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McDonald’s doesn’t often mess around with signature menu items. The Big Mac and Quarter Pounder don’t change. I’d have put the McRib among the iconic untouchables except McDonald’s just messed with it. Joining the menu today at McDonald’s restaurants across Austria is the McRibster, a snazzier version of the classic sandwich. McDonald’s describes the McRibster [...]

It’s déjà vu all over again. Three repeat performances are worth noting as the week begins. ◙ Last September, BurgerBusiness.com predicted chicken snack items would be the “Next Battleground” for QSR marketing. With McDonald’s Chicken McBites coming, we said, “Sonic is expected to increase promotional support for the Jumbo Popcorn Chicken on its menu as [...]

Following the success of such unusual creations as Spam mini-burgers, the über-indulgent Meat Monster Whopper and that holiday favorite the Pizza-Size Burger, Burger King in Japan is preparing another culinary treat no other chain has thought to try. Available in Japan from March 9, the BK Ringo is a Whopper Jr.-size burger that is topped [...]

Amid the seasonal school of fish sandwiches (and even Fish McBites) for Lent it’s nice to see a few new burgers coming onto the scene as well. ◙ One of those burgers is from Red Robin, which had told analysts last week that it wasn’t going to be bullied by beef costs and would continue [...]

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers plans to open four more locations for its Red Robin’s Burger Works fast-casual concept this year, the company announced today. These will include a location on the Ohio State University campus while others will be in the Denver area, where the first Burger Works opened last year. Burger Works has more-limited [...]

McDonald’s/France’s much-ballyhooed introduction this week of four LTO burgers topped with local cheeses is being reported as though it were news. But BurgerBusiness.com readers know that this simply repeats a menu promotion the chain ran in France last year. Even the product photo of the burger with goat cheese is the same. Same bread. Blue [...]

The new breed of fast-casual competitors such as Smashburger is influencing pricing strategies by casual-dining chains above it as well as by quick-service chains below it. Data on pricing for burgers at casual-dining restaurants compiled for BurgerBusiness.com by Boston-based pricing-intelligence firm Intellaprice LLC shows that these chains kept burger prices relatively flat during 2011 despite [...]

What does the income statement of the “average” McDonald’s look like? Janney Montgomery Scott restaurant analyst Mark Kalinowski says he’s often asked that. As a result, he has compiled an interesting table detailing his best estimate of the typical income statement for that “average” franchised, standard-format, U.S. McDonald’s restaurant. Among his estimates: ● Average annual [...]

Letdown Monday follows Super Sunday. And after a day of energetic nationalism, it seems right to update a recurring theme: the globalization of the quick-service burger-restaurant menu. Geo-culinary authenticity may take a hit sometimes, but QSRs are introducing many around the world to flavors and ingredients they otherwise wouldn’t experience. ● Take, for instance, that [...]

Prepare for a parade of new indulgent burgers, flatbread sandwiches and wraps at the high end of the price spectrum. In the past week, top executives at both McDonald’s and Wendy’s have signaled their desire to develop new premium-price items to balance value-menu and mid-price foods added last year in the face of an economy [...]