‘Drumstick’ becomes chocolate sundae in a cone

A popular variant of the “Nutty Buddy” ice cream cone treat is known as the “Drumstick,” which was invented in 1928 – quite by accident. 

The story – as told by Tessa Newell, a writer for the Foodbeast food and drink blog – goes like this: 

I.C. Parker, promotions manager at the Pangburn Ice Cream & Candy Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, was enjoying a vanilla ice cream cone one day. “When Parker had to step out to tend to some urgent business, he handed off his cone to one of the women making chocolates.” 

“But when your hands are covered in chocolate, you tend to drop things. Like ice cream cones,” Newell said. 

“After the cone fell into a vat of chocolate, it was plopped onto a counter of chopped peanuts – what are the odds, right? When Parker returned, he was inspired by the delicious mistake, and the Drumstick was born.”

Parker’s wife, Jewel, said the chocolatey, nut-covered mess looked like a fried chicken drumstick, Newell wrote. 

The three Parker brothers – Bruce, I.C. and J.T. “Stubby” –formed a new family-owned company in the 1930s to make ice cream Drumsticks – “chocolate sundaes in a cone.”

 In 1947, Stubby Parker moved the company, now known as Big Drum Inc., to Columbus, Ohio, His son, Thomas L. Parker, became co-owner. Thomas assumed the presidency when Stubby died in 1968. 

The Drumstick brand was acquired in 1980 by Alco Standard Corp. of Valley Forge, Pa., a huge conglomerate of 80 companies in the food service, office products and paper distribution industries. 

I.C. Parker’s original recipe was improved to make Drumsticks creamier, crunchier and richer. Crispness of the cones was enriched by coating the inside of the cones with chocolate, creating a moisture barrier. The tip of every Drumstick is filled with an inch of solid chocolate. 

Its “super nugget cone” has two inches of solid chocolate at the bottom. 

Nestlé purchased the Drumstick label in 1991 and threw its marketing muscle behind Drumstick to try to distinguish it from its chief competitor, “Nutty Buddy.” 

Froneri, headquartered in North Yorkshire, England, “scooped up” Nestlé USA’s ice cream division in 2019. The company also owns Dreyer’s and Häagen-Dazs, making it the second-largest ice cream producer in the world, after Unilever.