Sponsored By
Menu Tracker

Menu Tracker

Menu Tracker: New items from KFC, Smashburger, and Sonic Drive-InMenu Tracker: New items from KFC, Smashburger, and Sonic Drive-In

Plus innovation from Andy’s Frozen Custard, Bojangles, Bubbakoo’s Burritos, California Fish Grill, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Denny’s, Dough Doughnuts, Erbert and Gerbert’s, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop , Graze Craze, Just Salad, La Madeleine, Marco’s Pizza, MIXT, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Piada Italian Street Food, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Sarpino’s USA, Scooter’s Coffee, Shrimp Basket, , Smokey Bones, Sweetfin, Taco Del Mar, Tacodeli, Tacotarian, TGI Fridays, Velvet Taco, Wayback Burgers, Wetzel’s Pretzels, and Ziggi’s Coffee

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

October 27, 2023

34 Slides
menu tracker 10 27

Already have an account?

A number of chains just introduced whole new sections to their menu. Bubbakoo’s Burritos now has curated “Killer Burritos” (and also Red Bull), Just Salad has a kids menu, La Madeleine has baked pasta, Marco’s Pizza has its own interpretation of stromboli, MIXT has grain bowls, Sonic Drive-In has energy drinks, and Sweetfin has chicken bowls.

Other chains are bringing back favorites, such as Bojangles’ seasonal Pork Chop Griller, KFC’s wraps, Moe’s Southwest Grill’s Chile con Queso, and Smashburger’s Mac & Cheese Burger (plus a new spicy variation).

Some chains are introducing Halloween specials just for the last few days of October, including Dough Doughnuts, Scooter’s Coffee, Wayback Burgers, Ziggi’s Coffee, and Velvet Taco (although that last one has a new Weekly Taco Feature every week, so it hardly counts).

Tacotarian just told us about its Mexican Pizza, but it has been available all month.

Menu Revamps are underway at Shrimp Basket and TGI Fridays.

California Fish Grill recently sourced sustainable mahi mahi and so it’s showcasing that, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop is jumping on the birria bandwagon, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Denny’s has new sweet pancakes, Andy’s Frozen Custard has frozen autumnal treats, Wetzel’s Pretzels has s’mores-flavored pretzel bites, and Nothing Bundt Cakes has a miniature cake with candy on top..

Carrabba’s has its latest weekly pasta special, Erbert and Gerbert’s has tortellini soup, and Piada has new piadas.

There’s a new cocktail at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Sarpino’s USA has pizza topped with Boursin cheese, and Smokey Bones has a rib meal with a charitable component.

Charcuterie board concept Graze Craze has a new brunch option and Taco Del Mar and Tacodeli both have new chicken options.

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.