On the occasion of National Ice Cream Day on July 16, McDonald’s USA will celebrate its iconic vanilla soft serve – made with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives – by treating customers at participating restaurants nationwide to free Vanilla Cones. Guests wishing to indulge need only download the McDonald’s mobile app and redeem the offer this Sunday to enjoy the cold treat
On July 10, @McDonalds jumpstarted the National Ice Cream Day festivities by complimenting Twitter users with personalized #SoftServed tweets. For 24 hours, select fans will receive surprise sweet tweets from @McDonalds. All tweets were penned in partnership with digital property, Nerdist.
Meanwhile, the Oak Brook, Illinois-headquartered fast food chain recently announced that all of its vanilla soft serve – featured in McCafé Shakes and McFlurry desserts as well as cones – is free of artificial flavors and fake colors as well as preservatives. The transition began in autumn of 2016 and has been implemented at 14,000+ restaurants nationwide. This change impacts 60% of the desserts McDonald’s serves.
In addition, the chocolate and strawberry McCafé shake syrup is devoid of high fructose corn syrup and the whipped topping served on all three flavors of shakes is made with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.
“Soft serve has joined other changes we have made, such as removing artificial preservatives from McNuggets, committing to cage-free eggs by 2023 and only serving chicken made from chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine,” said Darci Forrest, senior director of menu innovation at McDonald’s. “This, combined with the fact that 100% of the milk used in our soft serve is US-sourced, makes this classic treat even more enjoyable during the hot summer months.”
Desserts have been a favorite at McDonald’s for nearly 60 years. Last summer alone, customers consumed 68 million cones. This summer, guests can continue to enjoy their classic cone, but also celebrate the return of a popular treat from 2012 — the Rolo McFlurry. From now through September 11, the company is offering the rich combination of chewy caramel and smooth milk chocolate pieces to its iconic vanilla soft serve.
