Welcome to the Whip Report! Next week (5/25-5/30) is Throwback week. We’ll be taking a look back at our roots and have some fun things you just might love!

SNAPSHOT:

1. P-Whip Root Beer Floats in vintage glass A&W mugs! Does it sounds like an odd combo? Yes, it does. Is it magical? We sure think so! We know what your thinking. Am I reading the wrong email? Why on earth are they talking about root beer? Read our history at the end and it will make SO much more sense.

2. Recreated retro 1980’s shirts available $20 each!

3. A history of how Pineapple Whip came to be. Bet you never guessed it involved root beer!

PINEAPPLE WHIP ROOTBEER FLOATS ANYONE?

Listen, we get it. Pineapple Whip and root beer? Sounds weird right? We thought so too but had to at least try it. Turns out, it’s delicious! Don’t believe us? Come try a free sample and decide yourself!

If you end up liking it as much as we do, we’ve got floats in three sizes, all come in vintage A&W glass mugs an a variety of styles ranging in age from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. Oh yeah, you get to KEEP THE MUG!

Kids float (3oz): $3.75

Small float (8oz) $5.75

Large Float (16-22oz) $7.75

***Please note: pictured above are the more modern logo mugs. Most of the mugs are 1950’s through 1970’s with a logo you may not even recognize!

RETRO 1980’s SHIRTS AVAILABE

Grab a shirts recreated from our 1980’s design! $20 each, available at each location in Adult sizes Small-XL and kids sizes Youth Small and Youth Medium.

A little background: We reached out to the folks who printed our shirts back in the 80’s and 90’s and as fate would have it, they still had the artwork sitting in their filing cabinet. They were able to remake the shirts, cheesy slogan and all!

OUR 52 YEAR ROOTS GO DEEP. ROOT BEER DEEP!

Captions:

• Black and White Photo at the top: Dan Fortner (Pineapple Whip’s founder) at one of his A&W locations in 1961.

• Color Photo above: (from left to right): Mike, Zach, Diana, & Nathan Fortner in 1984, at the A&W on Kearney, just before it’s closure. Zach and Diana still run P-Whip’s Springfield locations along with Mike’s brother Chris. Nathan, and his wife Rachel run P-Whip in Junction City, Kansas. Yup! There’s P-Whip Kansas!

• Below: This was A&W on Kearney and Franklin where the McDonalds sits today. After closing in 1984, the building was demolished.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Fortner family has been in food service for longer than Pineapple Whip’s 52 year history. Dan Fortner, an electrician by trade, saw the potential of the A&W business and opened a few locations in the early 1960’s. Dan later got involved in the concessions business at the Ozark Empire Fair in 1968 and after several years, became interested in developing a unique dessert option for fair goers. He started experimenting with soft serve recipes and in 1974, sold his first Pineapple Whip! It’s the same recipe we use today!

Caption: The first Pineapple Whip at the Ozark Empire Fair. This photo was taken some time in the 1980’s.

Dan sold his A&W to his son Mike and his wife Diana in 1975 and they ran their A&W operation until 1984 when they closed their doors and followed Dan (who had assumed the role of General Manager of the Fairgrounds) into the concessions business at the Fairgrounds joined by Mike’s brother Chris. The Fortner family ran all of year-around concessions at the Fairgrounds until 2005. Along the way, they sold all kinds of different food, including BBQ, funnel cakes, tornado taters, cotton candy…the list goes on. Aside from Pineapple Whip, the thing they were most known for was little jugs of draft root beer (not A&W in this case), and hand-dipped corndogs.

Caption: Mike Fortner standing next to the first newly completed Pineapple Whip Trailer at it’s first location in the Westlake Hardware lot on south Campbell in 1989. This trailer currently sits at our battlefield location today.

By the mid 80’s, Pineapple Whip had been tasted by enough people to develop a small cult following. Customers began vocalizing one consistent complaint. They were frustrated they couldn’t have Pineapple Whip anytime outside of the 10 days of the fair. Mike, Chris, and Dan pondered a solution to this problem and got to work. They began construction of a trailer they would set up on the streets of Springfield. After completion, they setup and began operating their first trailer in1989 at the Westlake Hardware lot on South Campbell.

Fun Fact: We built all our trailers from from scratch. We build the motorized hula girls (named Lulu) too!

Caption: Chris Fortner building cabinets in the trailer that now sits on south Campbell.

After a couple year operating that first street location, it seemed like it made sense to build a second trailer. That went ok, so another was built, then another. Four in total all of which we still operate today.

A lot has changed in the Fortner family’s near 70 years in food service. We are grateful to all of the customers who have made Pineapple Whip a summer tradition and hope to continue encouraging future generations of customers make summer count!