When you purchase ice cream....

[bringmagicback]

When you go to an ice cream place (non grocery store) like dairy queen for example. What do you normally order? Soft Serve? Malt or blizzard type? Hard serve (or hard pack)? other (and what)?

We are having an ice cream fundraiser next year at our city festival and curious as to what is most popular

 

[cmjh10]

Malt/Blizzard

 

[3TrueFans]

Blizzard all day

 

[JP4CY]

Sonic when it's the late night happy hour for shakes. Otherwise a blizzard/concrete mixer.

Only time I eat soft serve is at Hilton Coliseum.

 

[IASTATE07]

I generally like thicker ice cream like the custard place on SE14th.

 

[cycart]

Really depends on the day. Some days I'm a huge twist fan other days I like a good strawberry shake. Regardless, I love ice cream and it loves me... I think

 

[VeloClone]

If I am going to a real ice cream shop I will get real ice cream. If I am going to DQ I will get DQ (which is what they call their soft serve - or at least they used to) or a blizzard.

My advice would be to do what you can do well. People will appreciate something done well rather than a popular choice done poorly.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Depends what I'm in the mood for, but most of the time it's shake/blizzard types (I don't do malts - I'm not a fan of malt powder).

Whitey's I'm about 75% of the time getting shakes (particularly a Kit Kat shake with vanilla ice cream) - otherwise it's a brownie-under sundae
DQ I'm about 95% of the time getting a Blizzard
McDonalds's I'm about 90% of the time getting shakes or McFlurrys

Hersey's Ice Cream (about half a mile from my house) would be the lone exception to this - there it's always hard serve and/or sundaes.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Blizzard or similar unless it's a real ice cream place like Oberweis (apologies if that's not considered "real" I'm not ice cream cultured).

 

[michaelrr1]

https://www.facebook.com/The-Dairy-Mart-142219022627641/

The Dairy Mart in Glidden has the best soft serve I've ever had. And their butterscotch malts are fantastic.

Plus, check out their facebook picture.

 

[NWICY]

Festival type things I think a malt/shake would do well, not as messy for you or the customer. can premake some even. My only recommendation would be keep it simple like maybe 3 flavors Choc., Vanilla, Strawberry. Agree with Velo figure out a good recipe keep it simple and it should go well.

 

[jkclone]

I'd look to the Dairy Barn at the state fair for success. They've done it forever and do well. I'd suggest hard serve and shakes if you could.

 

[Farnsworth]

Never really go out for Ice Cream, normally just get Americone Dream at Hy-Vee.

But when we are in the QC, always love me some Whitey's. Banana Split Shake all day long.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

If I have the choice it would be hard serve. Now if you go some small town local burger stand like Starbucks in Nevada they usually only have soft serve.

I would think for a fundraiser you would need to think in terms of cost and ease of delivery. I would think you could move a lot more soft serve cones or bowls than hard serve. Soft serve would most likely be more cost effective.

 

[c.y.c.l.o.n.e.s]

I would recommend that you do hard serve because if you have enough coolers and ice you can make it up ahead of time. If you do soft serve or blizzard you run the risk of having ice cream machines that can't keep up with demand during busy times. If you really want to sell a lot of ice cream, find a bunch of people that own home made ice cream freezers and make your own (but that's a lot of extra work).

 

[urb1]

Baskin Robbins ice cream cones are one of my favorite things I treat myself to once or twice a year.

 

[jcyclonee]

I generally prefer the regular (hard serve) ice cream but it varies a bit depending on my mood. I don't think you can go wrong with ice cream.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I love it all.

For a festival, you may try having both hard and soft serve if you think you will get a good crowd. If you could have some pre-made servings of hard-serve that you can store in a cooler for the quick sale in addition to the soft serve, you could cater to everyone.

If you have to go with one or the other, I'd go for soft serve. Smaller kids tend to prefer soft serve, and they will bring parents with them.

People love blizzard-type desserts, but that seems like a PITA if you are looking for volume sales. Plus, that's a lot of extra work for what you can feasibly charge.

 

[ISU2]

well now I guess I have to buy ice cream on the way home

 

[bringmagicback]

If I have the choice it would be hard serve. Now if you go some small town local burger stand like Starbucks in Nevada they usually only have soft serve.

I would think for a fundraiser you would need to think in terms of cost and ease of delivery. I would think you could move a lot more soft serve cones or bowls than hard serve. Soft serve would most likely be more cost effective.

soft serve machine is 5 grand and up