Tastee-Freez
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Tastee-Freez is a Newport Beach, California-based franchised chain of fast-food restaurants with stores in 22 of the United States, with most of its stores located in Virginia, Illinois and Maryland. Currently there are fewer than 100 freestanding stores in the United States and Panama. It was founded in 1950 by Leo Moranz and Harry Axene. Moranz invented a soft-serve pump and freezer which enabled the product. Originally stores focused on frozen dairy-based desserts, but newer restaurants have a larger fast-food menu.
In the 1950s, Tastee-Freez had the Tastee-Freez Twins mascots: Tee (female) and Eff (male). The mascots were naked with ice cream (strawberry and chocolate respectively) on their heads.
Since 2003, the company has been owned by Galardi Group Franchise & Leasing, a franchisor based in California, that also owns Wienerschnitzel hot dog restaurants. Wienerschnitzel has begun to incorporate Tastee-Freez soft serve products in their approximately 350 restaurants.
Select Tastee-Freez soft serve products can also be found at The Original Hamburger Stand locations.
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[edit] Competitors
- Dairy Queen
- Dairy Delight
- A&W Restaurants
- Maggie Moo's
- TCBY
- Desoto
[edit] Tastee-Freez in American culture
In the 1960s, Art Green had a series of paintings named after this brand featuring ice cream cones with legs.
[edit] Songs
The chain's place in American culture has led to several artists make mention of the brand in their songs. These include
- John Mellencamp's 1982 hit Jack and Diane "Suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee-Freez";
- the band Chicago's song Take Me Back to Chicago: "'Cause my life was so much simpler then, Street corners and Tastee-Freez";
- Trisha Yearwood's 1991 #1 Country hit She's in Love with the Boy "Later on outside the Tastee-Freez"
- John Hiatt's "She runs hot" - performed by Little Village 1992 - "But she’s chilly as a Tastee-Freez"
- Rascal Flatts in their 2005 song Oklahoma-Texas Line sings "she's got a part time job at the Tastee-Freez"
- Brooks & Dunn's 2006 song Hillbilly Deluxe "Cruisin' back and forth to the Tastee-Freez"
- Bruce Hornsby & Ricky Skaggs's song The Dreaded Spoon mentions Tastee-Freez in the opening lines, "Can we go to the Tastee-Freez / Or maybe Dairy Queen?";
- Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse Five; and Lauren Thomas' 2009 song Spinning also mentions Tastee-Freez in the opening lines "French kissed then I sneezed, wish I'd gone to Tastee-Freez".
