Hampton Chocolate Factory Sells A 5-Pound Ice Cream Cone (But Why?)
Located in downtown Tampa, Florida, Hampton Chocolate Factory practically paints itself as a sea of edible luxury and invites visitors to swim in it. While it doesn't boast a Willy Wonka-worthy chocolate river (which sounds dangerous, anyway), the store has chocolate bars, various caramels, and Liège Belgian waffles among other items. The most upscale thing about the place might be the way it scales up the size of ice cream cones.
Hampton Chocolate Factory sells aptly named Giant Cones (which also come in cups) that you need a reservation to order. Made with a thick and largely airless soft serve, it weighs 5 pounds and stands at about 2 feet tall. In a sense, a Giant Cone is child-sized. It's around 2 pounds lighter and a few inches taller than a typical newborn. These big creamy babies cost $35 apiece and have ample room for add-ons. They can be as elaborate as an ice cream tower topped with an enormous s'more and coated with mini marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs — or as simple as a spire of plain chocolate soft serve.
Time is truly money when it comes to the Giant Cone because customers can book a food challenge as part of their reservation. The setup is straightforward: If you eat the 80-ounce behemoth in under eight minutes, you don't have to pay for it and will receive a free T-shirt. However, an unspoken cost makes us question why this cone should exist.
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The Joy Of Spilled Milk
To put things into perspective, four Giant Cones equal around a year's worth of ice cream for an average American. Assuming that many people don't finish even one of these behemoths in a sitting and don't have a way to save them, you're potentially looking at a mind-boggling amount of food waste. This probably all sounds like crying over spilled milk. Of course, Hampton Chocolate Factory may well shed happy tears over the exposure its Giant Cone has gotten on social media. For example, a travel influencer on TikTok flew to Tampa to try the 5-pound attraction. The resulting video amassed more than 860,000 views.
Much like 5 pounds of ice cream, hopping on a plane sounds like a lot. However, it's not too hard to understand why someone might go the extra mile. Anyone who has ever fantasized about conquering the colossal challenges on "Man v. Food" or becoming a competitive eater can view the Giant Cone as a mountain to climb. Meanwhile, someone who has already surpassed such feats of eating might simply treat it more like a quick snack. When Tampa-based speed eater Bartley Weaver tried the ice cream challenge, he actually had a 10-minute limit (shortened to eight since then). Still, Weaver inhaled the Giant Cone in under two and a half minutes.
Read the original article on Mashed.
