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Menu Tracker: New items from Chick-fil-A, Jack in the BoxMenu Tracker: New items from Chick-fil-A, Jack in the Box

Bojangles’, Blimpie, Rock Bottom, Habit Burger Grill, South Philly Steaks & Fries, and Lazy Dog also introduce new menu items.

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

April 24, 2013

5 Min Read
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Chick-fil-A's Grilled Market Salad, Cobb Salad and Asian Salad

is expanding its salad offerings and adding a new grilled chicken wrap at its 1,592 restaurants. All of the salads start at a recommended price of $6.79.

The Asian Salad is made with sliced chicken nuggets, shredded green and red cabbage, carrots, mandarin orange segments, garlic and ginger wontons, and honey Thai almonds. The chain recommends dressing it with honey sesame dressing.

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The Cobb Salad has sliced chicken nuggets, red cabbage, carrots, roasted corn kernels, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, diced eggs, crumbled bacon, grape tomatoes, charred tomato and crispy red bell peppers, and is recommended with avocado lime ranch dressing.

The Market Salad features grilled, sliced chicken breast with shredded red cabbage, carrots, red and green apples, blue cheese, strawberries and blueberries. It is served with granola and a roasted nut blend and is recommended with apple cider vinaigrette.

The new Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap, which starts at a recommended price of $4.89, features grilled, sliced chicken breast with green leaf lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, and is wrapped in flatbread.

Bojangles’ Homestyle Tenders.

has introduced a Piña Colada Smoothie to its Real Fruit Smoothies line, which currently includes mango, strawberry and strawberry banana. The new item, available for a limited time, is made with Minute Maid fruit juice and nonfat frozen yogurt. Price varies by location.

Bojangles’ has added a milder option to its line of chicken tenders. The new Homestyle Tenders are an alternative to the 540-unit chain’s Cajun-spiced tenders. They’re paired with a new Bo’s Special Sauce, which is a creamy blend of roasted peppers, Bojangles’ seasonings and a bit of spice. The permanent menu addition is available at all company-owned and participating franchise restaurants at a recommended price of $3.89 for four pieces with a biscuit.

Blimpie's

is rolling out two turkey-based sandwiches as part of its new “Let’s Talk Turkey” initiative and permanently adding pretzel bread to its menu.

The chain is bringing back its Turkey, Bacon, Cheddar sandwich with spicy mustard and tomato, served on pretzel bread, that it introduced in 2009. In addition, the new Italian Sub is made with turkey, salami, prosciuttini, red peppers and banana peppers. The chain’s popular Turkey and Provolone sandwich is also part of the marketing campaign.

Prices vary by location but range from $4.39-$4.69 for a six-inch sandwich, a company spokesman said.

Rock Bottom, The Habit Burger, South Philly Steaks

(Continued frome page 1)

Rock Bottom's jalapeño poppers.

has added jalapeño poppers and a spiked Southwest Lemonade to its 32 restaurants as a limited-time offer through May 19. The poppers, priced at $6.95, are jalapeño peppers stuffed with pulled pork, wrapped in bacon and grilled. Rock Bottom is recommending that guests drink its seasonal Spring Lager with it.

Southwest Lemonade is fresh-squeezed lemonade with Tres Agaves Tequila. It is priced at around $8.50, although the price varies by location.

Habit Burger's Double Charburger.

is moving a popular off-menu item, its Double Charburger with avocado on grilled sourdough, to its printed menu for the next 60 days, starting April 24.

Called the Santa Barbara style Charburger, the Habit is promoting it in partnership with the California Avocado Commission. The sandwich has two ground beef patties, melted American cheese, mayonnaise, pickles, lettuce, tomato and caramelized onions, as well as a thick layer of avocado. The item is priced at $5.45. There are 69 Habit Burger Grill restaurants throughout California, Arizona and Utah.

South Philly Steaks & Fries, a 15-unit chain based in Morristown, N.J., has added a steak and fries bowl to its menu. Premium grilled choice steak tips are topped with steak sauce, peppers and onions, and served over fries with melted provolone. The item, available through Oct. 22, is priced between $8.99 and $9.99. It was first tested at the end of last year at select locations. Subsequent tests earlier this year convinced the company to introduce it systemwide.

South Philly's steak and fries bowl.

, which operates 11 locations in Southern California, is introducing a permanent line of Mexican-inspired items starting May 2.

The Ceviche includes shrimp and white fish marinated in citrus juices, peppers, onions, tomatoes and micro cilantro, served with corn tortilla chips, for $7.50

The Roasted Pork Torta is a pork loin sandwich with chipotle orange mustard, Swiss cheese, pickled onions, carrots and oranges, served warm on a Dutch Crunch roll, for $9.95

The Chicken Poblano features boneless chicken breast sautéed with white corn, peppers and onions in a poblano cream sauce. The dish is served with crispy tamale cakes, micro cilantro and a hot sauce crema, for $12.95

Carne Asada is marinated Angus skirt steak charbroiled and served with Spanish rice, black beans, salsa and tortillas, for $14.95

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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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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