Spring might have come a little later than we all wanted, but it's finally here and making up for its late arrival with some seriously delicious perks. With warm weather and sunny skies now making an appearance, Häagen-Dazs’ annual Free Cone Day is just right around the corner, and it'll help you satisfy your sweet tooth on the house while supporting a great cause. Not only will you be satiating your warm weather cravings when you learn how to get free Häagen-Dazs ice cream, but your complimentary evening snack will also support one of the ice cream company’s most important missions over the past ten years: bringing back the honey bees.
As winter makes its retreat and you start easing into the season of cold dessert deliciousness, Häagen-Dazs is celebrating with a buzz-worthy free ice cream party in honor of its decade-long honey bees mission. On Tuesday, May 8 between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., customers can head over to one of any participating Häagen-Dazs locations and score a sweet mini-scoop of any ice cream flavor in a cup, sugar cone, or cake cone.
Considering that honey bees play such an important role when it comes to the United States’ food system and crops production, Häagen-Dazs has been trying to do its part by educating customers about the decline of pollinators (and, of course, by serving complimentary ice cream on its annual Free Cone Day). While Free Cone Day only comes once a year, the dessert chain works year-round with ingredient suppliers as well as conservation groups, and has donated more than $1 million to create bee-friendly environments for farms growing essential ice cream ingredients (like almonds and strawberries).
Pollinators are responsible for one-third of Häagen-Dazs’s delicious flavors, according to a press release from the company. However, the honey bee population has dramatically declined due to habitat loss and pesticide use, Time Magazine reports via a new study from the Center for Biological Diversity.
This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the company’s initiative, so Häagen-Dazs hopes to bring extra attention to its “buzziest workers” behind beloved flavors like Strawberry, Rocky Road, and Mango. The company revealed a cool virtual reality experience called The Extraordinary Honey Bee, where you can see first-hand what life is like from a bee’s perspective.
And if you’re feeling generous while snacking on your free cone and trying out the interactive virtual reality experience, Häagen-Dazs urges customers to pay it forward by donating to the Xerces Society to help them reach their goal of planting 1 million acres of bee-friendly land.
"Free Cone Day is an opportunity to say thank you to our loyal fans, and we want to continue to recognize the pollinators that make our ice cream possible," Adam Hanson, The Häagen-Dazs Shoppe Company, Inc. President and General Manager, said in a statement about the annual tradition. "Last year, we shared information about why the bees need our help and how everyone can play a role [...] With this year marking the 10th anniversary of the brand's honey bee support, we wanted to build on that information and encourage everyone to band together for this important cause."
So if the thought of free Halo Top delivery from Postmates in February or even a complimentary blizzard from Dairy Queen on the first day of spring had you shivering and frantically reaching for your winter coat and another pair of socks, now’s your chance to get in on some real ice cream-ready spring temperatures with Häagen-Dazs Free Cone Day. Honestly, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Mark your calendar, because these warm weather cravings aren’t going to satisfy themselves.
