This week on Nation's Restaurant News, the top story was The Best of Menu Tracker: Highlights of menu items introduced in 2024. It has been a heady year of menu innovation as many operators, struggling with declining traffic, rolled out an ever-broadening array of new menu items to attract an audience of Americans, many of whom showed increasing budget consciousness and limited attention spans.
Influencers and other celebrities were recruited to help promote some items, while other items were based on events of the day, from the 25th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants to the 65th anniversary of Barbie.
In other news, Sonic Drive-In is capitalizing on the popularization of early ‘00s nostalgia with the launch of the quick-service brand’s “Sonic Iconic Drinks by Paris and Nicole” menu collaboration with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.
The specialty drinks menu is being released in conjunction with the premiere of “Paris and Nicole: the Encore” on the Peacock streaming service. Hilton and Richie are reuniting for the 20th anniversary of “The Simple Life” reality TV show, which depicted the two wealthy socialites trying out blue-collar jobs and physical labor.
Also, the year 2024 has been unkind to many restaurant brands, as especially evidenced by the staggering number of bankruptcies filed this year. Indeed, restaurants are on track to declare the most bankruptcies in decades, with the exception of 2020, when the pandemic upended the industry. No segment has been spared, with Chapter 11 filings from legacy chains like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays to once-quickly-growing startups like Hawkers Asian Street Food and Melt Bar & Grilled, to franchisees of major brands like Pizza Hut and Applebee’s.
See what else was trending on NRN.com this week.
