A guerilla promo in the Fried Chicken Wars, new menu items, flavour/product crossover/mashups, and multiple Novelty Alerts take the stage in this edition of Fast Food Week. As the world tries to open up again in the face of the COVID Delta variant, the Fast food folks just keep on doing what they do…
Burger King unveils 2 new Kings…
BK has announced a new Breakfast Bacon King, and an interesting sounding Garlic & Bacon King. The Garlic & Bacon King starts with the usual sesame seed Bun, adds 2 1/4-pound Beef Patties and tops them with ‘three half-slices’ of bacon, new roasted garlic pieces, two slices of American (Process) cheese, and mayo. The Breakfast King is built on a Brioche bun and features a big Sausage patty. There’s also a BK folded egg, 2 slices of Bacon, 2 slices of American, and a new Buttery Maple Sauce…
…Brings back Tater Tots…
BK has a hit with its Cheesy Tots when they first appeared, and now they’re coming back for a limited time in 8-piece packs. This time, they’ll be available all day, at BK locations chain-wide…
…Adds Brownie Shake
As if to balance the salty-savoury tang of the Tots, BK is also offering a super-sweet Brownie Batter Shake: Fudge Brownie Batter swirled with regular Vanilla Soft Serve. This one’s also around for a limited time.
Arby’s adds Chicken Avocado Wrap
Arby’s is adding a new Southwest Chicken Avocado Wrap to its Market Fresh Wrap menu, for a limited time.
The SCAW is based on sliced, roasted, Chili-rubbed chicken, snuggled up with spicy avocado spread, chili lime ranch sauce, lettuce, tomato, and red onion, in an ‘artisan wrap’. ‘Artisan wrap’, as we’ve discovered in previous Arby’s Wrap releases, means ‘Fancy Tortilla’.
Popeye’s gifts other guys’ Nuggets
In a slightly confusing promo move, Popeye’s has waged a guerrila attack in the ongoing Fried Chicken wars. Popeye’s is buying ‘the equivalent of 1 million of Chick-fil-A’s, Burger King’s, Wendy’s, and McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets through its charitable foundation. The Popeye’s Foundation will then donate the alien Nuggets to the Second Harvest Food Bank of New Orleans. I guess the logic is, that’s a million fewer Nuggets available for the other Guys to sell…
Chips Ahoy!, Hershey’s do Fudge
Nabisco is launching a new limited time version featuring Hershey’s Fudge-filled Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies. Sounds decadent. But poor old Chips Ahoy! still has a long way to go, to catch up with iconic sister sweet OREOs in the ‘blasting out new flavours’ game…
Lay’s Chips mashing up with Doritos, Funyuns
Lays is launching new limited time Doritos Cool Ranch and Funyuns flavoured Potato Chips. Bound to make some salty snack fans do a double-take in the chips aisle!
They’re available now for who-knows-how-long at the usual Lays sources across the U.S.
Novelty Alert I: X-Box Doughnut
It appears that Krispy Kreme UK is getting ready to launch a new Nexus Level Doughnut in some sort of collab with the release of X-Box Series S. Few details as yet, but the KK UK web site confirms there is a contest in the offing, the winner of which will receive a new X-Box S. All entrants will apparently get a month’s free play on X-Box Game Pass ultimate. The doughnut is a cream-filled critter (flavour unknown) festooned with a big X-Box logo in green on white on top.
Novelty Alert II: First Plant-based Hard Boiled Egg!
Crafty Counter, which has already given the world an array of lentil- and bean-based treats – will launch what it calls the world’s first ready-to-eat plant-based hard boiled eggs later this year. Called Wundereggs’, the ‘whites’ are made with nuts and agar, and the yolks are made with nuts and turmeric (for a brilliant yellow colour). Crafty counter claims a shelf life of 90-120 days for the product. One catch (and this is why it’s classed as a novelty here): A package of 2 Wundereggs will probably cost $5, at least initially. Also Crafty admits that its ‘eggs’ don’t contain a number of valuable nutrients real eggs offer – though future versions may be fortified.
And that’s the skinny…
… On what’s going to be making some of us fatter over what’s left of the summer. Check back in 7 for the next edition of Fast Food Week!
~ Maggie J.