It appears to be American (Processed) cheese week here at the FFB. One selection actually uses Grilled Cheese sammys as burger ‘buns’! On the newstalgia beat: Arby’s cycles back classic Orange Cream ‘Creamsicle’ flavour in a ‘Boomer-licious Shake…
The rundown…
Salina Gomez ‘stars’ in new OREO celeb collab… Shake Shake gets fans in a pickle…
Mains
Carl’s Jr. hauls out Build Your Own Bag…
Carl’s Jr. addresses your late-day cravings with a Build Your Own Bag promo that lets you choose one of 3 main, plus one of 5 sides, and throws in a 4-piece order of Chicken Stars (nuggets). Beverage ex-tra. My Rewards App members get an expanded menu of mains and sides to choose from. Available after 8pm, at participating locations, for a limited time through July 8.
… Brings back the Sourdough Star
The Star is available in single- or double-patty versions. Both feature charbroiled beef, melted American (processed) cheese, grilled onions, two bacon slices, lettuce, tomato, classic sauce, and mayo on toasted sourdough bread.
Wendy’s Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger triples your pleasure
Tossed a coin to see whether this one got written up under Mains or Novelties… Mains won. It’s a Cheese-on-Cheese-on-Cheese kind of thing that triples some other components, as well. (See photo, top of page.)
The ‘basic’ GCC starts with a special circular bread ‘bun’, each half of which has been sliced again, horizontally, and ‘filled’ with melted American (Processed) Cheese before being stacked with a quarter-pound beef patty, caramelized onions, mayo, and MORE American. You can also get it with double or triple patties. The catch? It’s only available in Canada For now, at least…
Sides
Shake Shake gets fans in a pickle
The Shack surveyed fans last summer and found that their fave side and burger topping was its fried Pickles coins. This summer, they’re offering heaping baskets of the signature-flavoured crunchy treats.
In fact fans demanded the side be added to the summer snack rotation this year. In a parallel devel-opment, more than 1/3 of Fast Food fans demanded an expanded sides/snacks. menu. Ask and you shall receive…
Arby’s reprises White Cheddar Mac ‘N Cheese
The chain’s substantial White Cheddar Mac ‘N Cheese side is back. It’s a creamy M&C, rather than a baked, crumb-topped one. Some fans consider it a main! Available for a limited time, now through ‘early summer’…
Beverages
Arby’s gets newstalgic with Orange Cream
It’s an Orange Cream shake, specifically, meant to remind you of everyboomer’s childhood favourite Creamsicle ice cream pop. It’s a sweet-and-simple blend of vanilla shake mix and orange cream syrup, garnished with whipped topping.
Sprite + Tea = quenchalicious treat
Cocoa Cola’s 7-Up brand lemon-lime fizzy quencher challenger, Sprite, is celebrating summer with a simple Iced Tea crossover. Sprite + Tea is simply a brew meant to remind you of Iced Tea cold-brewed in Sprite.
“We’re always listening to consumers,” says Sprite Brand Director Kate Schaufelberger. “But this particular phenomenon really inspired us to bring a unique, refreshing take to life.” It’s here until October…
SONIC revives two summer special bevs…
The classic drive-in is tinkering with Lemonade and Watermelons again… Watermelon Slush doses a plain Sonic Slush with super-sweet watermelon flavor. Lemonberry Slush starts with basic, unfla-voured slush ice mixed with strawberries and a squeeze of lemon.
… Offers legendary shakes half-off!
SONIC will forever be associated in fans’ minds with its legendary shakes. For a limited time, you can get half off any shake (‘any size, any flavor’) after 5PM at participating locations US-wide. Boom! Just like that. No memberships, coupons or QR scanning required…
Quinoa Beer Claims to be Gluten-free
Most American Beer is made from a mixture of grains – mainly Barley and Rice. It’s the starch you want from the grain, to convert to sugar (via ‘malting’) which is them fermented into alcohol. Of course, the grain you use also goes a long way to determining the flavour of the final product. As do the hops…
Samara Oster wasn’t even a beer fan until she discovered Quinoa Beer in Peru. When the Harvard and MIT grad got back to the US, she put together an MIT team to develop the recipe for commercial use. Meli brand beer is claimed to be sugar-free, protein-rich, packed with essential vitamins and 7 per-cent of your daily potassium.
Corona launches summer-special ‘beach beer’
Corona is perhaps the best-known Mexican beer brand in the rest of North America. There’s some disagreement among beer lovers as to where regular Corona falls on the overall beer global beer ‘greatness’; continuum. That aside, it’s tossing thirsty fans a lifesaver in the form of Sunbrew, ‘brewed with real orange and lime peels with a splash of real orange and lime juice’. It’s available US-wide now…
Desserts & Snacks
SONIC hands-off new Cheesy Garlic Pepperoni Bites
The new snack will remind snack pros of a classic Indian Samosa at first glance. The 2-3-bite crispy-fried shell is stuffed with a filling of melted mozzarella and provolone cheeses, pepperoni, and pizza sauce. Maybe more like a mini Calzone… Available May 27, apparently through the summer.
Selena Gomez has one sweet cookie!
… And it’s a celebrity collab with OREOs. The OREO promo machine has been running in overdrive latekly. And the latest brand x-over is a biggie. Selena Gomez has consented to the cookie kings creating a special bite in her name: OREO Selena Gomez.
Inspired by Selena’s love of Mexican beverage classic Horchata, the pastry is described as, ‘two chocolate cinnamon-flavored wafers, and a layer of chocolate cinnamon creme atop [a] sweet cinnamon-infused condensed milk cream [layer].”
Corn Nuts commits a partial pop
The classic snack has launched a new line of corn-based Partially Popped treats. We’re always lis-tening to consumers,” said Sprite Brand Director Kate Schaufelberger. “But this particular phenom-enon really inspired us to bring a unique, refreshing take to life.” They’re described as combining the light, airy consistency of popcorn with the classic crunch of corn kernels.’ The new snack premieres in three flavours: White Cheddar, Kickin’ (spicy) Cheddar and Mover Theater Butter.
Novelties
Yeast-based Like Milk alternative a first…
Asahi – the Japanese brand name that seems to pop everywhere from newspapers to cameras to food – has débuted the entry in the plant-based milk alteratives sweepstakes: This time they’re mak-ing it from Yeast. Have you ever had the disorienting experience trying to decipher a website that features English headings and Japanese text? Anyway… From what I could figure out, the new product ic claimed to do everything cow’s milk does – and some things even better! I don’t think Like Milk is available in North America yet…
Cherry Slurpee-favoured almonds?
They’re a 7-Eleven x Blue Diamond Nuts creation that someone with clout at one or another of those brands must have asked for…
“Bringing this flavor to our protein-packed almonds makes it the perfect snack for the flavors you crave in the warmer months,” says Maya Erwin, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation at Blue Diamond. On the other hand… Almonds are THE flavour ‘blank canvas’ of the nut world…
Events
Chipotle’s sets summer Milestones
They call it the ‘Summer of Extras’ promo. And it runs all summer, from July 1 through August 31. During that time Rewards program members can participate in what they’re calling the Milestones program that lets them earn specials and extras. Rewards members can also enter to win a limited-edition stainless steel Chipotle card good for free burritos for a whole year. Plus, Chipotle’s giving away 10,000 burritos every week…
Texas fan sues Whataburger over unwanted onions
The customer in question is allergic to onions, and ordered his fave Whataburger as usual – ‘no onions’ – last January. But the thing somehow game out WITH onions per the default WB default forulation.
The plaintiff says he suffered serious medical repercussions. He’s suing for (US)$1 million – which make his claim one of the more modest such lawsuits in recent history. What makes this lawsuit dif-ferent – potentially unique, observers say – is it could be argued that the suit-bringer should share at least some of the blame for his own predicament…
And that’s the skinny…
… On what’s going to be making some of us a little ‘cheesier’ over the coming days and weeks. See you back here in 7 for the next grill-seared edition of Fast Food Week!
~ Maggie J.