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With value positioning the dominant marketing strategy of the moment and snack occasions a top target, Arby’s is planning to revive the value-priced mini sandwich. Next month the chain will make a new three-item line of Mighty Minis sandwiches a local-option LTO for operators in select markets around the country, the company confirmed. The line [...]

Tips and tidbits for September’s final week:  ۞ Watch for Jack in the Box to introduce a new cheeseburger value menu this week, perhaps reviving the $4.99 All-American Jack deal it offered around this year’s Super Bowl in February.  ۞ Casual-dining chain Max & Erma’s is testing four new burgers, including the Greek-influenced Athena and [...]

Burger King’s announced short-term strategy is to battle soft sales with soft-serve ice cream.  The company announced that systemwide North American same-store sales dropped 5.3% during the quarter ended June 30, 2011. Comp sales were up 6.8% in South America, where the chain’s new owners (and its new global Chief Marketing Officer Flavia Faugeres) hail from, and [...]

A month after Jack in the Box dropped Mini Sirloin Burgers from its menu, seemingly signaling the passing of the mini-burger fad, Burger King has brought back the tiny treats that began the trend. Now if only BK could decide on a name for them.  First introduced in 1987 as Burger Bundles, they resurfaced in 1990 as [...]

Burger King swings from excess to dainty with the upcoming introduction of mini burgers in Japan. Following its April limited-time offer— the 1,100+ calorie Meat Monster—the chain will be offering 2.4-inch minis called BK Bites, including one with Spam luncheon meat. The promotion begins June 20. These mini burgers appear to be like the BK [...]

Continuing its global push to localize not just menus but also ingredient sourcing, McDonald’s next month will introduce a new mini burger in France made for the first time with French Charolais beef. Priced at €2 (about US$2.59), the mini burger LTO will be added to the “P’tits Plaisirs” (Little Pleasures) snack line on Feb. [...]

December again, and it’s time once again for reflection. I’ll say that 2010 was an even better burger year than 2009 if only because last year’s mini-burger fad has floated downstream. Bye. This year, the economy and the burger business showed some improvement. As forecast last year, patty melts have popped up everywhere. Next year, [...]

Revised menus are as sure a sign of fall as back-to-school ads and a fresh batch of bad TV programs. Here are a few new items that have  been added just this week (so far): Ξ Sticking with its previously announced plans, Sonic has launched its Loaded Burgers line (watch commercial at left) intended to [...]

Challenge McDonald’s and it will hit back hard. That seems to be what’s happening in Germany, where Big Mac is protecting strong sales and marketplace leadership with a protein parade of inventive menu items. Burger King’s latest monologue  promotes Grilled Chicken Classic and Grilled Chicken Barbecue sandwiches, so McDonald’s has responded with something completely new [...]

McDonald’s will introduce a $1.99 Angus Snack Wrap to its New York City restaurants this month (June 14) and then expand the item nationally on Aug. 10, according to a report on Dow Jones Newswires. The item previously tested in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Houston and New York markets.  The item wraps half of an Angus Third [...]

Extra small beat extra thick. Burger King said U.S./Canada same-store sales dropped 6.1% for its third quarter, ended March 31, 2010, despite its $1 Double Cheeseburger promotion and introduction of the Steakhouse XT burgers. That decline compares with BK’s +1.6% comp sales a year ago, when it was promoting mini BK Burger Shots, mini BK [...]

After re-engineering the burger into the Mac Snack Wrap last year, McDonald’s Canada is back with another twist. This time it’s taking on the chicken sandwich, which it has scaled down into the McMini, a two-item line joining its menu in Canada on March 30, a company spokesperson confirmed. Just as the Mac Snack Wrap includes [...]

It may feel like mid-winter, but at McDonald’s it’s Cheese Season. That’s the theme “Syrová Sezóna”)of a menu in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but across Europe the chain is rolling out new cheeseburgers. In the Syrová Sezóna markets the cheesy LTOs are the Swiss King and Grand Emmental burgers. No translation is necessary to [...]

Ruby’s Diner certainly isn’t lacking burger choices on its menu, but there’s always room for more. Especially Kobe burgers. That’s why the chain on Feb. 2 adds a new menu of five “Ruby’s Ultimate Kobe Burgers” at its 33 Southern California locations. Each of the new burgers is 100% American Kobe beef served on a grilled [...]

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? About 10 months after McDonald’s first introduced the Mac Snack Wrap in Canada and less than one month after being rolled out across the U.S., the burger-in-a-tortilla has its first impersonator. The only real surprise is who is doing the mimicry. The Papa Burger Wrap introduced this week by A&W All-American Food [...]