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Menu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Little CaesarsMenu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Little Caesars

Plus innovation at Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, The Buffalo Spot, Dolly Llama, Einstein Bros. Bagels, The Great Steak, Hopdoddy, Hurricane Grill & Wings, I Heart Mac & Cheese, Krispy Kreme, Mooyah, Native Foods, Pollo Campero, Potbelly , Pressed, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers & Brews, Taco Bueno, Taco John’s , Tender Greens, Velvet Taco and Yogurtland

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

August 5, 2022

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Taco Bell made a splash recently with the announcement of the return of its Mexican Pizza, which was really a reannouncement since they announced it the first time in April, but there were supply chain issues etc., and now it’s back.

But since we already reported on that, instead we’re looking at the giant chain’s collab with little chain Milk Bar that involves a strawberry cake ball and pieces Taco Bell’s crunchy taco shell.

Don’t let the weather or your calendars confuse you: It’s pumpkin spice season again, at least according to Red Robin and Krispy Kreme, which are rolling out seasonal delights. Krispy Kreme’s items are out a full month earlier than last year and include two new items: Pumpkin Spice Latte Swirl Doughnut and Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee.

August is apparently National S’mores Month, which Potbelly is celebrating by a chocolate-graham cracker-marshmallow cookie, but various other chains, including The Buffalo Spot, Dolly Llama, Mooyah and Red Robin, are celebrating the heat with milkshakes, and Bruster’s Real Ice Cream is allowing guests to blend any sorbet, sherbet or ice with Sprite for a drink called a Freeze.

Pressed, meanwhile, has a new frozen dessert made of passion fruit, and Yogurtland has a new sorbet made with Sour Patch Kids flavoring

Einstein Bros. Bagels has a new breakfast burrito and The Great Steak has a steak-and-eggs sandwich.

Hopdoddy has a back-to-school burger topped with fried bologna, and Hurricane Grill & Wings is now serving an odd sort of nachos topped with wings.

I Heart Mac & Cheese and Pollo Campero both have new chicken sandwiches, Little Caesars has a pepperoni pizza with extra pepperoni and Pizza Hut has revamped its pasta line.

Vegan restaurant Native Foods has a new meatless “steak” bowl, Taco Bueno, conversely, is selling smoked brisket, and Taco John’s has a new $3 beef taco and a smaller fried chicken one.

Tender Greens has a bunch of new globally inspired bowls and whatnot, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is named after Acapulco.

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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