Chick-fil-a's Peach Milkshake for Summer

Chick-fil-a has introduced a new peach flavor to their line of "Hand-Spun" milkshakes for the summer months.

It will be offered between June 1 and August 22 this year.

The Peach Milkshake is made with real peaches and "is hand-spun with Chick-fil-a's popular 'home-style' Icedream and topped with light whipped cream and a maraschino cherry."

Chick-fil-a is also now offering a smaller milkshake size for all their shakes that will be a permanent size. They are now offered in 14 oz. or 20 oz. cups and cost $2.49 and $2.89 respectively.

"We continue to build upon the overall success of our Hand-Spun Milkshakes by creating limited-time flavors as a way to celebrate special times of the year," said Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-A's vice president of brand development.

Jack's Holiday Shakes

Looks like it's time for those special fast food holiday shakes!

We wrote about Chick-fil-a's Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake last week.

Now Jack in the Box has announced that their Egg Nog and Pumpkin Shakes are back for the holidays, too.

They have returned each year since their introductions in 2000 and 2004 respectively.

"Our Egg Nog and Pumpkin Pie shakes have become real signs of the season for many of our guests,” said Teka O’Rourke, director of menu marketing and promotions for Jack in the Box Inc. “They're a delicious way to get into the holiday spirit."

They'll be available for a limited time, of course, and priced at $2.49 for the 16 oz size and $2.99 for the 24 oz size.

The 16 oz Egg Nog Shake has 730 calories, 320 of them from fat. But hey, it's the holidays and that New Year's resolution is months away! Go for the 24 oz Egg Nog Shake with 1450 calories, 610 calories from fat, 68 grams of fat (105% of the daily recommended amount) and 24 grams of saturated fat (225% of the daily recommended amount)!! Unfortunately you'll be getting 3 grams of Trans Fat with that, too. Ho Ho Ho!!

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Shake at Chick-fil-a

Coming in November to a Chick-fil-a near you is the Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake.

This new flavor milkshake will be at Chick-fil-a for a limited time, that is, for the holidays.

Yum!

UPDATE: Since I wrote about the shake before the press release came out... here are some more details:

It's hand-spun with Chick-fil-a's "home-style" Icedream and topped with light whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. They come in a 20 oz. cup and are priced at $2.89. The shakes will be available until January 3, 2009.

Sonic's Banana Pudding Shake

Sonic Drive-In wants you to take a trip down memory lane this October with their Banana Pudding Shake.

The shake has Nilla wafers and fresh bananas blended into soft serve ice cream.

It will be available for a limited time only.

Steak n Shake's Halloween shakes

Steak n Shake has added 3 shakes to their menu for Halloween: Caramel Apple, Dark Chocolate Double Fudge, and "Popping Candy." Yes, their putting pop rocks-type candy on top of a shake.

They have a new TV ad promoting the shakes:

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McDonald's towel-water milkshakes

WFTV-TV in Orlando, Florida, is reporting an interesting story about milkshakes at an Orlando-area McDonald's.

According to their report and photos, the McDonald's milkshake machine was seen being filled with 'milk' from a bucket clearly labelled "Soiled Towels Only." (see photo below)

The customer who snapped the photo of the incident reported it to McDonald's corporate headquarters and received the following e-mail:

"The machine was cleaned that morning. They sanitized the bucket to capture milk and after the repair work was done they put the milk back in the machine. This was an isolated incident."

The restaurant was sited for 12 different sanitary violations in August and now state inspectors want to see these photos.

Anyone for a "Towelshake?"

Chick-fil-a's new shake for St. Patrick's day

Chick-fil-a will be introducing a new hand-spun Mint Cookies and Cream Milkshake starting on St. Patrick's Day (March 17). It will be available through June 30th.

The new shake includes Oreo cookies and mint flavoring and will be available in a 20 oz. cup and priced at $2.79.

“The Mint Cookies and Cream Milkshake is just plain fun,” said Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of brand development. “Following last year’s highly successful rollout of Hand-Spun Milkshakes, we wanted to let our customers know that we appreciate their enthusiastic support of the shakes – and that we have a few surprises in store for them!”

Chick-fil-a's Cookies and Cream Milkshake has 790 calories, 300 calories from fat, 33g total fat, 18g saturated fat, .5g trans fat 95mg cholesterol, 660mg sodium, 111g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, and 100g sugars.

Contaminated food claim against Wendy's

There's been another contaminated food claim against Wendy's. It's been two years since the national media event over the false claim of a California woman that she'd found a finger in her Chili at Wendy's. This time the claim is over finding human blood at the bottom of a Wendy's frosty (aka chocolate shake).

Nashville, Tennessee resident William Hoover has filed suit against Wendy's franchisee Bridgeman Foods after allegedly finding human blood at the bottom of his Frosty. "After consuming most of the Frosty, Hoover noticed a red substance on the end of the straw," the lawsuit claims. It also says the substance "was tested and was revealed to be human blood."

more at the Nashville Post.

Jack adds topping and cherry to shakes

Jack in the Box has been adding new flavors to their series of 'real ice cream' shakes and now they're adding whipped topping and a cherry.

Also, Jack's shakes are now served in a clear plastic cup with a domed lid to fit over the new toppings.

They're also adding a new shake flavor: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake.

Jack's shakes are priced at $2.49 for a regular and $2.99 for a large.

New 'Cow Shake' at Hardee's

Hardee's is introducing a new "Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shake made with M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies" The new shake features vanilla ice cream and milk, blended to order with M&M's milk chocolate candies pieces and topped with whipped cream. A scoop of malt powder can be added. The price is $2.99.

To launch the new shake Hardee's has a new TV spot, titled 'Cow Shake Off,' features dueling guys, cows, and the single 'Milkshake' by Kelis. This is a follow-up to last year's successful "Cow Shake" ad.

"Last year when we introduced our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes and Malts with the original 'Cow Shake' ad, it was so popular and drew such an overwhelming response from consumers that we knew we had to create a sequel," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Hardee's.

Wendy's to add vanilla Frosty

After 36 years of only offering a chocolate Frosty, Wendy's is finally going to introduce a Vanilla version in August.

Created by Wendy's Founder Dave Thomas, the original Frosty was one of five products on Wendy's menu in 1969. The Frosty is a cross between a milk shake and soft-serve ice cream. Wendy's serves about 300 million Frosty's annually.

"Dave wanted a dessert on the menu that was so thick you had to eat it with a spoon," said Ian Rowden, Wendy's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "There is nothing quite like the taste and texture of the Frosty. It's a real treat -- one of the best known, most popular and enduring items on our menu."

"Over the years, many of our customers have asked for a Vanilla Frosty to compliment our chocolate version," Rowden said. "By adding another flavor and stepping up our marketing efforts, we will make a strong brand even stronger."

Wendy's has been testing the Vanilla Frosty in Pittsburgh and Erie, Pa.; San Antonio, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and Youngstown, Ohio, where the customer response and sales results have been positive.

Where's the Shamrock Shake?

Since today is Saint Patrick's day, I couldn't help but recall the Shamrock Shake. Unlike the Lenten season, fast food restaurants have not (to my knowledge) made any effort to celebrate St. Pat's day... except for McDonald's with their Shamrock Shake.

But the green, mint flavored, 'triple thick' shake is getting harder to find. Posters at The Gothamist have had a hard time finding one, but some Chicagoist readers have been 'luckier,' they've even been advertised on the radio, evidently. Leave us a comment (below) if you find the Shamrock in your town.

The Shamrock Shake was such an icon as a seasonal promotional product at one time that it actually ranked its own mascot: Uncle O'Grimacey (pictured at left). There's more info on Uncle O'Grimacey on a site dedicated to bringing back the Shamrock Shake.

For some great Shamrock Shake humor, check out this satire from a 1997 Onion article: Sinn Fein Leaders Demand Year-Round Shamrock Shake Availability.

McDonald's only mention of the shake on their site says it is served during the green season in Ireland.

Olympic specials at McDonald's Japan

McDonald's Japan has introduced some new menu items in celebration of the Winter Olympic games in Torino, Italy.

Tomato-stewed chicken hamburgers, bite-sized cheesy-potato balls, and espresso-flavored shakes will be available in Japan until March 9.

I'd try those cheesy-potato balls. They look interesting. Too bad we don't get special olympic food in the states...at least not yet.

Fast food's 'holiday' references

The controversy over "Happy Holidays" vs. "Merry Christmas" seems to have really heated up this year. I actually got invited to a "I'll call it a Christmas Party if I Want To" party! thrown by someone who said they're sick of all the "religious correctness." Many people are being careful not to offend; many of the 'Christmas' cards I got this year did not mention Christmas at all. And of course there's been boycotts against many retailers who've been accused by Christian groups of not including specific Christmas references in their stores, websites, and holiday marketing.

With this in mind, I decided to take a look at some fast food restaurants' web sites today, with Christmas only a day and a half away, and see what sort of 'holiday' references I might find.

The following sites had no mention of the holiday season whatsoever: Burger King, Carls Jr., Chick-fil-a, Church's Chicken, Del Taco, In-N-Out, KFC, Long John Silver's, McDonald's, Panera, and Taco Bell.

One thing about that list really surprised me. I was surprised that Chick-fil-a didn't have a "Merry Christmas" on their site, since they promote themselves as a Christian company every week by keeping their restaurants closed on Sunday.

I didn't see Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza mentioned specifically anywhere, but here are some holiday references I did find:

• Dairy Queen is promoting a "Merry Mint Chip Blizzard" on their site, but doesn't mention Christmas or the holiday season specifically.
• Hardee's had a "Big Holiday Rockin' Good Promo" (an LCD TV giveaway) on their site two days ago, but interestingly, today (12/23), it is just called the "Rockin' Good Promo." Hmm.
• Jack in the Box has special Holiday Antenna Balls.
• Sonic Drive-Ins has a Holiday Scratch & Win Game and a Gingerbread Blast (aka a gingerbread shake).
• Subway has a special section on "Surviving the Holiday Hunger" written by their staff dietician.
• Wendy's homepage promotes and links to some holiday related topics at the Dave Thomas Foundation including a Hallmark Adoption Ornament and a television special that aired Wednesday (12/21) on CBS.