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Multi-person boxed burger meals have taken a step closer to the U.S. with McDonald’s introduction of the concept in Japan. As it did in Australia when it originated the Family Box meal platform in 2010, McDonald’s offers three different price/component choices in Japan. The basic Family Meal includes one Big Mac, a teriyaki burger and [...]

When McDonald’s introduced Chicken McNuggets in 1983, a serving was five or six. That worked for a long time, but now as QSRs race to offer more or better chicken snacks, a serving is not enough. McDonald’s France came up with the Chicken Box, with six McNuggets , three chicken wings and three chicken strips. [...]

Quarterly earnings conference calls by Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, The Wendy’s Company and Jack in the Box provided interesting snapshots of where the burger-restaurant business stood through the first half of 2012. Same-store sales reports were positive if not stellar. Red Robin’s comp sales for it Q2 ended July 8 were up 0.8% thanks to [...]

Jack in the Box has gone country from dawn to late night. For early risers the chain added a limited-time, $2.79 Breakfast Waffle Sandwich. An egg, American cheese and Jack’s new “country-grilled sausage” are layered between two waffles, lightly sweetened with maple (as McDonald’s McGriddles line does with pancake sandwiches). Then new TV advertising that [...]

McDonald’s could be excused if it chose to sit back and rest up for its big sponsorship role at next month’s London Olympics. Instead, the chain is sponsoring another big sporting event: the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, known as Euro 2012. It starts tomorrow (June 8) with matches held through July 1 in Poland [...]

Steak ’n Shake’s previously announced promise to freeze prices for 2012 apparently doesn’t preclude lowering those prices. The Indianapolis-based chain’s latest move, made over the weekend in a couponed newspaper insert, is a bold effort to joint the trend to bundling multi-person meals. Steak ’n Shake’s version is a Family 4 Pack, which offers any [...]

Among all the “amaranth is the next quinoa” forecasts for 2012, one important restaurant trend has been neglected. Multi-person meal bundles are going to be a significant menu-marketing tactic for chains this year and beyond. One indication comes in the coupon booklets Burger King distributed this week. What had been previously tested as BK Family [...]

Jack in the Box this week is rolling out improved burgers as part of a year-long effort to upgrade both core menu products and its overall guest experience. Speaking to analysts today, Jack in the Box Chairman-President-CEO Linda Lang said the chain is introducing burger patties with “improved taste, texture an juiciness” that have performed [...]

[More chicken news: Burger King's holiday menu in the UK includes a Cranberry Chicken Tendercrisp sandwich.] So much of the burger business is about chicken now that it’s only right that the week start with a couple of chicken items: ● Hardee’s has extended its popular Hand-Breaded Chicken line with Buffalo-flavor tenders (in 3- or [...]

[Update: The battle escalated on 11/15 with McDonald's addition of the spicy Chicken Scorcher sandwich to counter KFC's Zinger line.] There’s nothing quite like the chicken fight in Australia, where both McDonald’s and KFC sell chicken wings and “burgers.” Consider KFC’s Family Burger Box, an all-chicken version of the Family Dinner Box meal idea that [...]