Fast Food Trends We'd Love To See

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Aug 7th 2007 @ 4:10PM

Okay, so my notions started getting a l'il fancy free while I was writing Fast Food Trends We're Predicting. Feel free to chime in with your own.

Trans-Fat Monitoring Ankle Bracelets

In light of New York City's controversial trans-fat restaurant food crackdown, we wouldn't be at all surprised to find grill jockeys forced to sport Lohan-style fat monitoring ankle bracelets on the job. "Alert! We're detecting high levels of palm oil at Location #5974. Initiate remote Fryolator shutdown procedure." Gotta protect the dining public by any means necessary.

Soda Sommeliers

Now that bottled water mania has flooded every sector of the market, and ultra-haute restaurants are hiring "water sommeliers" to optimize the non-alcoholic fluid intake of their diners, we're expecting some trickle-down. Seeing how Coke and Pepsi have both recently extended their brands, introducing vitamin-enhanced, black cherry & vanilla, coffee-enhanced and other variations to the mix, we're fully expecting a necktie-wearing gent to stroll up to our Chili's table saying, "Tonight, we're featuring an exotic, mid-caffeinated diet blend that pairs beautifully with the Awesome Blossom." any day now.

Salt Options

Even plain ol' table salt is getting a shake-up. High-end chefs are no longer content with Morton's or kosher crystals, but rather pairing their fare with hand-harvested Black Hawaiian and Bamboo Jade sea salts. As if drive-thru orders aren't muddled enough, we're semi-terrified of a future where diners are forced to specify "The #2, Emperor-sized with a Diet Coke and...honey, do you remember if your sister wanted the Fleur de Sel or the Papohaku White on her fries?"

Nothin' But Bacon

The introduction of Wendy's six-slice Baconator behemoth sandwich simply confirms the American people's longtime love affair with the crispy, salty, fat-drenched stuff. When are our nation's restauranteurs going to just go whole-hog and open a chain called Nothin' But Bacon? Franchise options will include an on-premises cold smoker, and a cardiac unit in a shed out back.

Pulled Pork as a Condiment

In keeping with the pig-powered trend, rumor has it that White Castle has been testing out pulled pork sandwiches in selected locations, and we've spotted it as a menu option on Wendy's thisismyburger.com fantasy sandwich generator. While we're thinking that the texture might still at this time be a regional preference (Sorry – no McShredder on the menu yet.) we wouldn't be at all surprised to see it popping up on toppings lists at burger joints around the country. You know – seeing as bacon is so busy and all.

Fast Food Trends We're Predicting

Fast Food Review: Wendy's Baconator

Guilty Pleasures: Bacon

Guilty Pleasures: Burgers

Get Great Burger Recipes

Filed Under: Guilty Pleasures, Fast Food Review

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

1-11-2008 @3:33PM Kitty said... While I agree that there needs to be more fruit and veggies at fast food places - I think everyone is missing a big point.

The reason why all the food is salty and greasy and all that is because it's cheaper for the restaurants. The more fruits and veggies you get into - the more that starts costing, along with control issues. Also - better made foods (foods with less salt, less butter, etc) cost more to make because they aren't "fast fixing foods" - and you can't keep them in big batches.

So you may have a fruit cup or something similar on the menu - but it's so expensive, and most of the time you don't get what you pay for - that either so many people complain about the price and take it off the menu, or no one buys it.
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1-11-2008 @7:01PM Steve Holcomb said... 14. Fast food is crap. It is supposed to be crap. I think there should be no changes made to it. More people need to concentrate on eating fresh foods that are good for you. On the rare ocasion when you are in the mood for crap, then go for fast food. Don't try to change their menu to make it more "healthy" because you prefer a steady diet of crap. Y ou are just kidding youself. Stop working on changing fast food menus and start working on yourselves.

Marc at 2:42PM on Jan 11th 2008

Amen brother! I couldn't have said it better myself!

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1-18-2008 @4:36PM Julia said... Turkey burgers, please just put them on the menu like we had on the west coast, CA, OR and WA. Jack in the Box even had turkey burgers on their menu. We moved to Texas which we love, but I have asked for turkey burgers (we don't eat beef) and the answer I always get is we don't serve vegeterian food. Last time I checked turkey was considered poultry. Although we don't eat too much fast food they definately need to reduce the salt.

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