EAST LANSING, Mich. — For years, the most popular flavor at the Michigan State Dairy Store was Blueberry Pie: vanilla ice cream, blueberry swirl and pie flakes. Then, 10 years ago, the store introduced Sesquicentennial Swirl in recognition of Michigan State’s founding in 1855 and began concocting flavors to represent the other Big Ten colleges.
With the help of food coloring, Blueberry Pie became Maize-N-Berry, for the University of Michigan. Good luck selling a scoop of it now.
“It went from a top-five flavor to down near the bottom,” said John Engstrom, the longtime operations manager.