A nightmare (or, rather, brain freeze) for a pair of Dairy Queen franchise owners involving a giant red spoon has finally come to an end.
On April 3, Phoenix, Arizona resident Michael Foster, 52, posted on Facebook about the discovery he made while out for a mobile game-based walk around his neighborhood.
An avid Pokémon Go player, Foster was out hunting for his next great catch when he made a rare discovery of a different kind — a giant, 15-foot-long red spoon that happened to be missing from a local Dairy Queen.
“When your out playing #PokémonGO and you find the DQ spoon!” wrote Foster in a Facebook post. He found the spoon in the field of a middle school less than two miles away from the Dairy Queen location it was stolen from, just sitting in the grass.
Puja and Raman Kalra are the owners of the Dairy Queen Grill & Chill in Phoenix, Arizona where the large statue attracts Blizzard fans and Instagram-lovers alike, who often take pictures with the attraction.
The couple has been asking for help locating the oversized red spoon that adorned the front of their restaurant before it was stolen by three individuals between the night of March 24 and the morning of March 25.
The trio was caught on surveillance video manipulating the screws that held the bottom of the spoon in place, removing it from the awning that held its handle and carrying it away, driving off with the Thanos-sized utensil, only to abandon it nearby. The spoon burglars are still at large.
“We were kind of upset but then more puzzled,” Puja Kalra told the Associated Press on March 31. “What are they going to do with a spoon?”
The couple reported the theft to Phoenix police at the time, who Foster eventually called to report the spoon’s location. Which means the Kalras don’t have to get another spoon made, delivered and installed, which they estimate would have cost them over $7,000.
Foster also posted a photo of himself posing in front of the spoon affixed to the front of a police cruiser to Facebook.
“The first thing I did was send a picture to my wife and I said, ‘It’s the spoon.’ She said call the police,” Foster told AP. Sgt. Brian Bower of the Phoenix Police also confirmed that the spoon was discovered and recovered and asked the public to submit tips if they know anything about the crime.
While the spoon was still missing, staff at the location started wearing “Where’s my spoon?” shirts emblazoned with a red spoon and the DQ logo, and passed out flyers to post at various branches around metro Phoenix. The Kalras also offered a reward of one Blizzard treat from every flavor of the summer menu, which Foster says he doesn’t really need.
“Honestly, we’re just glad they’re gonna get their spoon back,” he said.