A mix of mains and snacks in the news this week. KFC expands its Beyond Chicken offering, The Hut rolls out a new Poppers Crust, Coke cans a new old flavour, Planters lights up its Cheez Balls, and McD’s gets a fix for its temperamental Ice Cream machines…
The new Pizza Hut Mozzarella Poppers Pizza Crust…
KFC expands Vegan Chicken
KFC is expanding its Vegan Chicken test marketing program to 70 locations following a one-day trial in Atlanta that saw folks lined up around the block to try the stuff. Until February 24, you’ll be able to order Regular, Honey BBQ, Buffalo or Nashville Hot Beyond Chicken in 4-piece and 12-piece orders, or in combos – if you live near a participating store.
Pizza Hut pops Mozzarela Popper Crust
The Hut is bringing back one of its better original ideas – Pizza crust adorned with Cheesy add-ons around the rim. But instead of previous ‘Cheese stuffed’ versions, the new crust features deep-fried crispy Mozzarella bites. The limited-time Mozzarella Poppers Pizza is basically a Pepperoni Pizza with 16 Mozzarella Poppers lining the rim. You get not 1 but 2 tubs of Marinara sauce for dipping both your Pie and your Potters.
Hooters Wing Sauces now on store shelves
Hooters has bottles its famous Wing Sauces and is selling them at Walmart – at (US)$27.98 for a pack of 6 12 fl. oz. / 355 ml jars. You can get Original, Extra Hot or Honey Thai. And, for those who want to cook up the ultimate Hooters Wings hack, Walmart is also selling the resto’s Breading mixture, (US)$6.98 for a three-pack of 1 lb. / 454 g bags.
A fix for ‘broken’ McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines
Fans of McDonald’s Soft Serve will be all too aware of the frustrating situation involving Ice Cream Machines that are always ‘broken’. Now, the Burger Giant is installing a new system to automate production and manage maintenance. Kytch, a food service automation company, is supplying a system that, “connects to your ice cream machine and provides remote control, real-time data & analytics, and AI powered predictive maintenance.” The upgrade should be ready just in time for summer. Bad news for McWorkers who hate cleaning the machines.
Coke makes Cherry Vanilla official
Coke has launched a new canned flavour – one that soda fountain lovers have been waiting for for decades. Cherry Vanilla has been a popular ‘freestyle’ Coke fountain flavour almost since the iconic beverage first hit drugstore soda fountains 133 years ago. The new flavour comes in regular Coke and Coke Zero styles. Diners have poured more than 105.5 million cans-worth of Cherry Vanilla Coke and Cherry Vanilla Coke Zero since they were first introduced in fast food self-serve soda dispensers in 2017.
Planters launches 4 new Cheez Balls flavours
As a sort of encore to killing off and reincarnating Mr. Peanut, Planters is launching 4 new Cheez Balls flavours. Nacho Cheez and White Cheddar are available now. Blazin’ Hot – similar to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos – hits the shelves in April, and Jalapeño Cheddar will appear sometime later this year.
And that’s the skinny…
… On what’s going to be making some of us a little fatter in the coming weeks. See you back here in 7 for the next edition of Fast Food Week!
~ Maggie J.