News

Carl's Jr. adds Oreos to dessert menu

November 20, 2011

Carl's Jr. has introduced a new Hand-Scooped Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich throughout the western U.S.

The new item features a scoop of vanilla ice cream placed between two large Oreo cookie wafers and individually wrapped. They're available for the suggested retail price of $1.49.

"Carl's Jr. first began making its shakes and malts by hand-scooping real ice cream out of tubs in 2005, just like you would get them in an ice cream shop," said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer of Carl's Jr. "Though we've introduced many new shake and malt flavors in the intervening years, this is the first time we've used our hand-scooped ice cream for something completely different, a Hand-Scooped Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich, and it's delicious."

According to restaurant research firm Technomic, 70 percent of consumers ate dessert at least once a week during 2010, up from 57 percent in 2007.

"Oreo cookie has become almost as popular an ice cream flavor as the big three: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry," Haley said. "So, when we found out that we could get large, Oreo Cookie wafers that were perfect for making ice cream sandwiches, we jumped at the idea."

A commercial in support of the new Hand-Scooped Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich features a retired ice cream shop owner who wakes from sleep with the premonition, "Something's happened; something big," alluding to the new dessert at Carl's Jr. The 30- and 15-second ads, created by David&Goliath, can be viewed here.

Read more about food and beverage launches.