Shamrock Shake
Encyclopedia
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
during March to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Origin
The Shamrock Shake was first introduced in 1970. Rogers Merchandising in Chicago created the shake. James Byrne, the executive artist at the firm, used a family recipe for the shake. Shamrock Shakes were widely available across Canada and the United States until the early 1990s. They were recently brought back and are still available at select Canadian and American stores during the month of March.McDonald's website describes the shake as, "the minty green treat". The ingredient list for the shamrock shake syrup includes high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar, natural plant flavoring (plant source), xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), yellow 5, blue 1. These are not the same ingredients included in the vanilla shake syrup.
Marketing
During the 1980s, McDonald’s used the Uncle O'Grimacey character to market Shamrock Shakes, but has since phased it out.In 1980, McDonald's introduced the Shamrock Sundae which consisted of vanilla ice cream topped with a mint green Shamrock syrup. The product was discontinued after one year due to poor sales.
In 2008, McDonald's Canada brought back the Shamrock Shake for a limited time only starting on February 26. At that time, it had not been available in Canada for five years.
In 2010, McDonald's switched the cup style for Shamrock Shakes from white soft drink style paper cups to the clear plastic McCafe cups and began offering whipped cream and a cherry as topping options.