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McDonald’s McMini Mango. Say that three times fast. The half-chicken-fillet snack that McDonald’s introduced in Canada in March has performed well enough that the chain has added a new flavor: Zesty Mango. (I’m a sucker for “zesty,” a word that regularly appears in advertising but never in adult human discourse.) The McMini was introduced with [...]

McDonald’s is playing a fancy new tune in counterpoint to Hungry Jack’s (Burger King’s) introduction of the jazzy Bourbon Whopper in Australia. New at the Golden Arches is “Angus the Third,” a variation on the upscale Grand Angus and Mighty Angus burgers it introduced a year ago. The differentiator is a sauce, described as “tomato chili [...]

Ξ More chicken is heading for summer menus: Hardee’s is expected to announce as early as today that it is expanding availability of the Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders it already has added in selected markets. Smaller than the Chicken Breast Strips on its menu, the Chicken Tenders come in a variety of counts, and pricing varies [...]

[May 20 Update: As expected, Red Robin announced the new menu, in stores by 5/24. Announced two $6.99 LTOs—Big Melt Bacon Burger and Honey Mustard Chicken sandwich—coming June 14. Comp sales for Q1 were a respectable -2.3%, compared with -10.5% and -14.9% the previous two quarters.] Red Robin Gourmet Burgers will announce a new menu this [...]

Having eked out a 0.8% gain in same-store sales for Wendy’s during the quarter ended April 4 (during which it brought out the Bacon & Blue burger), Wendy’s/Arby’s Group President/CEO Roland Smith today outlined future plans for the brand that rely heavily on the proven appeal of bacon and cost-friendly chicken. The chain will add two [...]

[May 11: More fowl play as Whataburger adds Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich.] It’s National Burger Month but high beef prices threaten to ruin the party. Already this week, three burger-menu chains have added non-beef sandwiches. One is Carl’s Jr. , which introduced the Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich today. A variation of a teriyaki-style burger it [...]

“And like that, poof. He’s gone,” Verbal Kint famously says of the evil Keyser Söze in the film “The Usual Suspects.” Perhaps he referencing my NCAA brackets after the Kansas loss. Ξ Or did he mean Wendy’s Bacon & Blue Burger? Because it’s gone.  This is the heart-breaking meaning of “limited-time offer.”  Judging by the largely [...]

[Update: TV commercial featuring singer/songwriter Emilie Mover's "Made for each other" song was added; see Comments for calorie info] 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 [...]

McDonald’s ♥ New York. And bacon. The world’s biggest restaurant chain has created its third bacon-topped burger bearing the New York name with the launch of its “Great Tastes of America” promotion in Scandinavia. In Denmark and Sweden, consumers can order the New York Supreme, a burger crowned with crisp bacon, Cheddar cheese and onion [...]

 ► Happy Chinese New Year, which shared yesterday with St. Valentine’s Day. You golfers will want to know that it’s the Year of the Tiger. For you burger lovers in Singapore, McDonald’s is celebrating New Year’s with the Double Prosperity Burger and this commercial (at left). Is it a bad sign that not even the [...]

A cessation of hostilities during the Olympics is a tradition more honored in spirit than in fact, but McDonald’s steps back from the so-called “burger wars” today and celebrates the neutrality and popularity of Chicken McNuggets with a Twitter-based promotion as the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games get under way. As reported here in December, McDonald’s 1,400 [...]

McDonald’s has introduced its bacon-laden CBO (Chicken, Bacon, Onion) sandwich to its menu in the United Kingdom after moving the product around Europe as a limited-time special over the past year-plus. The 615-calorie CBO’s appeal is a familiar one: bacon. In many forms. As served in the UK, the sandwich combines a chicken patty with “bacon [...]

CKE Restaurants this week recycles some menu ideas, reduces some prices and also launches something wholly new. Carl’s Jr. launched the Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger (left), a new menu item that the chain proclaims has “all the comfort and deliciousness of the grilled cheese sandwich mom used to make.” First girlie salads, now a reference [...]

[Update: Blueberry Biscuits have been reintroduced to Hardee's breakfast menu.] ► Wendy’s operators we’ve spoken with say the company hasn’t yet told them when it plans to introduce the Fresh Wraps line (Baja Chicken and Smokehouse BBQ) that it has been testing and that we’ve been writing about for months. But it seems a rollout could be coming [...]

[Update: See reader comments below for nutrition info on new wraps.] Wendy’s is ready to roll out the Bacon Deluxe cheeseburger, but it also is checking out additional potential extensions of its Boneless Wings. In selected markets, Wendy’s is testing a Baja Wrap in conjunction with the previously reported Smokehouse BBQ Wrap. Appropriately, the Baja gets a more [...]