Freddy's Returns Pumpkin Pie Concrete at 600+ Locations

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is bringing back its Pumpkin Pie Concrete at more than 600 locations across the United States and Canada beginning Thursday, Nov. 12 — a limited-time offer the Wichita-based fast-casual chain says was added back to the fall menu after guest demand outpaced original seasonal plans.

The item was not part of Freddy's initially planned fall lineup this year. Consumer requests pushed the chain to reverse course. Quantities are described as extremely limited, and availability runs only while supplies last at participating units.

The Product

The Pumpkin Pie Concrete is built on Freddy's signature fresh-churned vanilla frozen custard, blended with a whole slice of pumpkin pie — crust included — then finished with whipped cream and cinnamon. Concretes, the chain's dense, blended frozen custard format, are a core menu differentiator for Freddy's against both QSR dessert programs and standalone frozen-custard operators.

Rick Petralia, Executive Chef and VP of Training & Innovation, called the item "a highly anticipated seasonal favorite with a loyal following" and said the volume of guest requests made the mid-season reintroduction a clear call. The LTO is accessible through drive-thru, in-restaurant dining, and pickup or delivery via the Freddy's mobile app — channels that have become increasingly central to limited-time-offer execution across the fast-casual segment.

Channel & Franchise Context

For c-store operators and foodservice-at-retail buyers tracking competitive dessert and dispensed-beverage trends, the Freddy's move is a useful data point: even a franchise system of 600-plus units will reverse a seasonal calendar decision when loyalty-member and guest feedback signals strong unmet demand. The willingness to run a low-inventory, while-supplies-last drop also reflects the scarcity mechanics that have driven LTO engagement across both QSR and fast-casual.

Freddy's sits at No. 6 on Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers + Shakers and No. 85 on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, putting it squarely in the competitive set that c-store foodservice program operators benchmark against when evaluating frozen treat and dessert category performance. With frozen custard programs appearing in an expanding number of travel-center and larger-format c-store builds, the brand's LTO cadence and guest-response playbook are worth watching.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.