McDonald's And Dairy Queen Have A Hidden Ice Cream Connection Dating Back To The '50s

McDonald's and Dairy Queen have some things in common. They're both multi-billion-dollar businesses. They're both famous around the world. And, between them, have been putting smiles on American faces for over 150 years. However, McDonald's and Dairy Queen also have a hidden connection that goes all the way back to their early days — they've shared the same supplier for their ice cream mix in St Petersburg, Florida, dating back to the 1950s. So while there are many differences between the McFlurry and the Dairy Queen Blizzard, they do have Dairy-Mix Inc. in common.

The first Dairy Queen opened in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois, while McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Mississippi in 1955 (the oldest operating McDonald's, incidentally, is in Downey, California). Sandwiched between the launches of these two giants was that of St. Petersburg-based Dairy-Mix Inc., which first started making ice cream mixes in 1948. According to the company website, it has been a supplier for the area's Dairy Queens since 1953, while McDonald's came on board in 1958. It also supplies Wendy's, wholesale distributors, and other local ice cream shops in the region.

While McDonald's and Dairy Queen went on to become global food conglomerates, Dairy Mix Inc. has stayed in the family, with second and third generation members of the founder, Anthony Coryn, now running the show.

The Dairy-Mix story started in 1948, when Coryn bought a local ice cream mix plant. According to Dairy-Mix, Coryn also ran an ice cream stand called "Snow Peak" in the evenings, which means he spent a lot of his time around sweet treats. Dairy Queen became one of the first major fast-food chains to partner with Dairy-Mix in the early 1950s, relying on the company for its soft-serve ice cream mix. Then in 1958, Coryn moved to a bigger facility with increased capacity. As luck would have it, he was soon approached by Fred Turner, one of the earliest employees at McDonald's — a growing fast-food chain at the time and the two cracked a deal that has stood the test of time. 

Dairy-Mix takes great pride in its product. "Our ice cream mix is processed using the highest-quality ingredients found in the United States," the website states, adding that the raw milk it uses is sourced from family-run farms in Florida and is rBST-free. It uses Florida cane sugar as a sweetener, and none of its mixes use high fructose corn syrup.

Commercial ice cream mixes are basically your favorite ice cream flavors, regardless of where you live, in liquid form. Large restaurants can pour the mix into a churner to make ice cream on the go. It also helps both large and small food businesses run more efficient operations, while customers benefit from getting a consistent product every single time.