Dolly Parton’s New Ice Cream Was So Popular It Crashed the Jeni's Website
Fans can try to get their hands on a pint (again) on April 15.
Update (April 13, 2021): Jeni’s has now announced an official launch date, April 15, 2021 at 12 pm ET. Fans can learn more information here.
Dolly Parton is many things — an award-winning singer-songwriter, an actress, a social justice advocate — and now she can add another impressive descriptor to that ever-growing list — ice cream queen.
On April 8, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams announced that its website crashed as a result of a sharp increase in traffic related to Parton’s previously announced collaboration with the brand, a Strawberry Pretzel Pie ice cream flavor, that was released earlier that day.
The company’s social media team promptly addressed the issue, writing on Instagram and Twitter: “To those of you trying to order Strawberry Pretzel Pie online, we are so sorry. This sucks. The flavor is NOT sold out. Our website issues have lasted longer than expected, but we are working on it and will let you know via email and social media when we’re back up and running.”
After it became clear that the website issues couldn’t be resolved as quickly the Jeni’s team initially thought, the brand once again took to social media to reach out to ice cream and Dolly Parton fans alike. According to a lengthy follow-up message, the company anticipated tons of interest in Parton’s pint, which features a delicious combo of pretzel gravel, cream cheese ice cream and strawberry sauce, but the demand greatly exceeded expectations.
“Our site had 50 times more users than it sees on average. We had planned and tested for this level of traffic and expected our site to be able to handle it,” the update explained. “When the site went down, we had confidence it would be back up quickly. We never imagined it would take as long as it did. All of our resources were focused on getting this fixed and we wish we would have gotten an update out to you sooner.”
The update also noted that customers would be given a 48-hour warning before the flavor went on sale again, presumably in an effort to let everyone prepare accordingly. Lastly, Jenni’s reminded fans that every Strawberry Pretzel Pie purchase benefits Parton’s Imagination Library organization, which gives free books to children from birth to age five.
In another update shared the following day, Jeni’s said it was still working to resolve the issue and reiterated that customers would have a heads up before Strawberry Pretzel Pie pints went on sale again. “We have been working around the clock so that we can confidently drop the flavor … but we aren’t there yet,” the message stated. “As promised, we’ll give 48-hour notice via email and social media before we release the flavor, but we wanted to let you know that it won’t be this weekend. Thank you, again, for your patience!”
Jeni’s confirmed a collaboration with Parton was on the way last month after sharing an illustration of the Grammy winner on Instagram.
Related Content:
