CHICAGO — You don’t expect to be in this situation, the toast(ed marshmallow) of Chicago, but in baseball, as in life, sometimes luck finds you before it even finds you.
This is the current life of the humble Campfire Milkshake, a confectionary comet that expected to be just part of the menu and ends up becoming the main attraction in what looks like a historically horrible season of White Sox.
“It’s just one of those things,” Levy executive chef Ryan Craig told me Sunday. “It just took off.”
Meanwhile, the Sox are down. In fire. To put it in Campfire Milkshake terms, it’s the marshmallows and the rest of the baseball is the butane torch.
If you’re just reading this story because it’s about a viral milkshake, let’s see you on the team.
It’s been a bit of a rocky start for the South Siders, which is to say that the Bears have had trouble finding a franchise quarterback over the years.
At 2-13, the Sox are off to the worst start in franchise history, are the worst team in baseball and could easily surpass the organizational mark for most losses in a season, which is 106. In a In another unfortunate performance on Sunday, the Sox lost to the Reds 11-4 to end a three-game series in which they were outscored 27-5.
They scored just 34 runs in 15 games, and in nine games their 2-3-4 hitters Yoán Moncada, Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez each got injured running to or around first base.
After a 101-loss season, an offseason focused on acquiring cheap pitchers and glove-first infielders and a spring training trade of ace Dylan Cease, the Sox were already expected to be between bad and very bad in 2024. But the gap between these meager expectations and the current sad reality are bigger than the chasm between the rows of fans on the upper deck.
The atmosphere around the stadium reflects the cold reality of a team going nowhere. Almost everyone who works for the team, from executives to matchday staff, dwells on the team’s performance at will.
These people have seen a lot of bad baseball, but as one longtime employee told me on Sunday, “I don’t know what to call it.” »
All that’s left between them and total infamy is the milkshake.
“It’s a nice touch for us,” said Ross Virando, the team’s food and beverage director. “It is necessary.”
Brooks Boyer, Sox director of revenue and marketing, was so giddy when I said I was going to write about it on Sunday that he gestured for Virando and Craig to talk to me on the field.
As the conversations take place before a White Sox game, they were as optimistic as possible. As is often the case, the food and drinks at 35th and Shields are more appealing than the product on the field.
If the White Sox ever moved to Nashville, they could just turn the stadium into an upscale farmers’ market.
As for the Campfire Milkshake, it’s inspired by s’mores, a chocolate shake with graham crackers mixed with whipped cream and topped with marshmallows and a piece of Hershey’s. It’s served in a plastic replica of an old-fashioned ice cream glass with real melted chocolate on top, which requires time and effort from the kitchen staff.
This isn’t one of those monstrosities you see at those hip, Instagram-friendly dessert places. It’s basically a regular sized chocolate shake, and yes, it’s very good.
The Sox have done this kind of thing before with churro-flavored shakes, but the Campfire one caught on after unveiling it during their annual “Heart Attack Menu” media preview.
“You never know what’s going to go viral,” said Craig, who previously worked in Oklahoma City. “That’s the problem with food. But I think that was the relevance of it. Everyone has had a s’mores before. And then I kind of took it to the next level, dipping all the cups in chocolate. It looks very photogenic.
Once the Sox realized they had something here, they started marketing it, placing it on broadcasts and showing it off on their social media.
& the Campfire Milkshake 😉 pic.twitter.com/I95D8pOyz1
– Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 13, 2024
Hey, it’s either that or remind people that Andrew Benintendi signed the largest free agent contract in Sox history.
There isn’t much good news to highlight these days. Sunday’s starter, Michael Soroka, has a 6.98 ERA and more walks (12) than strikeouts (10) in four starts. The team’s focus on defensive improvement hasn’t paid off, and the Sox can’t seem to get out of a paper bag. If it weren’t for Garrett Crochet and maybe Gavin Sheets, Milkshake would be the best bet to be the team’s All-Star representative.
Although the Sox’s return on investment on free agents like Benintendi has been negative, at least the milkshake is generating some revenue, just not as much as one might think.
The drink costs $15 ($16.61 with tax), which is about the same amount as a Blue Moon. But since it’s a specialty item that requires fresh ingredients, they capped it at 300 per game at the 100-level Vizzy Bar and an additional 50-100 for the Stadium Club.
“When you make a signature item, a lot of times it’s not designed to sell 3,000 units a day,” Craig said. “It’s designed to be great, but it takes a lot of preparation. There was a whole crew in the back (Saturday) after the game, dipping milkshake glasses in chocolate. It’s a process.
Craig and his team quickly realized they had to upgrade from simple blenders to a “giant hand blender” to make five-gallon mixes due to demand. In addition to dipping the milkshake glasses in melting chocolate (like the kind you see in fountains), they toast the marshmallows in the oven.
The Sox said the drink was originally planned to be available in the clubhouse, but with fans interested, the Sox said to let them drink shakes.
With that in mind, Craig said they raised the cap to 400 for Sunday’s game because they sold out by the fourth inning on Saturday. A sunny day in the upper 70s would only help.
His instincts were correct as they eclipsed the season’s sales record by selling 453 on Sunday, meaning about 2.5 percent of the crowd had one. When I met him at the stand during the third round, a woman told us that she had already made several trips to buy them for her group. A long line soon formed.
With the shakes complete in the top of the seventh inning, the Reds went for four insurance runs. It’s been a frosty summary of the season so far.
(Top photo: Jon Greenberg / Athleticism)