Hallowe’en treats and seasonal items hog the Fast Food Week menu this time around. The ‘BIG’ deals include: El Pollo Loco’s Double Chicken Enchilada Bowl, Jimmy John’s 48 oz Pickle Bucket, and KFC’s Free Bucket offer…
The new Cheesy Enchilada Double Chicken Bowl: Bring an appropriate appetite!
The rundown…
FFW experiences a major haunting by Hallowe’en-themed items this week: From OREO’s ghost-shaped candy treat to Hidden valley’s limited-time black ‘Spooky’ Ranch…
MAINS
El Pollo Loco piles up a new Cheesy Enchilada Double Chicken Bowl
It’s a double portion of Chicken with seasoned rice and pinto beans, topped with double portion of shredded Jack cheese, plus guacamole, sour cream, salsa fresca, and a choice of red or green chili enchilada sauce (or both). Everything but el cuchina sink-o. Bring an appropriate appetite…
Popeye’s adds Sweet Honey to Chicken Biscuits
Fans asked for it. An homage to honey chicken, but on the chain’s popular Chicken Biscuit. The Honey Chicken Biscuit pairs Popeye’s crispy chicken with an enlarged buttermilk biscuit and two packets of sweet honey for drizzling. Just $5, at participating locations US-wide.
Shake Shack brings back Black Truffle Menu
It’s a celebration of Black Truffle oil from Umbria, Italy – where they use specially-trained pigs to sniff out the fungal treasures. The menu includes a Black Truffle Burger, a Black Truffle ‘Shroom’ (a Porto-bello cap stuffed with cheese, lettuce and Black Truffle sauce)…
…and a Black Truffle Shack Stack (a quarter-pound Angus beef patty served with a crispy-fried portobello mushroom that’s filled with melted Muenster, Cheddar and Fontina cheese, and topped with Black Truffle sauce, on a toasted potato bun). There’s also truffled-up fries and cheese bites to go with that!
Got a big crowd to feed? KFC now offering Free Buckets!
The chicken monolith is offering a free Bucket of Original Recipe Chicken to KFC Rewards members who place a $15+ online purchase through the KFC website or mobile app. It’s meant to get you using the app. But I feel it’s a cheat on regular customers who don’t want to use the app…
If I had buck for every time I’ve heard a reader or a friend say, “I’ve already got too many darned apps! And I hate using them!”… I especially hate businesses that make you use the app to get served at all. They’ll discover there are many, many potential customers who agree with me. And will simply refuse to patronize them.
SIDES
Hidden Ranch pours Spooky Ranch
And it IS spooky, alright… The dressing is black, and pours from a glow-in-the-dark bottle. Hidden Valley assures the squeamish that the dressing is made with cocoa, and fruit juice flavouring. It’s gluten-free and contains no ‘unnatural’ flavours or colours. It’s available exclusively at Walmart, now through the end of October…
Jimmy John’s floats new Pickle Bites
Swicy Jimmy Pickle Bites are now available to take home – in plastic buckets you can re-use later. Jimmy’s classic Pickle Bites have been drowned in a sweet-and-spicy brine and packed in ‘collectible’ 48 oz buckets.
“[F]all is the season of spicy books & steamy movies, and Jimmy John’s came up with the perfect sweet and spicy snack to enjoy it with,” said Suzanne DeRouchie, JJ’s VP of Integrated Marketing Communications…
Dairy Queen brings back Ghost Pepper Sauce for Hallowe’en
It’s a natural, theme-wise. This dipping sauce features a spicy, smoky pepper heat. It was premiered a few weeks back as an accoutrement to a new Chicken Strip Basket meal. Now, it’s available as a seas-onal standalone…
BEVERAGES
El pollo Loco brews up Caramel Apple ChataCoffee
It’s Horchata and iced coffee laced with a caramel apple syrup. You can also get it topped with cold foam. This Fall treat something new for the season – another cool-weather bev that breaks out of the Pumpkin Spice rut…
Dairy Queen unveils Spellbound’ Menu for Hallowe’en
The menu includes a new Enchanted OREO Blizzard and a New Bubble Brew DQ Sparkler. The Blizzard is made from Vanilla soft serve blended with Oreo cookies, a sweet ube-flavored base, and a purple shimmer (provided by sparkly sugar).
The Sparkler is Blood orange flavouring and lemonade with sparkling water, served over ice and topped with cold foam.
SNACKS
SALTY
Cup Noodles raises Hell with Vampire Ramen
It’s a special flavour for Hallowe’en. And it has a special quality that no Cup Noodles variety has of-fered before. The stuff changes colour when hot water is added – thanks to natural beetroot extract. The flavour is described as, ‘hot [chili pepper] garlic, paired with savoury Chicken umami’. Vampire Ramen is available exclusively at Wallmart, while supplies last.
Cheez-it’s adding a protein-boosted version
Cheez-Its is hoping you want to build muscle and maintain your strength. They’re stacking new protein-boosted crackers with 7 g of total protein per serving – 4 more than regular Cheez-Its. Maker MARS adds, they’re made with 100 real Cheddar cheese…
SWEET
Hostess rolling out Snickerdoodle Twinkies…
You heard right. The gran old snack cake brand is introducing a new flavour! And it’s a grand old flav-our! Snickedoodle Twinkies…
…feature the same vanilla cake blanket filled with Snickerdoodle cookie-inspired cream. Get e’m in packs of 8 individually-wrapped cakes, for a limited time.
… Reprising Chocolate Cake treats for Fall
Hot Cocoa and Marshmallow Donettes, Holiday Cup Cakes and Holiday Snoballs are on the limited-time return list. All feature chocolate cake ‘wrappers’, for various fillings. Due to appear in stores this month, for a limited time…
OREO pumping out Hallowe’en Candy Treat!
It’s a first for the cookie icon: a Hallowe’en treat that’s more candy than cookie. They’re described, by one reviewer, as, “small ghost-shaped cand[ies] with a dark chocolate shell. Inside, they are filled with crumbly Oreo cookie pieces and a rich creme-flavored filling.” At major retailers US-wide, including Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens.
El Pollo Loco stuffs Pumpkin Pie Mini Churros
They’re little bite-sized mini churros stuff with a creamy pumpkin pie filling and dusted with cinna-mon sugar. I could pop those all day long!
They’re just the crowning glory (dessert) on the new limited time Fall Menu guaranteed to fill you up and warm you up at the same time…
Little Debbie intros Hot Cocoa Mini Muffins
Debbie has a new treat for Fall… Not Cocoa Mini Muffins. “Exact release date is TBA but I would imagine we’ll start seeing these around Halloween and they’ll be around for the holidays,” Snacko-lator reports. These chocolate muffins with mini marshmallows come individually wrapped for all snacking occasions.
NOVELTIES
Burger King embraces West African Culture
BK Nigeria is pairing its popular (there) Fried Chicken with classic Jollof Rice in a new meal offering. The Chicken is available in Spicy or Original. The rice is a recipe by Nigerian Lifestyle ‘creator’, Tehiona Chef T’ Bankz, who went through more than 30 versions before declaring a ‘keeper’.
“For a dish with as much cultural pride – and spirited debate – surrounding it as jollof, getting the recipe right clearly wasn’t something Chef T took lightly,” one reviewer noted.
EVENTS
Slim Jim Sets a World Record
The beef stick guys have gone and done what no jerky maker has done before. They recently set a second world record for the longest ‘meat stick’, with a 429-foot / 130.8 m continuous Slim Jim. The previous record, also set by Slim Jims, was 314 ft / 95.7 m, registered back in 2023.
“The record-breaking Slim Jim is a testament to the creativity, expertise and dedication of our team,” said Jess Sweley, Senior Vice President of Research & Development at Conagra Brands. “Our people bring innovation to life every day, and we wanted to find a unique way to celebrate their passion. This record-breaking Slim Jim was a true labor of love for our group.”
And that’s the ‘skinny’…
… On what’s going to be making some of us a little … spookier? … in the coming days and weeks. See you back here in 7 for our next pre-Hallowe’en edition of Fast Food Week!
~ Maggie J.