The Fast Food Chain With An Entire Menu For Frozen Custard

While I'm not a native Midwesterner, I'm what I call an economic refugee and have been living in the frozen custard belt for the better part of a decade. I've come to embrace this sweet treat as a way of life. (For you Midwestern exiles, here's a recipe for homemade frozen custard.) While I'm in Wisconsin, which is largely Culver's country (even if the chain is hardly regional anymore), I love the fact that there's a second restaurant chain that's as equally custard-focused: Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. At Freddy's, its signature dessert even takes top billing over its highly-rated burgers. (Or maybe Freddy's is just doing it for alliteration's sake, but that, too, deserves kudos.) In fact, apart from the main menu, there's a whole separate frozen custard menu to explore.

Freddy's, which began in Wichita, Kansas around the turn of the millennium, has now brought its frozen custard evangelism to over 400 sites around the United States, including such far-flung spots (from a Midwestern perspective) as Albuquerque, New Mexico and Bakersfield, California. If you're fortunate to be near a Freddy's, you should definitely check out the main menu with its burgers (including the chain's Original Double which was voted third on The Takeout's list of best chain restaurant burgers), chicken sandwiches, and patty melts, but your tastebuds aren't likely to forgive you if you decide to pass on dessert. Come on, custard is right there in the name!

Freddy's, unlike Culver's, does not have a rotating list of daily flavors, but instead sticks to the classics: chocolate, vanilla, and half-and-half (meaning an equal split of the two flavors, not the coffee creamer of the same name). Where it really shines, though, is by offering a variety of toppings that allow you to customize your custard. You can either make it into a sundae with the toppings poured or sprinkled over the top or you can have it turned into a concrete. This sees the toppings and custard beaten into something that's like an extremely thick shake crossed with soft serve. The toppings include sliced bananas, brownie chunks, cheesecake, chocolate chips, cookie dough, gummy worms, maraschino cherries, M&Ms, Oreos, pecans, Reese's, Reese's Pieces, Snickers, and sprinkles. Available sauces include butterscotch, cherry, chocolate, hot caramel, hot fudge, marshmallow, mint, peanut butter, and strawberry. Of course, purists can order their frozen custard without any toppings. 

For those who are feeling adventurous, Freddy's serves a sweet sandwich that sees the chain's frozen custard encased by two Oreo wafers. And if that's still not enough frozen custard for you, Freddy's also serves a root beer float that's made with frozen custard. Safe to say, there's more than a few ways to enjoy frozen custard at Freddy's.