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Menu Tracker: New items from Cinnabon, Culver’s, and TGI FridaysMenu Tracker: New items from Cinnabon, Culver’s, and TGI Fridays

Plus innovation at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, BD’s Mongolian Grill, Black Angus Steakhouse, Blimpie, Charleys Philly Steaks, Dutch Bros, Elevation Burger, Everytable, Fazoli’s, Flat Top Grill, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, Genghis Grill, Gong Cha, Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, Jet’s Pizza, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Native Foods, Next Level Burger, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Orange Leaf, Pokeworks, Qdoba, Rock & Brews, Rutter’s, Sajj Mediterranean, Scooter’s Coffee, Smokey Bones, Smoothie King, True Food Kitchen, Velvet Taco, Water Grill

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

April 7, 2023

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Spring is upon us, and that means it’s time for seasonal menu revamps, which you can see in the lengthy list of new menu items at True Food Kitchen. Also, Smokey Bones is rolling out Sunday brunch, TGI Fridays has a bunch of new over-the-top burgers, and there are seasonal specials from Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, BD’s Mongolian Grill, Black Angus Steakhouse, Genghis Grill, and Rock & Brews.

Blimpie has what it calls “pizza subs,” Culver’s has burgers and chicken sandwiches with barbecue sauce, and Charleys Philly Steaks has made its Old School Cheesesteak, previously a limited-time offer, a permanent menu addition. Ditto Jet’s Pizza and its BLT Pizza.

Native Foods has a new Philly cheesesteak sandwich, but since it’s a vegan restaurant it doesn’t contain steak or cheese. 

Next Level Burger, another vegan concept, has a banana shake that’s non-dairy but does have real banana.

Smoothie King sells açaí and pitaya (aka dragon fruit) bowls now, and Elevation Burger has cookies.

Convenience store chain Rutter’s has rolled out the first of a series of LTOs in what it calls its “Inspired Food Menu,” Flat Top Grill has a poke burrito, and Garbanzo has pesto hummus.

Everytable and Fazoli’s both have new sandwiches that are permanent additions to the menu.

Cinnabon, Dutch Bros, and Gong Cha have drink LTOs, and Rock & Brews has a s’mores dip, among other items.

Scooter’s Coffee has a new energy drink, and Sajj Mediterranean has new lemonades and a tamarind drink that’s kind of like a lemonade.

Qdoba has a burrito LTO to celebrate the fact that it’s hosting an eating competition, and Moe’s Southwest Grill has new burrito builds that acknowledge its customers’ popular menu hacks.

Orange Leaf has some seasonal toppings for its frozen yogurt, Nothing Bundt Cakes is baking with blueberries, and Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream has special flavors for April

Water Grill has seared halibut, 

Pokeworks has a new noodle bowl, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is based on a Monte Cristo.

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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