Sponsored By
Menu Tracker

Menu Tracker

Menu Tracker: New items from Jack in the Box, Popeyes, and Sonic Drive-InMenu Tracker: New items from Jack in the Box, Popeyes, and Sonic Drive-In

Plus innovation at &Pizza, Another Broken Egg Café, Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar, Bojangles, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, CAVA, Checkers & Rally’s, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Cracker Barrel, Fajita Pete’s, First Watch, Friendly’s, Golden Chick, Hardee’s, Jason’s Deli, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Jimmy John’s, Krispy Kreme, Outback Steakhouse, Panera Bread, Paris Baguette , Peets Coffee, Perkins, PJ’s Coffee, Smoothie King, Taco Bell, Velvet Taco, Wingstop, and Ziggi’s Coffee

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

January 10, 2025

32 Slides
menu tracker featured 1 10

Already have an account?

Data indicate that the vast majority of people (fitness app Strava puts it at 80%) who resolve to eat more healthfully in the new year give up by the end of the second week. It seems like most chains have gotten that memo. Smoothie King is catering to the other 20% with new lineup of nutrient-dense drinks, and Peet’s Coffee has added whey protein to some drinks, but other than that there’s a whole lot of indulgence going on.

Sister chains Checkers & Rally’s have new burgers, &Pizza has new items inspired by jalapeño poppers, Hardee’s has maple biscuits, Perkins has pie-inspired doughnuts, Krispy Kreme has doughnuts inspired by Pop-Tarts, and Jimmy John’s invites guests to consume a 6-ounce portion of its Kickin’ Ranch dressing like soup.

Friendly’s has a new Conehead Sundae, but it does that pretty much every month. Ditto Bruster’s Real Ice Cream with new sundaes and Paris Baguette with a bunch of pastries and suchlike.

Applebee’s is getting ready for Valentine’s Day with romance-themed cocktails, and PJ’s Coffee has jumped right into Mardi Gras season, which to be fair started in New Orleans on Jan. 6, which is Three Kings Day aka Epiphany.

Jimmy John’s isn’t the only chain playing with sauces, Fajita Pete’s also has a new spicy ranch, and Wingstop has a new Pacific Glaze.

Related:Menu Tracker: New items from Del Taco, Chick-fil-A, and Dunkin’

Cracker Barrel has its own version of Nashville Hot sauce now, Popeyes has a new Louisiana Garlic sauce, and Ziggi’s Coffee is using a pistachio syrup to flavor some new coffee options.

Sonic Drive-in has a new smashburger, Panera has new bagel sandwiches, and Taco Bell has new slushes inspired by dirty sodas.

Bojangles is putting its “Bo-Berries” on biscuits now, Jack in the Box has some new wraps, and both Jason’s Deli and Jersey Mike’s have new spicy Italian subs.

First Watch, and Another Broken Egg Café have new brunch items, The Coffee Bean & Teal Leaf is combining honey with nut flavors in some new drinks, Golden Chick is serving its tenders in a bowl of mashed potatoes, CAVA has new bowls too, Outback Steakhouse has new steak and similar items, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is inspired by Eggplant Parmesan.

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

Subscribe Nation's Restaurant News Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.