Porano Pasta, also in St. Louis, pours the Negroni Slushy, a frigid take on the classic Negroni cocktail of gin, sweet vermouth and Campari.

The Atlanta-based chain is actually no Johnny-come-lately to frozen beverages. The Jamocha Shake, made with coffee and chocolate syrup, was on the menu of the original Arby’s opened by Leroy and Forrest Raffel in 1964 in Youngstown, Ohio, and is still on the menu today. “That was iced coffee before it was all people drank, a frozen coffee and chocolate drink that was well before its time,” says an Arby’s spokesperson.

Sweet, creamy shakes have long been iconic in quick service restaurants. Arby’s Restaurant Group honors the tradition with the Orange Cream Shake, featuring flavors reminiscent of an orange-vanilla ice cream bar, topped with real whipped cream.

Frozen beverages travel the full spectrum of refreshment and indulgence, starring as everything from icy pick-me-ups to flavorful treats.

They include frosty lemonades and limeades in kaleidoscopic hues, chilled sips that gratify the sweet tooth, glacial concoctions customized with mix-ins and frozen libations that stir excitement at the bar.

In this gallery are leading examples of the frozen beverage craft on restaurant menus today.

At Three Dots and a Dash, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’ tiki bar in Chicago, the Hurricane is the featured frozen tiki drink. It is a frosty concoction of rum, lemon, lime, passion fruit and pomegranate.

The Ultimate Frappés  star in DQ’s new Hardest Working Happy Hour promotion from 2-5 p.m. on weekdays, along with Orange Julius® premium fruit smoothies. At that time, they are value-priced at $1 for small iced coffees and $2 each for small Ultimate Frappés and Fruit Smoothies.

Westrum notes that the Ultimate Frappé is “the perfect balance between treat and afternoon pick-me-up.” It is quite different from DQ’s MooLatte® frozen coffee, “which drinks almost like a coffee shake, as opposed to the lighter, much more coffee-infused frappé.”

At Sonic Drive-In, the recently introduced Frozen Classic Lemonade and Frozen Classic Limeade highlight the Oklahoma City-based chain’s penchant for customization. The sweet, tangy specialties have proven so popular with guests they have joined the permanent beverage lineup. 

In addition to enjoying Frozen Classic Lemonade and Frozen Classic Limeade in their  basic,  straightforward forms, patrons can personalize them to their taste with additional flavors such as blue raspberry, strawberry, cherry, cranberry and myriad others.

“Customization is a core part of our model,” says a Sonic spokesperson, noting that differentiated products and unique flavors have a special appeal for millennial customers. All told, the Sonic drink menu offers more than 1.3 million possible flavor combinations. The recent additions are available for half price every day from 2-4 p.m. during Sonic’s Happy Hour.

Cold Stone Creamery, the ice cream chain based in Scottsdale, Ariz., will cool parched palates June 22 through September 6 with the Shake It, Cookie! Milkshake, made with Sugar Cookie Batter ice cream and crowned with whipped topping, yellow cake, sugar cookie dough, caramel and rainbow sprinkles.

Icy libations have an honored place at the bar in many establishments. For example, Publico, a Latin-inspired restaurant in St. Louis, offers the Frozen Caipirinha, a medley of silver tequila, lime and sugar presented in a cactus glass.

Small and frosty is big news at Cinnabon. The Atlanta-based cinnamon bun bakery chain recently added the Mini Chillattas collection of 10-ounce blended frozen beverages to the existing lineup of drinks offered in 16-ounce and 24-ounce servings. Included are both fruit flavors and more indulgent takes — such as the limited-time OREO® Strawberry flavor — plus iced coffees, frozen lemonades and the Mochalatta Chill, the brand’s signature  chocolate and coffee drink. “Some of these are more refreshing; others are more treat like,” says Jill Thomas, Cinnabon vice president of global marketing.

The new line satisfies consumers seeking a small sip as a stand-alone treat or in combination with a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. “Basically, it’s letting the customer decide how to snack,” says Thomas. “We want to provide both a refreshing and a treat beverage that might better complement our core product.”

For Dairy Queen, the May rollout of iced coffee and Ultimate Frappés for the first time nationally and the launch of the Hardest Working Happy Hour amount to “the biggest holistic beverage initiative ever” for the Minneapolis-based treats chain, says Barry Westrum, executive vice president of marketing for American Dairy Queen Corp.

“We found a gap in the marketplace with coffee drinks,” says Westrum. “They are just about everywhere, but nobody is doing flavors that are really superior and really indulgent.”

The Ultimate Frappé is blended with DQ’s signature soft serve ice cream, assorted mix-ins, ice “and the kick you get with coffee,” Westrum says, differentiating it from “me too” products in the marketplace. It is offered in OREO®, Caramel Chip and Midnight Mocha flavors. DQ’s iced coffee comes in Vanilla, Salted Caramel and Mocha variations.