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Menu Tracker: New items from Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s, and Red LobsterMenu Tracker: New items from Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s, and Red Lobster

Plus innovation at Applebee’s, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, CC’s Coffee House, Condado Tacos, Corner Bakery Café, Fiiz Drinks, Gong Cha, Golden Krust, Graze Craze, Häagen-Dazs Shops, Huddle House, The Human Bean, IHOP, Jack in the Box, Jamba, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, Joe’s Coffee, Lion’s Choice, Long John Silver’s, Main Event, Mellow Mushroom, Noodles & Company, Outback Steakhouse, Panera, Paris Baguette, Perkins, P.F. Chang’s, Pincho Burgers & Kebabs, PJ’s Coffee, Playa Bowls, Potbelly, Red Robin, Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, Sweet Paris, Taziki’s, Tim Hortons, TooJay’s Deli, Velvet Taco, Wendy’s, and White Castle

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

November 15, 2024

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It has been a long year, and there are still six weeks to go, but many chains already seem to be pumped up for the holidays with pointedly themed specials from Carrabba’s, CC’s Coffee House, Graze Craze, Jack in the Box, Mellow Mushroom, Red Robin, Sweet Paris, and Tim Hortons, as well as Red Lobster, which also has a bunch of new items that are part of a systemwide revamp.

What about Thanksgiving, you ask? That’s a great question, and while many chains seem to have jumped right over it, there are specials from Golden Krust, as well as Paris Baguette.

There are also a whole lot of peppermint items, including some from, Chick-fil-A, Corner Bakery Café, Häagen-Dazs, The Human Bean, Main Event, PJ’s Coffee, Playa Bowls, Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard.

Oddly, pumpkin items are still being rolled out at chains such as Fiiz Drinks, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, and Joe’s Coffee

White Castle is bringing back its seasonal Sloppy Joe sliders, Long John’s Silvers is bringing back its lobster bites, and P.F. Chang’s is celebrating the first snowfall the way it is apparently done in South Korea, with fried chicken.

Wendy’s has a new Frosty, among other things, and Applebee’s has a new chicken sandwich.

IHOP has new items celebrating the launch of the Xbox game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and TooJay’s Deli has a cake celebrating the 65th anniversary of fashion brand Lilly Pulitzer.

Related:Menu Tracker: New items from Starbucks, Taco Bell, Dunkin’, and Carl’s Jr.

So much to celebrate.

Panera has new dippable ciabatta items, and Outback is encouraging guests to dip steak in French onion soup.

Perkins has a bunch of seasonal items, Huddle House has chicken & waffles, Potbelly has new sauces and sandwiches, and Pincho has a new burger.

Lion’s Choice has a new sandwich, and Noodles & Company is testing three varieties of mac & cheese.

Taziki’s has tomato soup, and Jamba has new cranberry-pomegranate drinks.

Condado Tacos has carne asada, Gong Cha has red velvet items, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is actually a Mongolian beef lettuce wrap.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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