Copyright Salt Lake City Deseret News
BYU’s “Tater Tot King” has his own ice cream flavor. Rockwell Ice Cream, a Utah ice cream chain, teamed up with BYU senior Richie Saunders to roll out a new flavor for the month of November: “Tater Tot King.” According to Rockwell’s Instagram, the “Tater Tot King” ice cream features “crispy toasted Ore-Ida Tater Tots covered in a dark Callebaut chocolate, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and hand-stirred into a creamy milk chocolate base with peanut butter ribbons.” Saunders was featured in a video shared on social media by Rockwell Ice Cream. “Here we got a Tater Tot, chocolate, peanut butter ice cream cone. You’ve got to try it if you dare,” he said while holding a cone of Tater Tot King. “I love chocolate (and) peanut butter, and Tater Tot because that’s part of who I am right there. But you’ve got to try this.” During last season’s Big 12 tournament, Saunders’ connection to Tater Tots went viral. Saunders is the great-grandson of F. Nephi Grigg, who co-founded Ore-Ida and invented the Tater Tots. The connection even resulted in an NIL deal with Ore-Ida, who nicknamed Saunders “Heir Richie,” ahead of the NCAA Tournament, as the Deseret News previously reported. Ore-Ida’s X account temporarily changed its handle to “Ore-Richie” while BYU and Saunders were in the tournament. Ore-Ida also introduced the “Tot Clock.” Following each BYU win, Ore-Ida would give away free bags of Tater Tots for 30 minutes. The company pledged to release a limited edition bag of “Richie’s Tater Shots” featuring Saunders if BYU and Saunders won the tournament. But it wasn’t meant to be, as BYU ultimately lost to No. 2 Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen. Ore-Ida flew actor John Heder, known for playing the Tater Tot loving Napoleon Dynamite, to New Jersey to attend BYU’s Sweet Sixteen game in the Prudential Center. “I have a connection to tots that harkens back to 20 years ago,” he said, per The Associated Press. “Before that time, I also went to BYU. We’re at a crossroads right now where my childhood meets my education meets my professional life. It kind of makes sense for me to return to the middle of the crossroads, to meet the devil again and make some new deals.” Saunders and No. 8 BYU kicked off their season Monday with a 71-66 win over Villanova. The Cougars play Holy Cross next on Saturday.
