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If you're looking for something fresh and exciting the next time you stop by a Starbucks or roll through a drive-through, fast-food restaurants are offering a handful of new menu items to help draw in new customers and give old customers a taste of something different.
McDonald's is test-marketing a new "customized" chicken sandwich with a French twist. The McBistro Chicken Sandwich can be either grilled or fried, comes on a whole-grain "bakery style" roll, and then you choose whether you'd like to top it with bacon, white cheddar cheese, tomato and a sauce (chipotle barbecue, honey mustard, buttermilk ranch), the Baltimore Sun reported. Customers pay less for if they forgo the bacon or cheese.
The customized sandwiches are being tried out in Omaha, Albuquerque, and the greater Baltimore area.
"McBistro Chicken Sandwiches are all about choice, and customers will pay for only what they include on their customized sandwich, enjoying a premium product without a premium price," the company said in a press release.
Last month Wendy's launched the upscale Bacon and Blue Cheeseburger with blue cheese crumbles, sauteed onions and Applewood-smoked bacon.
"We've heard loud and clear that our customers love the new Applewood smoked bacon," Ken Calwell, chief marketing officer for Wendy's, said in a statement. "This great bacon and real blue cheese crumbles takes the Bacon and Blue hamburger to a whole new level and offers gourmet taste for a value price."
The Bacon and Blue burger isn't on the dollar menu. Its suggested price is $4.29.
KFC has launched a new Boneless Filet which its offering as part of a $5 box with fries, a soft drink and a biscuit, Grub Grade reported.
Over at Taco Bell, the Pacific Shrimp Taco joined the menu. The soft taco combines marinated shrimp, shredded lettuce, Fiesta Salsa and Avocado Ranch Sauce.
In the beverage world, Starbucks is offering the "however-you-want-it frappuccino" -- a twist on its frozen coffee drink that allows customers to custom-order frappuccinos, the Wall Street Journal reported. Customers can choose soy milk instead of regular dairy, decaf or regular coffee and whether they'd like light syrup or whipped cream on their drinks.
The custom frappuccino is expected to make its debut in Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada in early May.
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3-17-2010 @5:57PM al said... then again they dont care bout us lactose intolerant plp. if i had one id offer the choice to make it with lactaid and not soy milk. wtf puts oy milk in thir crap anyway? nice one starbucks
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3-17-2010 @11:39PM gobo said... A lot of people use soymilk, al. It's very popular.
Starbucks is not a drugstore, and should not have to cater to every possible allergy and medical issue their customers might have. If you can't digest milk, that's why they have soymilk. If you're just being picky, that's not their problem.
3-18-2010 @9:34AM LinC said... I like the idea of the Mickey D's chicken sandwich, especially if I don't have to pay for bacon and cheese. But I really, really like the idea of being able to customize my Frappuchino. I hope they offer skim milk as an option. That way I could try more flavors in a "light" version as a treat.
Al -- you should email Starbucks or talk to your local coffee shop and see if you can bring your own lactaid milk for them to use in your drink. That way you could control your own destiny and not just complain.
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3-18-2010 @7:14PM captain underpants and the bringdown gang said... there is no way ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you could be allowed to bring in your own "milk" or "Milk like substance" for use in the frappachino, as it is a lawsuit just iching aching to happen, the kind that lawyers jerk off to at night.
3-19-2010 @9:40AM Rita said... sounds good.. but I can't believe it is too great for you.. try cooking for yourself sometime!... i bought my husband this hilarious beginner's cookbook.. can't tell you the title, but google "whipped & beaten culinary works" to find it.. but don't go to the site if you are easily offended!!
3-19-2010 @1:19PM Lisa said... I know someone who takes low carb tortillas to Taco Bell and has them use them for their order. I find fast food restaurants very accommodating here in MIchigan, although I don't go to them often. Can't say about Burger King cause I don't go there. But three of them locally have gone out of business, so I guess not too many people do.
3-18-2010 @6:59PM Jessy said... Sounds like these restaurants are getting the idea that they need to scale things up a bit. I'm not too impressed, but we will see what happens.
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3-18-2010 @7:12PM captain underpants and the bringdown gang said... I'm confused, cause in michigan, or any other starbucks I've ever been to, if you want to customize your frappachino you can already change the normal frapp orders to the above mentioned customizations I don't see how thats any different.
If they started offering, larger sizes for my frozen coffee beverage of choice I would like that. (can I get a half-gallon frap with extra whipped cream and full fat milk?)
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3-18-2010 @7:18PM captain underpants and the bringdown gang said... buy 10, bring in your card along with a promise not to sue and you get a free defribulator!
3-19-2010 @3:42PM Brenda said... I agree...and yes I was thinking the same thing...Starbucks has always had the options listed for as long as I can remember...so this is no new news for Starbucks...guess they simply wanted to jump on the "new offerings" band wagon by letting the few people who may not have known they had choices in on the already well known fact that they always have!
3-18-2010 @10:34PM newsy1 said... Here's a clue to all you fast food moguls out there on giving customers what we supposedly want. Lower your prices. Will it make me feel better to order my very own customized Starbucks frappucinno for $5 bucks? Or would I feel better if it was the same old one I liked before only cheaper? I love these marketing geniuses who dream up all this stuff to entice us with their "real" blue cheese crumbles et al, if I wanted gourmet I wouldn't be stopping by KFC or Taco Bell for their "Bistro" whatever or their shrimp. I'd likely go to a french restaurant or a seafood house. Most people go to fast food places because they are cheap and pricing is of the utmost importance today so wake up guys and smell the cheap cappucinnos. http://newsy1.wordpress.com
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3-19-2010 @6:36AM patty said... I like the idea of being able to get a whole grain bread at McDonald's. They should offer that option with all of their burgers as well. I would also love the option of being able to get fresh fruti at any of these places as well. They need to add healthier lower calorie options!
I have lost 50 pounds over the last 2 years, and I have done it by watching my calories, eating less processed foods and getting in some kind of exercise every day.
I usually walk 20 minutes every day and I wear SmartSole exercise insoles hTtp://www.smartsole.com. They are body toning insoles similar to Reebok Easytone that help you burn extra calories while you walk or work out as well as tone and tighten. I read about them on my weight watchers board and the code ww10 gives you a 10% discount.
I also try not to eat after 8 pm at night and limit myself to one glass of wine a day.
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5-02-2010 @6:43PM leah said... I know that not a lot of people know this, but if you wanted to switch out the whole grain bun for your fish filet, southern style chicken, or any other burger besides the big mac you can, you just have to ask for it :) Or at least that's how it is where I work in NM
3-19-2010 @6:38AM Tuula said... Drinking and eating this artificial crapola no wonder the Americans are the fatsos of the world.
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3-19-2010 @10:19AM Cassie said... Totally true. Stop trying to come up with o so awesome new fatty bacon and cheese burgers and help this country slim down with lower calorie choices. I mean in my favorite starbucks frap there are over 500 cals. You should not take in a third of your cals through a drink. I havent drinken one in so long because of the calorie amount. Stop eating people of America. Diet!
3-19-2010 @1:49PM Jodi said... I know you have to have eaten a fattening cheeseburger or have had a fattening food in your lifetime. Quit being so boring and cynical. You'll go far.
3-19-2010 @5:18PM David S. said... Tuula and Cassie -- apparently the two of you perfect people want to live in a nanny state where people should be told what they can and cannot eat. Mind your own business and worry about some real problems -- what people eat isn't one of them.
3-19-2010 @7:42AM ariel said... all of this sounds stupid to me. i dont care if i can custimize my burger. i want a place where i can get food fast, that isnt disgusting meat and wilted lettuce leaves. i want REAL healthy options at fast food resaturants. Thats why everyone in america is so overweight. because even if you WANTEd to eat healthy, its just not easy. people who dont have the time to go home for lunch, or stop at the store, are FORCED to eat greasy, disgusting beef and cheese. And its not just at fast food restaurants its everywhere. if i want to go to the movies, its the same thing. i better sneak in my own snacks, or its cheesy, fatty nachos for me. same with at a state fair, or at the mall. or anywhere. Eating healthy is just so inconvenient. So pretty much everyone should just be overweight fatties who will eventually die of aheart attack, or cancer. or something preventable. If everyone wasnt so stupid.
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3-19-2010 @9:35AM MARY said... IF YOU WANT HEALTHY, TRY MAKING YOUR LUNCH AT HOME AND BROWN BAG IT --DRINK WATER WITH IT.
3-19-2010 @11:00AM gobo said... Nobody is "forcing" you to eat burgers and fries. Yes, it's easy to eat healthy. Don't be lazy.