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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 [...]

Jack in the Box will add another item to its Grilled Sandwich line this month as it shifts sales-resuscitation efforts to dinner from breakfast. Chairman-CEO Linda Lang told analysts this week that it will make “noticeable quality improvements to some of our signature products” as it continues to battle weak sales and falling check average. [...]

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 [...]

 If the recession really has bottomed out, as some analysts would like us all to believe, and consumers are sliding back toward their old spending habits, why are burger chains still discounting like this? Jack in the Box yesterday rolled out its Really Big Chicken Sandwich Combo. For $3.99—still below the times-are-tough $4 price ceiling—customers [...]

McDonald’s continues to explore what it can turn into a tortilla wrap, and it keeps ratcheting up the quality. First it tried stepping up from wrapping a regular burger patty in its Big Mac Snack Wrap to the bigger, better Angus Snack Wrap that goes national Aug. 10. Now McDonald’s is trying a similar upgrade with [...]

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 [...]

[More fun: East Coast chain Friendly's has added new BurgerMelts: Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt and Zesty Queso BurgerMelt.] On Jan. 19, not even three weeks into the new year, BurgerBusiness.com forecast 2010 as the Year of the Melt. That projection came when Whataburger revived its Patty Melt as a limited-time offer. The chain followed the Patty Melt with [...]

Can we all agree that there are three core components to a burger? The meat’s one; toppings are the second. And the third? The bun! Burgers’ skyrocketing popularity has brought us limitless variations on core components #1 and #2, but buns remain the poor relations of the burger family. Marginalized, ignored or scorned. R.F. O’Sullivan [...]

[Watch the BK ribs commercial here.] Burger King began its roll out of its new Fire-Grilled Ribs today. The limited-time promotion, expected to last through July 4, puts the chain’s new batch broilers to work and adds a super-premium-price product to the chain’s “barbell” pricing strategy, which seeks to balance budget-price and higher-ticket “indulgent” items [...]

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 [...]

General Motors famously summarized American culture as “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.” In England, McDonald’s now is evoking the American personality with images of football, “Baywatch”-style lifeguards, monster trucks and Mardi Gras paraders. These icons are presented in the 30-second TV commercial that launches McDonald’s fourth annual “Great Tastes of America” promotion in the [...]

No longer just a regional chain with retro carhops, Sonic Drive-In establishes itself as an innovative, national QSR power with a new game plan outlined to Wall Street this week at “Analysts Day” meetings at its Oklahoma City headquarters. That strategic plan includes the menu introductions this year of a line of Loaded Burgers, a [...]

In Switzerland and Austria, where it is greatly outnumbered by rival McDonald’s, Burger King has called on a celebrity/fashion photographer to give its brand and its burgers some eye-catching style. Austrian Manfred Baumann is the photographer for Burger King’s “eMOTIVe” print campaign, and the portfolio on his site showcases his photos of such stars as [...]

With its smaller rivals already struggling to match its sales, McDonald’s Corp. today told analysts that it and its franchisees will spend heavily on an accelerated “reimaging” of its restaurants, an effort that it says boosts remodeled stores’ sales by 6% to 7%. CFO Peter Bensen said the company will be “investing on a scale that [...]

Burgerville continues the evolution of its seasonal-menu program into a community involvement initiative with the introduction of the Crispy Onion & Spinach Turkey Burger. Strawberry milkshakes, smoothies and lemonade as well as a strawberry shortcake dessert also have joined the menu.  The Vancouver-Wash.-based chain last year began creating monthly limited-time menu items pegged to local, [...]