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Menu Tracker: New items from Carl’s Jr., Tim Hortons, and QdobaMenu Tracker: New items from Carl’s Jr., Tim Hortons, and Qdoba

Plus innovation from Bonefish Grill, Carrabba’s, Chopt Creative Salad Co., Cicis Pizza, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Cousins Subs, Insomnia Cookies, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, John’s Incredible Pizza Company, Miguel’s Jr., Papa Murphy’s, Philz Coffee, Potbelly, Rasa, Rita’s Italian Ice Cream & Frozen Custard, Taziki’s Mediterranean Café, and Velvet Taco

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

April 26, 2024

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Its graduation season, soon it will be Mother’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo is upon us too.

Insomnia Cookies is celebrating the first two with specials for those occasions, and Carrabba’s is celebrating Mother’s Day, but it’s unclear whether other chains are adding Mexican-influenced items because of the upcoming commemoration of the 1862 Battle of Puebla or simply because people like Mexican food.

The latter is probably the case with the El Diablo Burger at Carl’s Jr., because it has been added to the menu permanently.

But what about the horchata cold brew at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. the Taco Grande Pizza at Papa Murphy’s, or the two new desserts at Potbelly?

Qdoba and Miguel’s Jr. have new Mexican-influenced items, too, but that’s their job.

Iron Hill Brewery and Tim Hortons both have new items for a cause, Bonefish Grill has a whole new brunch lineup, Rasa now has wraps, and Taziki’s has falafel (baked because the chain doesn’t have fryers).

Chopt has collaborated with a fitness influencer, Cousins Subs has collaborated with Wisconsin cheesemakers, as it often does, and Rita’s is the latest chain to collaborate with Oreo.

Cicis has a dessert pizza and John’s Incredible Pizza Company has a pie with fried chicken and hot honey.

Philz Coffee has an oatmeal cookie cold brew, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is inspired by the French dip sandwich.

Related:Chopt partners with fitness influencer Cody Rigsby, launches new app

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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