On March 17 2013, U.S. News and World reported that the rumors are true that your favorite fast food eateries do have secret menus.
The word is slowly but surely getting out about In-N-Out Burger, Starbucks, Panera, McDonalds, and Chipotle Mexican Grill just to name a few having secret menus.
The only obstacle ordering from the secret menu is the name of the food or drinks ordered. Once the secret is known, feel free to order whatever the secret items are, and even share the secret news about the food and drink with others.
In-N-Out Burger has had a secret menu for over 20 years. Jonathan Marek the senior vice president of Applied Predictive Technologies states that secret menu has gained notoriety within the last five years.
Marek who works for the business analytics firm based out of Arlington, Va., monitors trends and secret menus of restaurants and says food bloggers have helped in pushing out the secrets. People now go through drive-thru and order different creative sandwiches.
Marek states almost every restaurant has a secret menu. The menus are most often thought of by creative loyal customers.
Many franchise owners and managers want their customers happy, so they allow them to create their own menu. Other times it is a marketing strategy for companies to devise a menu, and purposely keep it off the main menu. There’s no pressure of rolling out a new item because it keeps everything low key.
Here are a few secret menus below:
McDonald’s Monster Mac, which consists of eight beef patties.
Burger King has an unofficial burger called Suicide Burger, which consist of four beef patties, four slices cheese, bacon and special sauce.
Chipotle Mexican Grill gained some press lately for its Quesarito, which is not on the menu if asked for it 1.500 calories burrito wrapped in a quesadilla costing around $10.
Starbucks has 11 drinks on their secret menu, one of them being Cap’n Crunch Berries Frappuccino which consist strawberries, creme Frappuccino with hazelnut syrup.
The website iwastesomuchtime.com displays Starbucks secret menu drinks.
In-N-Out Burger is the most famous for secret menu. Recently an In-N-Out Burger cook divulged some of their secret menu items. In-N-Out Burger has a Protein Style burger which is a burger wrapped in lettuce as oppose to a bun.
The company recently posted its secret menu online; however, they did not post all their goodies. Their website says “here are some of the most popular items on our not-so-secret menu.”
Panera Bread hidden menu as they like to refer to it debuted in January. They consist of “power foods” which have leaned proteins, complex carbohydrates and veggies.
The names of their menu items are Power Steak Lettuce Wrap, Power Chicken Hummus Bowl. The items are not on the menu at the restaurant, but those that follow them on social media will learn all about these items.
Scott Davis, executive vice president and chief concept officer for Panera Bread says the power foods are a niche items and appeals to those interested in the Paleolithic diet, and the restaurant can market accordingly to these customers.
This opportunity opens the door to create hidden menus in the future targeting those wanting to follow a low sodium diet, or a heart healthy diet lowering their cholesterol.
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