Skip navigation
Menu Tracker

Menu Tracker: New items from Starbucks, Wendy’s and Taco Bell

Plus innovation at Bluestone Lane, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Del Taco, Donatos, Eureka!, First Watch, Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, Huckleberry’s Breakfast and Lunch, Huddle House, Hungry Howie’s, Jinya Ramen Bar, Long John Silver’s, Miller’s Ale House, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Mooyah, Pizza Hut, Pizza Pizza, Smokey Bones, Smoothie King, SweetFrog, Twin Peaks, Velvet Taco, and Woody’s Bar-B-Q

Stop the presses: Starbucks is bringing back its Pumpkin Spice Latte!

Just kidding. Although Starbucks is obviously bringing back its game-changing seasonal beverage, for the 18th year in a row now, that’s not press-stopping news. However it does have a new Apple Crisp Macchiato, which is kind of interesting.

And Taco Bell’s much-hyped Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco is finally rolling out nationally.

In other big chain news, Pizza Hut is bringing back the Detroit-style pizza it introduced as a limited-time offer earlier this year, and Wendy’s is rolling out a burger with a new cheddar bun.

Cheesy carriers are becoming increasingly prevalent these days, such as at Del Taco, where quesadillas are being used as taco shells now.

Donatos, for its part, has a new grilled cheese pizza.

Although we’re not out of August yet, more chains are already introducing pumpkin spice items, including The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, First Watch, Huckleberry’s Breakfast and Lunch, Smoothie King and SweetFrog. Hungry Howie’s is, too, but it’s waiting until Sept. 1.

Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers is bringing back a burger first introduced in 2018, and Mooyah Burgers, Fries and Shakes has a brand new Texas-inspired burger and a Texas pecan shake to go with it.

Huddle House has new bowls and wraps, Long John Silver’s has lobster bites, Bluestone Lane has a flat white with oat milk and Jinya Ramen Bar has a new soup with a side of fried chicken.

Eureka!, Miller’s Ale House and Smokey Bones each have a bunch of new seasonal items, Twin Peaks has new wing sauces, among other things, Canadian Chain Pizza Pizza has new chicken-free chicken, Woody’s Bar-B-Q has new tacos, Moe’s Southwest Grill is testing Icees in three Atlanta-area locations and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature has fried calamari.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish