#Food Court

4 items

Video thumbnail — The Rise & Fall And Resurgence Of Auntie Anne's
Food 1988–present

Auntie Anne's

You smelled it before you saw it. The mall pretzel counter where the dough got rolled and twisted right in front of you, then came over the counter hot, salted, and slightly too big to finish. Butter or cinnamon sugar, a paper sleeve, and a cup of Dutch Ice — the food court's most reliable pleasure.

Video thumbnail — How Cinnabon Outlasted The Mall
Food 1985–present

Cinnabon

A cinnamon roll the size of a dinner plate, buried under cream cheese frosting that pooled in the box. You could smell the counter from the other end of the mall, which was not an accident. Nobody ever finished one alone and everybody ordered one anyway.

Video thumbnail — 1994 Fruitopia psychedelic kaleidoscope TV commercial
Food 1994–2003

Fruitopia

Coca-Cola's psychedelic, tie-dyed fruit drink 'for the mind, body, and planet.' The trippy kaleidoscope vending machines and New-Age flavor names — Strawberry Passion Awareness — were peak-'90s marketing weirdness.

Video thumbnail — The Rise & Fall And Resurgence Of Sbarro
Food 1956–present

Sbarro

The enormous rectangular slab of pizza under the heat lamp, sold by the slice from a counter with a guy waving you over. It was the food court's default answer to "what do you want," and the slice was always bigger than the paper plate it came on.