Buona Beef's new shake among suburban companies' April Fool's pranks

Berwyn-based Buona Beef 's milkshake happy hour won't be the same after it jokingly added a new flavor on Friday - giardiniera.

That could be hard to swallow for some, especially on April Fools' Day.

But the fun turned into reality when the family-owned restaurant chain actually began selling the giardiniera milkshakes with a vanilla base for $1.99 between 2 and 4 p.m.

"Someone purchased a couple of the shakes at our Rolling Meadows location," said Buona spokesman Matt Hensler.

April Fools' Day saw a lot of prank news releases hitting the wire services, blogs and emails, and reporters and customers alike had to fend for themselves.

Besides Buona, others jumped into the fray. Oak Brook-based McDonald's featured a new MmmBox on its website offering three new meal boxes by subscription only called The Artisan, The Minimalist and The Ribster for the "alternative to the non-mainstream taste buds."

Others included Oakbrook Terrace-based Redbox, which featured a job search for Kiosk Ambassadors. Yep, they're hiring someone who likes movies and games, loves sitting in one place for eight or more hours, and enjoys a very, very small workspace. And you need to think "inside" the box ... their own red boxes, that is. Squeeze yourself inside.

Then there's Quilted Northern with its new line of rustic toilet paper that was hand-pulped, H&M's new Mark Zuckerberg's clothing line with seven gray T-shirts and one pair of jeans, and Virgin American airline's new logo in the shape of a bra or, as some might think, female anatomy.

But unlike the other jokesters, Buona followed through on its first-time April Fools joke, because some customers actually wanted to try the ice cream laced with the spicy relish, Hensler said.

The restaurant aimed the shakes at millennials who "crave more options. The hot pepper milkshake is one of many additions to the restaurants' menu, including its 'Skip the Gym' options designed to appeal to customers with diverse lifestyles and taste buds."

Anthony Mortorina @ant_kneee, a customer on Twitter, played along with his tweet: "Can I get beef on top?" he asked.

Buona's response: "We could put a whole 10" beef in there, if you'd like,"