Tasti-D-Lite became a household name in the mid-1990's, in my household at least. I do not think it's an exaggeration to say that I ate it every day during high school. In fact, there were three locations within a few blocks of my childhood home, and I had copies of their calendars listing the daily flavors offered at each in our kitchen so I knew to which location to go on a given day. My mother and sister were also huge Tasti-D-Lite addicts and we usually had plenty of Tasti-D-Lite in our freezer for the odd night when one of us didn't feel like walking over to an actual shop.
Buying Tasti-D-Lite was not an entirely pleasant experience. Most of the stores were poorly-lit holes in the wall and the line to order often snaked out the door and down the street. The women who worked there were unfriendly and unhelpful more often than not. And yet I kept going back for small servings of french vanilla, angel food cake, rice pudding, apple pie, coconut, cake batter, and strawberry colada -- all smothered in rainbow sprinkles and/or granola (which was a perfect compliment to apple pie).
By the time I graduated from college, my Tasti enthusiasm had waned, and I don't think I was alone -- Tasti locations were harder to find and the lines had gotten much shorter. Fast forward another ten years, and Pinkberry is the popular new kid on the low-calorie frozen dessert block. Still, there are a few stores around, including the "flagship" store on 60th and Broadway, which never has anyone in it and where a 4-ounce serving now costs at least twice what it did in 1997. Turns out that Tasti was acquired by a private equity firm in 2007 and is currently being run by the former CEO of Mail Boxes Etc. I can't imagine that adding hot soup to the menu of a dessert shop is a good idea, but maybe that's what it takes to transform Tasti-D-Lite into a 500-franchise brand. I doubt it.
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