The three “Bs” lead off menu news this week, with barbecue, bites and beverages making headlines. Bites tie into the growth of snacking and smaller portions, with more restaurant chains leaning into this trend. Barbecue flavors are foreshadowing one of summer’s favorite activities and refreshing and energizing beverages continue to see a lot of traction on menus.
Barbecue season gets going
More than 50% of the 8,000-plus restaurant operators in Technomic’s database mention barbecue as a flavor or preparation on their menus. And its popularity peaks as the weather warms up.
Arby’s is bringing back its slow-smoked lineup with sandwiches built around barbecue flavors. There’s a Pulled Pork Sandwich layered with pork that’s hickory-smoked for four hours and a Chopped Brisket Sandwich with beef smoked for 13 hours. Both feature a quarter-pound of meat, pickles and a choice of barbecue sauce on a toasted brioche bun. Arby’s new Mac Bowl is topped with the same slow-cooked meats over white cheddar mac and cheese; it’s finished with crispy onions and a choice of sweet or spicy BBQ sauce.
Pulled pork also stars at Velvet Taco in a Gochujang Pork Taco. The Korean-style barbecue item is composed of pulled pork with gochujang sauce, buttered cilantro rice, mung bean sprouts, curly carrots, cilantro, pickled Fresno peppers, sesame vinaigrette and sesame seeds in a corn tortilla. And Ted's Montana Grill is offering a French dip made with shaved, roasted bison instead of roast beef. The Classic American Bison Dip is served on a toasted baguette with warm au jus.
The Mr. BBQ Chicken Salad is an addition to Habit Burger & Grill’s Hot Dads Eat Habit Salads campaign. Each bowl contains chargrilled chicken cooked to order, bacon, crisp onion tanglers, aged white cheddar and a BBQ-ranch dressing that ties it all together.
Chipotle Honey Chicken returns to Chipotle Mexican Grill, a barbecue-adjacent prep of grilled chicken marinated with chipotle peppers and honey. It’s available in any entrée for a limited time.
Beverages ready to sip
Watermelon flavors the new drink lineup at Wendy’s. Watermelon Lemonade leads off, a thirst-quencher combining lemonade and watermelon puree, followed by Watermelon Sparkling Energy, a mix of the brand’s sparkling caffeinated energy drink with fresh fruit and candied watermelon flavors. There’s also a Sprite Watermelon beverage, and on the dessert side, the new Cookie Dough Frosty Fusion swirled with cookie dough pieces and brownie batter sauce.
Beyond Juicery's Dragon Fruit Refresher
Three lemonade-based refreshers launched at Beyond Juicery + Eatery. The Blue Coconut Refresher infuses lemonade with coconut and blue spirulina, while the Mango Refresher is flavored with mango and turmeric. Completing the trio is the Dragon Fruit Refresher, a blend of dragon fruit, guava and passion fruit with lemonade. New on the food menu is a Broccoli Chicken Caesar Wrap made crunchy and more nutritious with the addition of broccoli slaw.
Jollibee and Golden Chick turn to blue raspberry and black cherry, respectively, for their drink debuts. Black Cherry Limeade is mixed with black cherry juice for a shot of antioxidants at Golden Chick, while Jollibee’s Blue Raspberry Aether with Crystal Boba ties into Final Fantasy XIV Online and is served in a commemorative cup.
A range of coffee, matcha and energy drinks are new at Scooters Coffee. Banana Cream Matcha has oatmeal cookie and banana flavors and is topped with banana cold foam; it’s served hot, iced or blended. The S'mores Crème Cold Brew combines cold brew with marshmallow sauce, topped with mocha sauce and graham cracker crumbs; the S’mores Latte features the same ingredients in a hot or iced latte. Rounding out the collection is Grape Rush Red Bull Infusion made with Red Bull Yellow Edition with grape flavor, served iced or blended, topped with grape cold foam.
Sea Salt Caramel flavors coffee drinks at Luckin Coffee.
The latest additions at Luckin Coffee are flavored with caramel. The Sea Salt Caramel Cold Brew is topped with a sea salt caramel cold foam, while Sea Salt Caramel Latte, available hot or iced, is infused with caramel and Hawaiian sea salt. Also on offer is refreshing Yuzu Matcha Sparkling Water, a blend of Japanese first flush matcha with yuzu and sparkling water.
It’s spritz season at California Pizza Kitchen, where four light, bubbly drinks have joined the menu. The Lavender Lemon Spritz combines lavender-accented vodka with lemonade and Prosecco, while the Blueberry Elderberry Spritz features elderflower liqueur, blueberries, lemonade and Prosecco. Also on hand is the more classic Aperol Spritz and the Hugo Spritz with elderflower, mint and lime. New food items launched as well, including Hearth Oven Short Rib Lasagna and Hearth Oven Spinach, Artichoke & Mushroom Lasagna, beef filet skewers with red and green chimichurri, Peruvian Pan-Roasted Chicken and Cedar Plank Salmon over Thai Crispy Rice Salad.
Bites are big
Grilled Burrito Dippers at Moe's Southwest Grill.
GLP-1 users and snackers are both looking for smaller portions, and Moe’s Southwest Grill is there for them. The fast casual downsized its burritos and rolled out mini Grilled Burrito Dippers. They’re filled with a choice of proteins such as adobo chicken, tofu, shredded beef barbacoa or steak with a selection of dipping sauces including Chipotle Ranch, Poblano Crema, Chili Lime, Avocado Poblano Crema, yogurt-based Moe’s Sauce and spicy Hard Rock. They’re $3.99 each or two for $6.99.
And Bojangles embraces dipping and snacking with Bo's Chicken Rippers. The bite-sized sandwiches feature chicken tender pieces on petite party-size potato rolls, served four to an order with a choice of barbecue, honey mustard, peach honey pepper or ranch sauce.
For more menu news of the week, check out Menu Tracker.
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