Vortex (Howard Johnson's)

The Vortex is a milkshake-like dessert beverage sold at Howard Johnson's Restaurants. It was developed from 1987-1989 to compete with Dairy Queen's Blizzard beverage. The Vortex was introduced in test markets in 1990 (test markets included San Francisco, Indianapolis, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Raleigh-Durham, Coachella Valley, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh) and saw nationwide rollout by January 1991.