Teen TikTok Star, Who Was Raised in a Dairy Queen, Reveals Her Favorite DQ Hacks (Exclusive)
"We lived, breathed, and ate ice cream for years," Morgann Book tells PEOPLE of her childhood at Dairy Queen
Blizzards might as well be coursing through Morgann Book's veins.
The 19-year-old rose to viral TikTok fame in Jan. 2020 by posting behind-the-scenes videos serving up Dairy Queen favorites. Now she tells PEOPLE that she "still finds it hard to believe" that the work she was doing since she was a kid has reached millions of viewers.
Book's parents bought their first Dairy Queen location when she was six — and it wasn't too long after that that she found herself doing little tasks around the store.
"Once I was eight, my brother and I would help out by putting the spoons in the Blizzards," she says.
Book started working there in a more official capacity when she was 12 or 13. "We were always there 24/7. It was good. It was like a child's dream — I loved it — doesn't matter if I was sweeping or cleaning," she says. "Birthday cakes were always Dairy Queen cakes. We lived, breathed, and ate ice cream for years."
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Since blowing up on TikTok, Book has been sharing insights on how Dairy Queen desserts get made, from Blizzards to cones and ice cream cakes. She shared some of her DQ insider information with PEOPLE, like being able to customize Blizzards.
"I feel like a lot of people didn't know that you can add stuff to your Blizzard. We have the normal menu of stuff, and then you can add Smarties to an Oreo Blizzard, because that's my favorite," she says of Smarties, which are chocolate-coated candies in Canada, where Book is from. "That drove a lot of people to my page because they were like, 'I had no idea you could customize what goes in the ice cream.'"
These additions can even let customers make some of their old favorite Blizzards.
"We have a lot of the ingredients that used to be in old time Blizzards," she tells PEOPLE. "A lot of people come in and still order a turtle pecan cluster, which has been off the menu since before I was born, I think, but we still have all the ingredients for it. It's turtles, pecans, caramel sauce, and cone dip."
Some of her favorite off-menu classics include the s'mores Blizzard (made with marshmallow-filled chocolate pieces, graham crackers and soft serve) and the confetti cake Blizzard (made with cake pieces, confetti frosting and soft serve).
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Book also clarified the rules about a known hack. Many customers believe a Blizzard is free if the employee doesn't first flip it upside down for the customer.
"That promotion is only at participating Dairy Queens. There's a little bit of fine print there, so our store doesn't do that," she says, adding that they still do the flip. "My parents are very much like, 'You are flipping this Blizzard. It has to be done' — even though we don't do that promotion. It's just fun. It kind of creates an experience for the customers."
Sharing her DQ expertise online helped garner her 2.8 million followers and over 167 million likes on her TikTok account, which she reveals she almost never started.
After her parents had opened their new, and now only, store in Ancaster, Ontario, her best friend encouraged her to start a TikTok account for it, but she resisted.
"'No, I hate TikTok,'" she recalls saying. "I hadn't even downloaded the app myself. Not happening."
Related:Dairy Queen Location Searching for Their Stolen 15-Foot Spoon Is Offering Free Blizzards as a Reward
"I kind of forgot about it for a couple of months, and then one of my coworkers was bored in the store one day, and we were like, 'Let's film ourselves making a cake and a Treatzza Pizza.' Both videos went viral right away," says Book. "It was immediate. I think it hit a million views, both videos, in a couple of days. Then I gained 40,000 followers overnight."
Since her first two hits, she's posted hundreds more videos taking viewers to work with her at Dairy Queen and dishing on new menu items, like the churro dipped cone.
From being asked to make a couple's wedding cake (which she had to turn down because a tiered ice cream cake is "just a recipe for disaster") to helping a customer celebrate their Make-a-Wish, Book's platform has helped her make Dairy Queen a special part of peoples' lives — like it has always been for her.
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