BY JENNIFER PALMER| Oklahoman
The new product contains more milk and butterfat and replaces the soft serve in all its shakes, sundaes and other ice cream treats. Sonic also made changes to its ice cream toppings, including hot fudge and caramel sauce, such as removing or reducing high-fructose corn syrup and replacing it with less-processed sugar.
"Our customers have always liked our ice cream,” he said. "But we felt it was something we needed to make changes to.”
Though touted as "creamy and indulgent,” the calories, fat and sugar content in the new real ice cream are similar to the old product.
For example, a regular vanilla shake now contains 461 calories — 230 calories from fat — and 49 grams of sugar.
Using the previous soft serve recipe, the same size vanilla shake contained 470 calories — 160 calories from fat — and 62 grams of sugar.
Losacco said Sonic is working to offer more choices for health-conscious consumers, such as smaller portions in its Jr. Candy Sundae and Vanilla Cone.
Historically, Sonic has competed well against other ice cream shops, but the product is different, Losacco said. Sonic’s real ice cream is dispensed from a machine, not hand-scooped like other ice creams.
