As you know, we didn’t have a Fast Food Week or Sunday post last weekend, due to a massive power outage across the Ottawa region caused by a series of EF2 and EF3 tornadoes Friday afternoon and evening. So, now, we’re going to catch up with a bumper edition of FFW!
No matter how you like yours, It’s time to hoist one and celebrate National Coffee Day!
It’s National Coffee Day!
September 29, 2018 is National Coffee Day! Celebrate with specials at virtually all Coffee outlets, including: Buy-one-get-one free hot Coffee at participating Dunkin’s outlets; and One Free Coffee of any size at partitipating Krispy Kreme outlets. (Krispy Kreme Rewards members also get a free donut to go with their coffee.) Drop by your fave Coffee Shop today and see what they have on their celebration menu!
McDonald’s rewards two guys who pranked them…
Remember the two Houston College students of Asian heritage who pulled an elaborate prank on McDonalds by creating a McD’s-looking poster featuring themselves and brazenly putting it up on a blank wall at their local Golden Arches? Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo finally fessed up on Twitter after the poster remained up for 51 days without provoking even the slightest hint of suspicion among the management. The lads did the deed hoping to point up the fact that McD’s in-store advertising has no Asians pictured. They more than made their point. McD’s Chicago HQ has awarded them each (US)$25,000 and has committed to adding Asian faces to its future ads and posters.
…Ditches additives and artificial flavours, colours
At least, they’ve removed them from the recipes for their Classic Burgers, including: Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, Double Cheeseburgers, McDoubles, Quarter Pounders with Cheese, Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese and Big Macs. This move comes in parallel with their big relaunch of the iconic Baked Apple Pie sans additives, artificial flavours and unnatural colours. Alas, die-hard Apple Pie fans gave the new recipe a thumbs down. Another real-world proof that you simply don’t fiddle with a classic! We’ll see how the Burgers go over…
KFC goes Sweet-and-Savoury
Anybody who likes Honey Garlic Chicken Wings will love KFC’s new Honey Fried Chicken (main page teaser photo). It’s actually just KFC’s regular Chicken Tenders slathered in new Honey & Pepper Sauce. The Peppers are reportedly on the mild side, top balance nicely with the sweet component. Extra Crispy Chicken Littles and an Extra Crispy Sandwich are also available with the Honey Sauce. As with all really good things at Fast Food joints these days, these Sweet-and-Savoury treats are available for a limited time only. Rats.
Avoid human contact all together when grabbing Pizza
Little Ceasars is beginning to roll out new Pizza Portal pick-up systems. They let you order, pay and choose the store you want to gpick up from by smart phone. Then, you pick up your pie at the store completely bypassing the service counter. Just enter a three-digit PIN number or show a QR code to the system’s scanner and your pie appears before you like magic. Folks who’ve seen them say they’re like Amazon lockers, but heated. It’;s not often that Little Ceasars puts one over on the other Pizza giants, but, this time, they’re likely to attract some additional market share from the competition among patrons who crave really easy, really fast food.
M&Ms launching three new limited-edition flavours…
M&Ms has been pumping out new, limited-edition flavour variants of its Chocolate and Peanut candies for a couple of years, now. But the latest batch could just be the nuttiest. Along with Thai Coconut Peanut and English Toffee Peanut, they’re pushing – believe it or not – Mexican Jalapeño Peanut. It looks as though the confection has the usual M&M’s Peanut structure, which includes Chocolate and a Candy shell. Now, I’ve had Chocolate seasoned with Hot Pepper before, and it was… interesting. I’ve also had Peanuts and Peanut sauces (think: Satay) seasoned with Hot Pepper. I guess the idea of Mexican Japaleño Peanut M&Ms may not be so nutty after all.
…One new M&Ms Chocolate signature flavour…
What took them so long? The M&Ms R&D brain trust finally realized that Hazelnut Spread goes well with chocolate, and they’re now putting both together in a new M&Ms Chocolate Candy. Alas, the new flavour won’t be available until next spring.
…And five new Candy Bars
M&Ms have broken out of their shell – sort of. The company is planning to launch five new M&Ms branded Chocolate Bars next April including: Milk Chocolate, Crispy, Almond, Crispy Mint, and Peanut variants. All feature M&Ms famous Milk Chocolate stuffed with various treats including M&Ms Minis. I can’t wait!
Heinz ready to blast out ‘Mayochup’
Remember a few months back, when I told you about a new test product from Heinz that combined Mayo and Ketchup? They called it ‘Mayochup’ and they called on fans of their Mayo, Ketchup and Mustard to register their opinions on whether the stuff should go mainstream. Well, Heinz apparently got sufficient support for the new glop to warrant a nationwide rollout. Major retailers who already carry Heinz products have added Mayochup to their shelves over this past month. We’ll see what happens. I, for one, would just put Mayo and Ketchup on whatever I was eating rather than have the blend. And if I wanted a blend, I could make it up to suit my own taste. If the new Mayochup condiment sells like hotcakes, it will be a clear signal that millennials are feeling even more entitled and are even more convenience addicted than we thought.
And that’s it for the not-so-skinny…
…Catch-up edition of Fast Food Week! Back in seven with another regular installment of our roundup on what’s going to make some of us fatter in the future…
~ Maggie J.