Since the Chattanooga Bakery Co. developed the MoonPie as a snack for miners 107 years ago, the graham cracker- and creme-filled treat has grown to become a popular snack for many, usually consumed with milk.
This summer, another East Tennessee food business, the Weigel’s convenience store chain, is combining MoonPies and milk in a chocolate-flavored drink being sold for a limited time at all 79 Weigel’s convenience stores.
In its promotional ads, Weigel’s is touting the new MoonPie Milk as “one giant leap for mankind.”
“Our newest milk flavor has officially landed, and it’s out of this world! Weigel’s MoonPie,” the company says in social media and billboard promotions.
(READ MORE: MoonPies pitches snack treats to aliens)
Nicholas Triantafellou, the director of merchandising and marketing at Weigel’s, said the MoonPie-flavored milk grew out of a brainstorming session by company executives eager to promote products within its service territory.
“Due to our great partnership with Chattanooga Bakery, it was a no-brainer to see if they had interest in partnering on a milk flavor,” Triantafellou said in an email Monday. “Once their team immediately replied they’d love to partner, it became a science project to replicate the flavors of a Chocolate MoonPie into a pint of milk.”
(SIGN UP: Get today’s Chattanooga area news, sports and entertainment directly to your inbox. Sign up for our free newsletters at timesfreepress.com/newsletters.)
Weigel’s brags that it usually moves its milk from cow to store in under 24 hours. But Triantafellou said development of MoonPie Milk took more than six months “from a crazy thought in my head, to samples being made to try to match flavors, to then production and onto shelves.”
Weigel’s previously did a similar partnership with Ham’N Goodys in Knoxville using its famous lemon cookie, but the MoonPie Milk has been an even bigger hit for the convenience store chain.
“The success of that flavor is nowhere close to the level of success we have had with MoonPie Milk,” he said.
Weigel’s is planning on selling the MoonPie Milk at all of its stores, including its four Chattanooga locations, until the middle of July before the company introduces another limited time offering.
Tory Johnston, the national sales manager for Chattanooga Bakery Co., said the partnership is a natural for the two longtime Tennessee companies. Although the company famously touted in its early years the appeal of having an RC Cola and a MoonPie, Johnston said milk is the top beverage choice for those eating a MoonPie.
“Milk and MoonPies have always gone together, and we’ve always thought that a MoonPie milk would be delicious,” Johnston said. “We’re thrilled that Weigel’s is doing this.”
(READ MORE: MoonPie expects galactic sales from lunar eclipse celebrations)
The Knoxville-based Weigel’s, a 90-year-old convenience store chain that entered the Chattanooga market in 2022, is a supporter of University of Tennessee athletics and is already having fun with its new milk offering. In a Saturday social media post after Vanderbilt’s loss to High Point University in the NCAA baseball playoffs, company officials suggested the the Commodores should head to Weigel’s for a MoonPie Milk to help swallow their loss.
“VandyBoys, on the drive back to Nashville we invite you to swing into a Weigel’s for some delicious MoonPie Milk! We’ve seen lots of families come in our stores to try it, and it seems to be a favorite of little brothers everywhere,” Weigel’s said in its post.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.