An April Fool's Day Prank Led This Burger Chain to Start Selling Milkshakes Made With Crickets After receiving an enthusiastic response for the fictional Cricket Milkshake, Wayback Burgers decided to make the protein-rich prank a reality.

By Kate Taylor

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Wayback Burgers
Cricket Milkshake

Milkshakes made with crickets on April 1 sounds like an April Fool's Day prank. But, at Wayback Burgers, this joke turned into a real frozen treat.

When Wayback Burgers' marketing team decided to release fake promotional advertising for a "High-Protein Cricket Milkshake," they had no idea how the concept would take off.

Wayback Burgers -- a fast-casual burger chain with more than 100 locations -- first posted about the Cricket Milkshake on Twitter and Facebook on March 27. Quickly, it became clear that the response far exceeded the marketing team's expectations. Customers enthusiastically contacted the chain, trying to figure out if the shake was real. Different cricket flour companies began tweeting at Wayback. Caught off-guard, the burger chain decided the only thing to do was to try and make the product and see what happened.

Related: Lobster Went From Prison Food to Delicacy. Your Product Can, Too. (Infographic)

Oregon-based Cricket Flours provided the crickets, which the burger chain mixed into chocolate, peanut butter and plain cricket shakes. The cricket flour adds around seven grams of protein while just 54 calories. The chocolate and peanut butter shakes contain two tablespoons of flavored cricket flour, or the equivalent of 96 crickets, while the pure cricket flavor contains a whopping 140 crickets.

But don't worry -- there won't be little legs swimming around in your milkshake. "I was expecting to get actual cricket bodies, but it's a powder," says Gillian Maffeo, Wayback's director of marketing.

Realizing that the prank had yielded a surprisingly tasty milkshake, the burger chain decided that on April Fool's Day, an East Meadow, N.Y., location would sell the shake as a limited-time offering. Then customers began calling the restaurant to ask if the shake was real, before showing up to try the beverage themselves. The shake was especially popular among millennials and fitness enthusiasts -- a demographic it is trying to reach, Maffeo says.

Related: Can Fast Food Be Healthy? One Franchise Is Proving the Point and Profiting.

Now the chain is working with its corporate chefs to fine-tune the hastily concocted milkshake recipe, Maffeo says. Customers can expect to see a wider release of the protein-heavy Cricket Milkshake around Wayback's Free Shake Day on June 21.

The Cricket Milkshake falls within the growing wave of business betting on Americans developing a taste for insects. Companies like Exo (cricket protein bars), Bitty (cricket-flour baked goods) and Chapul (cricket energy bars) believe that insects, specifically crickets, are the next protein-heavy "it" food.

Last October, Greg Sewitz, the co-CEO of Exo, told Entrepreneur he believed that within six to 12 months, most food and health industry insiders would have tried or at least heard of products made with insect protein. In fact, it only took six months from his prediction for a fast-casual burger chain to launch a Cricket Milkshake. Who knows -- maybe the next step in McDonald's reputation makeover will include launching a McCricket burger.

Related: How Food Makers Are Convincing America to Eat Bugs

Kate Taylor

Reporter

Kate Taylor is a reporter at Business Insider. She was previously a reporter at Entrepreneur. Get in touch with tips and feedback on Twitter at @Kate_H_Taylor. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Buying / Investing in Business

Former Zillow Execs Target $1.3T Market

Co-ownership is creating big opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Leadership

I Treated My Employees Like Friends — and It Backfired. Here's How You Can Avoid the Same Mistake.

Building lasting friendships with employees is difficult. Boundaries help you maintain authority and build strong relationships.

Business News

These 5 States Have the Most Affordable Housing, According to a New Report

U.S. News & World Report's latest rankings found the top five states with the most housing affordability.

Business News

Elizabeth Holmes' Partner Raises Millions for New Blood Test Diagnostics Startup: 'We've Learned From Her Company's Mistakes'

The startup insists it isn't Theranos 2.0 and that Holmes, who's serving a prison sentence after being convicted of fraud, "has no role."

Business News

'They're the Backbone:' Walgreens Says Using Robots to Fill Prescriptions Helped It Save $500 Million. Here's How.

Walgreens says its robot-assisted centers fill 16 million prescriptions a month.