The Poor, Misunderstood Wendy's Frosty
What, exactly, is a Wendy's Frosty? Is it a beverage? Is it a milkshake? Is it soft-serve ice cream? Is it simply a vehicle for delivering diamonds to one's digestive tract? More to the point, is it a beverage or a dessert? Reader Carl doesn't know. Neither does his local Wendy's.
Wendy's has a new campaign for a coffee-toffee twisted Frosty. Chocolate + coffee + toffee is the most synergistic combination of flavours known to man. For those who say food is no substitute for medicine, this concoction can cure cancer and foul moods. Needless to say, I made a beeline for Wendy's to sample such a divine cup of love at the first excuse I could find to leave the house. And I was not disappointed. I enjoyed it so much that I saved the lower half for the freezer.
By a bizarre serendipity, an advert from Wendy's appeared on our doors in the neighborhood today. Sadly no free Frosty coupon, but something better. Free breakfast sandwiches with any drink purchase. Granted I am not big on breakfast, it was just another excuse to procure a Frosty. My intention was to secure my treat and pass the sandwich to my wife. I ordered my sandwich and Frosty. I was told I couldn't use the coupon because the Frosty wasn't a drink.
Clerk: You can't use this coupon for that.
Me: Why? It is valid for this date, I've ordered a drink and the requisite panini.
Clerk: Because you have to purchase a drink with it. What do you want to drink?
Me: I ordered the coffee-toffee-twisted-frosty (this is ridiculous to say, but so worth it) for my drink!
Clerk: But you got to order a drink for the free sandwich.
Me: The Frosty!
Clerk: It's not a drink. You want a drink or not?
Me: But what is a Frosty then? Is it not served in a cup with a straw, as any other beverage?
Clerk: Well... (holds up hands)
Me: (stares)
Clerk: It isn't technically a drink.
Me: Well what is it, technically? A dessert?
Clerk: No, because we don't got dessert. I mean, we got orange cups for the kids meals.
Me: So none of the twisted Frostys are desserts. And they are not beverages. So what would you call them? I would call it an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert, all at once.
Clerk: (starting to look confused, expediter places my sandwich and Frosty on the tray) Do you want me to get my manager?
Me: No, I want you to charge me for a Frosty and honor the coupon.
Clerk: (pushes tray at me, beginning to panic) Uhm, I don't think I can do that, so I guess I can't charge you? Have a nice day sir!And I walk out with a free sandwich and a free Frosty. I still have the coupon, so I might just try that again.
I'm not sure I buy the part where Carl walks out of the restaurant with a free breakfast, but stranger things have happened.
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Comments:
I always thought it was a drink, because you can sub it for a drink in a combo meal. Mmmm... spicy chicken sandwich with a frosty...
I'm pretty sure that if you "eat" a Frosty, you will poop it out... you won't pee it out.
i don't think it's a drink.
Wendy's serves breakfast?
Either way I can never drink a frosty with a straw so I call it a dessert
LOL! Free food always wins.
Moral of story: confuse an agent of a fast food restaurant enough, and you win.
I voted dessert, but this brings up an interesting conundrum. Is a milkshake a dessert or a drink? You can sip it from a straw, but it's sweet and full of ice creamy goodness and ice cream is a dessert. If a Frosty is a milkshake in essence, then it's a dessert - but if you say a milkshake can also be a drink, then a Frosty is a drink.
I'm not ruling out poor cashier training, but I can see why Wendy's would exclude frosties would be classified differently, thus not subject to the promotion.
Soda and coffee are dirt cheap, costing around 1-2 cents an ounce (including cup) while I'm sure a frosty is at least 10x that.
It's a dip for your fries.
Mmmm... fries + Frosty.
@Cornelius047: The frosty is shipped to Wendy's in liquid form in a giant plastic bag. I'm sure at least SOME of that is going through your urethra.
I pondered this as well at some point, and finally decided it most closely resembled a cup of soft-serve ice cream, and wasn't fit to consume via a straw while driving a car.
I think, technically, it's a cross between a milkshake and soft-serve ice cream - they've been on Unwrapped before but I forget what they said it actually was. I do remember that it's half chocolate, half vanilla though.
If I can pay extra to sub a Frosty for a soda in a combo meal, its a drink!
@Jesse:
Sorry, I forgot to delete "Wendy's would exclude" from my comment. I have not had my coffee yet this morning.
@BCK: Wendy's serves great breakfast. Their sandwiches are on buttermilk buscuits! So tasty and fattening, I love it.
If you have to eat it with a spoon, it isn't a drink. Have you ever been able to suck that up through a straw?
And by the way, I love the new twisted frosty's.
Well, it is in a cup. And not just any cup, the same cups they use for drinks. Why would you put something in a vessel in which it doesn't belong?
If you let it melt, it's most certainly a drink. Then again, that happens with many things we would most certainly not call drinks ... like ice cream. Maybe the guy should have just argued for a few more minutes so it would have melted, and he could have said "Look! It's definitely a drink now!"
Also, if Wendy's "don't got dessert," that sort of eliminates the notion that it could be a dessert, doesn't it?
Then again, it's next to impossible to consume it with a straw before it melts. And would you really want to put toffee bits (or any of the other things Wendy's puts in Frostys) in a drink? No, you would put them in a dessert.
I'm hungry ...
As someone who is not a patron of Wendy's very often, can someone tell me if the frosty is any good? I have heard a few friend who claim to be members of the "dip fries in frosty" cult, but I have yet to even try the dessert/beverage/food type thing previously mentioned.
@pecan 3.14159265: My fiancé and I have mild arguments over this fairly often. We go to a local diner for a weekend brunch every so often (maybe once a month, on average) and he always wants a delicious diner milkshake. "It's my drink," he explains (while slurping). "11:00 is too early to have an ice cream dessert," I counter.
Me, I need my caffeine and bacon so I must forgo milkshake calories. ;)
Does it matter either way? More importantly, WhyTF does a clerk making minimum wage care whether or not a Frosty is or isn't a drink that works with the coupon? It is not as though he is saving himself the 50 cents that the sandwich costs.
@Etoiles: I swear, when I talk to Mr. Pi today, I'm going to ask him this very question and we'll probably spend a good amount of time trying to figure it out. I need a milkshake for lunch today. But if I go around noon, that's okay, right? It's not too early? I'm having coffee right now...what if I had a coffee milkshake and a sandwich with bacon on it?
I need more sleep and I need more caffeine.
What is a Frosty?
In college I bought a Frosty late at night after having one too many drinks. I was also a little too tipsy to remember to eat/drink the Frosty and left it on the coffee table overnight with the straw sticking out the top. In the morning the Frosty had hardened to the consistency of a powdery concrete and you could pick the entire thing up by the straw. I'll still get one occasionally but this event put a damper on my Frosty enjoyment.
@VeryFancyBunny: I've never understood why people do this. I tried it once or twice, I found it disgusting! Someone tell me what's so good about dipping fries in Frosty?
@Cornelius047: for your viewing pleasure...
Girl swallows engagement ring after BF puts it in a Wendy's Frosty
@pecan 3.14159265: I have a 12:00 rule for ice cream the same way that other people have a 5:00 rule for alcohol. ;)
Also, now I'm really starting to want a milkshake. I wonder if the strawberry-pomegranate smoothies they're selling in the coffee shop downstairs will do it...
@Baxterjones: That's what I was going to point out. If you can substitute it for the regular drink in a meal, it's a drink.
I order a Frosty every now and then, it's never been served with a straw, just a spoon, so I'd have to day it's a dessert. It's definitely thicker than any other fast food milkshakes, I've never even thought it it as a milkshake, just a cup of soft serve ice cream.
The root beer float Frosty on the other hand is a delicious beveregy dessert.
@TCama: Okay, so this brings up another question: McDonalds McFlurries - are they drinks or are they desserts? Cause they put McFlurries in cups that are separate from the ones they use for sodas. I know it's because of the top they put on it and the plastic spoon they give you, but if the McFlurry is - in essence - put in a cup in the same shape and general type as a regular cup used for soda, is the McFlurry a drink?
@Jeremy82465: Fries in frosty = salty and sweet. Some people really dig it, I do not. There is just enough potato flavor to mess up the the mix of Salt.
Chocolate Frosty is a very smooth, mild milk chocolate flavor, the Vanilla Frosty is very strongly vanilla. Both are really creamy.
My vote is for Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverage.
@Jeremy82465: very good, even the vanilla is good.
even better on fries.
you really should go to a Wendy's and get a Frosty. Come to the DarkSide.
You can't drink a frosty with a straw, yet getting them through the drive-thru invariably results in getting BOTH a spoon and a straw with it. Clearly, no one knows what they are and are covering all their bases. I call it a dessert.
Also, I am a member of the Dip Fries in Frosty cult. It is for Teh Win! I also dip fries in all manner of shakes when I can. \o/
A good friend and I have pondered this frosty conundrum many times, just what is a frosty? Our conclusion has been to enjoy it with ignorant bliss, they go too well with the Jr. Bacon's.
When my wife didn't see eye to eye on our don't ask don't tell frosty policy, my friends response was simply "you don't need to know what it is to like it!"
@pecan 3.14159265: Dessert. Look at the caloric value of your typical milk-shake.
Want a chocolaty drink with your dinner? Drink a chocolate milk or a Yoohoo. They're not great, but you're better off...
A frosty is a dessert until it melts!
@pecan 3.14159265: No sir. It comes in a different cup with a special top and they serve it with a spoon. We don't drink drinks with spoons.
... I can see this evolving to a soup discussion. =\
it must be a drink if they let you choose it in the combos you buy
@pecan 3.14159265: Must be a hard-wired taste. I think the combination of salty and sweet, plus hot and cold, works perfectly. Admittedly, I only really get a craving for it once or twice a year, usually on road trips!
A frosty is there for me to dip my fries in......mmmmmm Frosty and Fries.
@zentex: Haha, maybe this weekend ill swing by and grab a Vanilla. I am not a fan of chocolate ice cream so I think I might be weary of the chocolate frosty.
@rpm773: But I have a milkshake three or four times a year at most. I don't think a milkshake today is going to be a problem.
And sodas have a ton of calories...I'm pretty sure a lot of beer has a ton of calories as well. A 12 oz. glass of Blue Moon has 171 calories in it, while the 16 oz. vanilla milkshake at Potbelly's has 610. Not even counting the increase in cholesterol, the average person would probably have one milkshake and be done. But if you can knock down four beers during the course of a night, you've consumed more calories than the one milkshake.
I think it's easier for people to drink a high calorie beer and not feel so bad about how many calories they're actually consuming.
I keep imagining that John Cleese was the one badgering the Wendy's counter clerk over what a Frosty is. That part read exactly like a classic Monty Python sketch.