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Menu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, MOD Pizza and Krispy KremeMenu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, MOD Pizza and Krispy Kreme

Plus innovation at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar, Bellagreen, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Bluestone Lane, Buffalo’s Express, Carl’s Jr., Cava, Fatburger, Kona Grill, Lion’s Choice, Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, Papa Murphy’s, Planet Smoothie, Qdoba Mexican Eats, Smokey Bones, Steak ’n Shake, Sweetgreen, Tijuana Flats, TooJay’s Deli and Velvet Taco

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

January 15, 2021

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Taco Bell’s Potato Bites are back. They were removed early in the pandemic as the chain moved to streamline its menu — and that did improve throughput — but the people have spoken, and they want their potatoes.

Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar is bucking the concept of hot drinks in the winter and instead leaning into the cold months with a couple of chilled cocktails that they’ve dubbed “Snowy Sips.”

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse has added to its family meal options with prime rib, and Kona Grill has added a new daypart: Brunch.

Krispy Kreme has introduced mini doughnuts and, in a similar vein, Tijuana Flats has new churro bites.

Have you ever wished your chicken wings tasted like cinnamon candy? Well, if you have, then Smokey Bones has the answer with its new sauce.

If you’d rather that your wings not have any chicken in them, well, sister brands Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express have you covered with their new Vings.

Elsewhere in vegan news, Lion’s Choice has a new black bean soup and Cava has a Lentil Avocado Bowl.

If you’re looking for more chicken, MOD Pizza is topping its limited-time pizza with chicken sausage, and Papa Murphy’s is topping its LTO with grilled chicken in Alfredo sauce.

There are no new fried chicken sandwiches this week, but Sweetgreen is trying to mimic it with a salad that has grilled chicken and crispy rice, along with pickles and a new rémoulade.

Qdoba Mexican Eats is offering a bunch of curated  low-calorie creations for the new year, and Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom is hopping on the cauliflower crust bandwagon.

Amplifying their brand identities, Planet Smoothie has a new protein supplement, Carl’s Jr. has a new burger and Steak ’n Shake has new shakes.

TooJay’s Deli has brought back its pastrami grilled cheese sandwich, regional  casual dining chains Bellagreen and Bluestone Lane have seasonal menus, and Velvet Taco’s weekly taco feature has pulled pork.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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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