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Wander around the burger world during National Burger Month and you encounter some fascinating things that need to be shared. Examples: → “Secret menus” are a boring, overdone topic but this one’s interesting: At Atlanta’s Diesel Filling Station, the “Just What the Doctor Ordered” burger is available but isn’t on the menu. It’s named for [...]

If McDonald’s is serious about importing more menu ideas from its stores around the world then breakfast could become much more interesting. Outside the U.S. the humble McMuffin is getting a turn in the spotlight. Japan stores are offering a new stacked-up Mega McMuffin with double the sausage, as one part of the annual Big [...]

No one responds faster to trouble in the marketplace than McDonald’s. As expected, the QSR burger leader has answered October’s sales drop—its first monthly decline in nine years—with a quick menu infusion that focuses on the low-end of the price spectrum. To boost customer traffic, McDonald’s has added the new Grilled Onion Cheddar burger (which [...]

In Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, McDonald’s is testing the Egg White Delight McMuffin, a lower calorie (260 vs. 300), more healthful version of the iconic Egg McMuffin. In September, when it unveiled its new menu boards with calorie info, the chain had announced earlier that it intends to make an egg-white sandwich available nationally in [...]

Surprisingly, none of the food/restaurant prognosticators this year is forecasting the collapse of the better-burger bubble. Instead we read that people will abandon colas, that neck meat will be all the rage and that fast-casual concepts will all add drive-thru windows. Given such guesses, what the heck, here are BurgerBusiness.com’s predictions for 2013. Not surprisingly, [...]

Hardee’s this week added a new Ribeye Steak, Egg & Cheese Biscuit to its morning menu. The item combines thinly sliced rib-eye steak, a folded egg and Swiss cheese on one of the chain’s signature Made from Scratch buttermilk biscuits. It’s $2.99 alone or $4.69 in a combo with Hash Rounds and beverage. Sister chain [...]

Continuing its strategy of rebuilding its menu with waves of new items rather than with one LTO at a time, Burger King is readying Phase II of its new menu. Where the Phase I Summer Menu, introduced in June, was about beef, pork and BBQ flavors, the next wave—which should go national by or shortly [...]

McDonald’s is taking aim at quick-service restaurants’ last unconquered frontier: late night sales. And it is doing so by treating the time from midnight to 5 a.m. as an early-breakfast opportunity rather than a late-dinner or snack period. In 127 24-hour central Ohio locations, the chain has launched a Breakfast After Midnight program, offering such [...]

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 [...]

Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard isn’t one of the big boys, but neither is it a corner burger joint. Publicly traded and based in Golden, Colo., the “better burger” chain has 43 locations, most of them in Colorado. This week Good Times President-CEO Boyd Hoback, with the chain since 1992, announced a “financial advisory [...]

New research from The NPD Group shows that rather than being a monolithic daypart, breakfast is better understood as a collection of eating and drinking occasions. And many adults, 41% according to NPD’s Morning MealScape 2011 study, indulge in two or more such occasions on a typical morning. The average number of eating/drinking occasions per [...]

[3/12 Update: McDonald's is testing fresh-baked muffins, pastries in New England. Read here.] Ship captains who heard and followed the mythological sirens’ song met with disaster on the hidden rocks. In foodservice that enticing song is about breakfast, a daypart that sounds so appealing but that has proved a shipwreck for some operators. One that [...]

The White Castle chain is 90 years old, so it could be excused for moving a bit slowly, as it historically has done on the menu and marketing fronts. But last year the chain showed some surprising liveliness by testing three new dining concepts: Deckers Grilled Sandwiches, Blaze Modern BBQ and an Asian/Italian concept called Laughing Noodle. [...]

[8/22 Update: McDonald' has introduced the Chicken Muffin for breakfast in Japan.] Given commodity prices that favor chicken over beef, McDonald’s has managed to promote chicken on its menu wherever it can, from revamping its Premium Chicken sandwiches to testing Chicken Flatbreads, testing Chicken McBites and a Chicken Grande wrap, and trying spicier versions of McChicken. [...]

Wendy’s North America systemwide same-store sales increased 2.3% in the second quarter, ended July 3, 2011, President-CEO Roland Smith reported this morning. Average check increased 1.4% in the quarter; transactions rose 0.9%.  Now free of Arby’s drag, The Wendy’s Co. appears energized about strengthening the Wendy’s brand. Most of what was discussed on today’s analyst [...]