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Menu Tracker: New items from McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, and El Pollo LocoMenu Tracker: New items from McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, and El Pollo Loco

Plus innovation at Buona, California Pizza Kitchen, Dutch Bros, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Freebirds World Burrito, Frutta Bowls, Golden Chick, Happy Joe’s, Krispy Kreme, Long John Silver’s, Naf Naf Grill, Papa Murphy’s, Potbelly, Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, Snooze A.M. Eatery, Sprinkles, Toasted Yolk Café, Velvet Taco, Zalat Pizza, and Ziggi’s Coffee

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

April 20, 2023

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McDonald’s isn’t actually adding new items; it’s doing something more difficult: Making its core items, specifically its burgers, better by tweaking the cooking to make them more consistent and tastier and to help the cheese melt better. It’s also offering its Big Mac sauce to accompany any of its menu items.

April 20 is International Cannabis Day, which didn’t used to be something that many restaurants acknowledged, given that the federal government classifies marijuana as a narcotic that’s as illegal as heroin. But now that it’s legal for recreational or medical use in the majority of states, many chains are getting on board, including Jack in the Box, Velvet Taco, and Zalat Pizza.

Although not explicitly related to weed, Krispy Kreme does have a new line of cookie doughnuts, Papa Murphy’s has a taco pizza, and Happy Joe’s has a sloppy Joe pizza.

Sadly for cold brew coffee, 4/20 is also National Cold Brew Coffee Day, and Dutch Bros is marking the occasion with a Chocolate Crunch Cold Brew that’s just available for 10 days and is really appropriate for both holidays.

Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard is offering a frozen cold brew.

Buona, the Chicago Italian beef chain, has a new salted caramel pretzel shake, and new shakes are also to be had at Freddy’s and Potbelly.

New spring menus have been launched by California Pizza Kitchen, Snooze, and Toasted Yolk Café, and Firebirds has new brunch items.

Fleming’s has a whole new daypart called the Social Hour, which is weekdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

El Pollo Loco has brought back birria, Freebirds has brough back brisket, and Golden Chick has brought back its Big & Wicked Chicken Sandwich.

Long John Silver’s has new cheesecake, Frutta Bowls has a new base made out of coconut, Naf Naf Grill has a new lemon vinaigrette, Ziggi’s Coffee has energy drinks, and Sprinkles has a cupcake made in partnership with Nguyen Coffee Supply.

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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