For years I have been advocating for a restaurant to offer miniature milkshakes — shake shots, if you will — because no adult other than those participating in sports at a professional or Olympic level needs to be drinking 16 ounces or more worth of ice cream spun with milk and syrup. And who wouldn’t like 1-2 ounces of a sweet treat for a dollar or two, maybe at 2 p.m?
No one that I know of has done that yet, but Black Tap has come close: It now has 1.5-ounce Shake Shots, but they’re boozy and cost $9.
The big news on the beverage front is Krispy Kreme upgrading its coffee. Details aren’t fully clear yet, but the doughnut chain’s coffee is now made with 100% Arabica beans and operators brought in new equipment for it.
Also in beverages, Dunkin’ now has a Frozen Coffee with its Munchkins doughnut holes mixed in. A Wendy’s Frosty arguably counts as a beverage, and it has a pumpkin spice one now, and Tous Les Jours has Pumpkin Pie Macchiato and a Butter Pecan Latte.
In other pumpkin- and pumpkin spice-related news there are new items from Eggs Up Grill, Grimaldi’s,Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, Just Salad, Nekter Juice Bar, Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, and 16 Handles.
Huddle House has rolled out some hot honey items systemwide after testing them earlier in the year, and Hardee’s has made Nashville hot chicken tenders a permanent option.
Chicken Salad Chick has a grilled cheese sandwich with chicken salad on it, Chopt has new options inspired by the Eastern Mediterranean, and Taco Cabana is celebrating Hatch green chile season with some new items.
Condado Tacos is bringing back a legacy item called the El Santo, and Chipotle Mexican Grill is bringing back its carne asada for the third time.
Friendly’s has new sundaes developed in collaboration with each of the Jonas Brothers, and Nick Jonas, for reasons of his own, decided to make his with frozen yogurt.
Marble Slab Creamery figured out how to make ice cream with crunchy churros in them without the help of any celebrities.
Slapfish Coastal Seafood Kitchen has discovered coconut shrimp.
Tacodeli is using bison, Taco John’s has new crunchy flatbread items, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature has the very on-trend item of chicken, bacon, and ranch.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]