McFlurry
Frozen dessert produced and sold by McDonald's
title: "McFlurry" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mcdonald's-foods", "ice-cream-brands", "canadian-inventions", "products-introduced-in-1995", "canadian-desserts", "1995-establishments-in-new-brunswick", "mcwords"] description: "Frozen dessert produced and sold by McDonald's" topic_path: "geography/canada" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McFlurry" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Frozen dessert produced and sold by McDonald's ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox food"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | McFlurry |
| image | P365x52-346 Oreo-caramel Solutions (11349610634).jpg |
| caption | Oreo-caramel flavored McFlurry |
| creator | Ron McLellan |
| place_of_origin | Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada |
| year | 1995 |
| type | McDonald's frozen soft serve dessert |
| :: |
| name = McFlurry | image = P365x52-346 Oreo-caramel Solutions (11349610634).jpg | caption = Oreo-caramel flavored McFlurry | alternate_name = | creator = Ron McLellan | place_of_origin = Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada | course = | served = | year = 1995 | main_ingredient = | variations = | other = | type = McDonald's frozen soft serve dessert
The McFlurry is a brand-name of frozen soft serve dessert produced and sold by American-based multinational fast food chain McDonald's. It is served in a cup, with additional mixed-in ingredients such as candy and cookie fragments and sweet topping sauces. It was created in 1995 by Ron McLellan, a Canadian McDonald's franchise owner in Bathurst, New Brunswick, and later introduced to the United States in 1997.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/McDonald's_in_Bathurst,_NB.jpg" caption="Bathurst]], [[New Brunswick]], where the McFlurry was created"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Tiramisu_McFlurry_02.jpg" caption="Tiramisu McFlurry without lid"] ::
The McFlurry was created by Canadian McDonald's franchisee Ron McLellan in Bathurst, New Brunswick, in 1995.{{cite web|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/article/mcflurry-at-20-celebrating-a-canadian-concoction/|title=McFlurry at 20: celebrating a Canadian concoction |date=June 15, 2015|publisher=CTV News|access-date=June 15, 2022}} The first McFlurry, which was Oreo-flavored, was sold on June 7, 1995. After proving successful in Bathurst, McDonalds began offering the McFlurry at a number of Toronto locations. In the U.S., the McFlurry was test-marketed in select regions in 1997. By March 1998, the product was available to all American and Canadian locations and has been gradually introduced in various other countries since then.
Until September 2006, the McFlurry was served with a container lid having an opening that was of a size that caused some animals to become trapped with their head stuck inside the discarded containers. An outcry in the UK, particularly to protect European hedgehogs, caused a redesign in the container shape. After "significant research and design testing", the company addressed the problem in 2006 by reducing the size of the opening to prevent entry of an animal's head. In June 2019, McDonald's announced it planned to stop using lids on McFlurrys in the United Kingdom by September 2019, as part of a move to reduce the use of single-use plastics by the chain. However, lids with circular openings are still being used in some other markets as of September 2023.
30 Rock prominently featured the McFlurry in the plot of its season 3 episode 11, "St. Valentine's Day". Although some commenters interpreted the prominence of the product in the episode as heavy-handed product placement, it was later reported that McDonald's had not paid to have it featured, and the show's producers were even worried that McDonald's might sue them for featuring it without authorization.
Preparation
The McFlurry consists of whipped, soft serve McDonald's vanilla-flavored ice cream in a cup. The McFlurry has a specially designed spoon with a hole in the handle which is attached to a blender. Various types of candy or cookies are added to the cup, which are then blended into the ice cream using the spoon. McFlurry flavors vary from market to market, and new flavors are introduced regularly.
The ice cream in a McFlurry is the same that McDonald's uses for its cones and sundaes. The ice cream is made from ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurized milk, extended with methylcellulose. CNBC reported that, from late 2016, McDonald's started phasing out artificial flavors from its vanilla ice cream. The change was part of an effort to recover the more than 500 million customer visits it had lost since 2012.
Reviews
Despite referring to the McFlurry as "a quick-serve medley of gelatinous, innocuous ice cream that some reviewers might consider closer to caulk than dairy", Wil Fulton and Kat Thompson of Thrillist described the M&M McFlurry as "the epitome of low stakes, drive-thru fun", placing it at the end of their list of the 13 Best Fast Food Desserts. Dan Myers of The Daily Meal included the Oreo McFlurry in its (unranked) list of 10 Best Fast Food Desserts, saying "You'd be hard-pressed to encounter anyone who isn't a fan of this sweet treat."
Works cited
References
References
- (December 19, 1997). "McFlurry USPTO trademark information".
- Gupta, Boshika. (2021-09-20). "This Is Where McDonald's McFlurry Was Actually Invented".
- (June 16, 2015). "Bathurst - the home of the McFlurry". The Northern Light.
- (July 27, 1998). "McDonald's new dessert draws flurry". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].
- (2006). "Review". Institute of Public Affairs.
- (September 1, 2006). "Hedgehogs humble McDonald's".
- (June 21, 2019). "McDonald's to scrap plastic lids from McFlurrys".
- Steinberg, Brian. (2009-02-18). "Behind the Scenes of the McFlurry-'30 Rock' Deal That Wasn't". [[Advertising Age]].
- Baldwin, Kristen. (2009-02-13). "Tina Fey responds to alleged McDonald's product placement on '30 Rock'".
- (May 18, 2017). "McDonald's changed its vanilla ice cream 6 months ago, and nobody noticed". CNBC.
- (February 19, 2020). "The Best Fast Food Desserts, Ranked".
- Myers, Dan. (April 5, 2016). "The 10 Best and Worst Fast Food Desserts".
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