the Blizzard Mobile.
This food truck went on a 25-city tour across the lower 48 states and delivered more than
75,000 free mini Blizzards.
If any proof was needed as to how popular the Blizzard Mobile was, AdWeek summed it
up perfectly with the headline,
"DQ's Blizzardmobile turns people into idiots."
There are a number of articles floating around the internet that aim to end the debate once
and for all regarding which Blizzard flavor is the best.
But what many of these rankings fail to take into account is that in the United States,
we're not even getting the full taste of the Blizzard's true coat of many colors.
The most popular Blizzard flavor in the United States might be Oreo, but that's not necessarily
the case overseas.
For Dairy Queen patrons in Asia, the green tea Blizzard is all the rage.
The company has been in China since 1990 and now boasts more than 700 locations in country.that
In fact, Dairy Queen is so big overseas that they now serve 27 countries outside of the U.S.
A big part of Dairy Queen's success in the foreign market has been finding the right
flavors that could work in its existing menu and still appeal to a different customer palette.
As Kevin Lee, a former manager at DQ International, told Fortune in 2013,
"You have to get to know your customer and offer flavors that cater to the local market.
In northern China, people love strong flavors but enjoy fruit-based desserts and less chocolate.
In southern China, green tea-based flavors are more popular, and there's more consumption
of chocolate, but it can't be the central flavor."
Should you ever be lucky enough to visit Dairy Queen in another part of the world, you'll
be able to indulge in Blizzard flavors like mango cheesecake and green tea almond.
For the Blizzard's first 30 years, it was trucking along fine with different candies,
cookies, and syrups blended into the soft serve.
Then something new and wonderful happened in 2016.
Dairy Queen decided to up its game and tunnel out a cavity of the Blizzard and fill it up
with fudge, strawberry jam, or whipped marshmallow, calling the new offering the "Royal Blizzard."
Though it might sound a little bizarre, the name "Royal Blizzard" was a marketing gimmick
designed to capitalize on Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday.
The customary red spoon was even temporarily switched out with a sparkly gold one.
Because, of course, the queen isn't going to use a common peasant's red spoon when she
enjoys her Blizzards.
"Oh, there's fudge in here?"
"Oh yeah, the queen will devour this."
As instantly popular as the Royal Blizzard was, Dairy Queen once again couldn't take
full credit for this idea.
If the presence of an inner core of goodness within your ice cream sounds familiar, that's
because Ben & Jerry's did it first with its line of Core ice creams in 2014.
So even though the idea wasn't 100 percent a Dairy Queen original, it was still the company's
biggest innovation with the treat in three decades, so kudos for that, DQ.
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