Fast Food

Shock Over Taco Bell Burrito Price Leads to Shootout

by Jason Best, Posted Mar 21st 2011 @ 1:00PM

Taco Bell Photo: Paul Sakuma / AP Photo

A gun-toting outlaw sends patrons at a local watering hole diving for cover...over the price of a Beefy Crunch Burrito?

Yeah, it sounds like a latter-day spoof on an old spaghetti western, but the joke was no doubt lost on the employees and customers at a local Taco Bell in San Antonio on Sunday as they watched a man take an assault rifle and handgun out of his car in the parking lot and head toward them.

His biff? He'd just gone through the drive-thru and been informed that the price of the Beefy Crunch Burrito had gone up from 99 cents to $1.49.

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants

Is Ronald McDonald Getting Phased Out?

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by Jason Best, Posted Mar 4th 2011 @ 3:00PM

Ronald McDonald Photo: Ben Hider / Getty Images

It's the fate of celebrity icons everywhere: One minute you're adored by legions and the next thing you know, you've somehow drifted into middle age and the tepid waters of cultural obscurity.

It's downright tough these days to be clown in the fast-food biz. Just ask Ronald McDonald. As Bloomberg reports, the 48-year-old face of all that's supposedly happy in Happy Meals is finding it harder to land work these days.

Blame it on the changing times. McDonald's is undergoing a dramatic re-branding of sorts, launching its uber-popular line of Starbucks-style coffees under the McCafe label and committing upwards of $1 billion to renovate hundreds of restaurants to make them look less like one big Playland and more like...well, again, Starbucks. And it appears that Ronald doesn't exactly fit in with the aesthetic of the latte-sipping, iPad-toting crowd.

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants

Top Ten Fast-Food Breakfasts

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by Slashfood Editor, Posted Feb 15th 2011 @ 5:00PM

IHOP veggie scrambled eggs Photo: IHOP

About to grab the usual Egg McMuffin from Mickey D's for your fast-food breakfast fix? According to Health magazine's March issue, you might want to grab the McDonald's oatmeal with fruit instead. You'll get less fat, more fiber, and fewer calories.

Health has come up with their top-ten list of the healthiest fast-food breakfasts under 400 calories, says USA Today. The list includes not only that oatmeal, but a simple and fit veggie omelet from IHOP (pictured here), and, for fruit lovers, Jamba Juice's berry topper ideal meal, of yogurt, fruit, seeds, and granola.

For all the full list, with calorie counts, see the story at USA Today.

See our Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts Breakfast Sandwich Taste Test

Filed under: Magazines, Health & Medical, Fast Food

Obama Look-alike As Pitchman for Chinese KFC

COMMENTS 1

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Feb 2nd 2011 @ 5:00PM

Chinese KFC ad with fake Obama Photo: YouTube

It sounds like a setup for a joke: An American president (well, a look-alike) is in China, hawking a fish sandwich for a chicken chain.

But we're not kidding. An Obama doppelganger has been hired by China's KFC marking team to advertise the chain's new fish sandwich. Obama Foodorama, a blog dedicated to rounding up Obama-related food news (someone's gotta do it, we suppose), reports that KFC, the most popular fast-food chain in the country, is hoping the "Mmmm, change is good!" ad campaign will boost sales. Whether "Fauxbama" does the trick remains to be seen.

Read the story at Obama Foodorama.

Filed under: Fast Food, Celebrities

Taco Bell Fights Back in Meat Lawsuit

COMMENTS 96

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Jan 27th 2011 @ 1:00PM

Photo: BLW Photography, Flickr

When a lawsuit filed last week claimed that Taco Bell meat was pretty light on the actual meat (and heavy on the fillers), those were fighting words to the company that stakes its reputation on meaty burritos, tacos, and chalupas. According to an ABC News report, Taco Bell is now running defense.

Taco Bell President Greg Creed called the lawsuit "bogus and filled with completely inaccurate facts," says ABC. "There is no basis in fact or reality for this suit, and we will vigorously defend the quality of our products from frivolous and misleading claims such as this."

How much beef is "in fact" in Taco Bell's "seaoned beef recipe?" According to Creed, it contains 88 percent USDA-inspected beef, along with ingredients that provide "taste and moisture." And don't forget those "extenders" that pump up the meat's volume. To be continued, folks. And may the best meat evidence win.

Check out all the ingredients, listed at Taco Bell's website.

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants

Best Burger Chain? Wendy's, Says Poll

COMMENTS 3

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Jan 25th 2011 @ 3:00PM

Wendy's favorite fast food restaurant Photo: Will Pate, Flickr

The little girl with the curvy red braids beat out both Ronald McDonald and the Burger King in a recent poll, UPI reports. In a telephone poll of a thousand people, conducted by New Jersey-based Rasmussen Reports, 61 percent gave a favorable rating to Wendy's, versus 56 percent for McDonald's and 51 percent for Burger King. Those Wendy's Baconator burgers must be on the right track.

But here's the survey result that gave us pause. UPI reports that "people who regularly eat fast-food said they do so mostly because of the cost and convenience, not because they like it." That's a lot of forced fries, then. And you can make a burger a lot more cheaply at home. C'mon folks; give it up. You love your Whoppers.

For more on the poll, check out the UPI story.

What's your favorite fast-food restaurant, of the Big Three?
Burger King	468 (20.3%)
Wendy's	1390 (60.2%)
McDonald's	450 (19.5%)

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants

McDonald's "Legends of McRib" Video Contest Winner

COMMENTS 0

by Bill Sertl, Posted Dec 29th 2010 @ 12:00PM

Photo: YouTube

Gather 'round children, and ye shall here, of a quest for ribs that took many a year;
Ten grand was offered, a mighty big prize, and every last cent is now Sawyer Frye's.

Yes, folks, the grand-prize winner of McDonald's Legends of McRib Contest, a young North Carolina native, concocted a video tale about the last McRib on earth. (Apparently the sandwich's popularity resulted in all but one of the meaty marvels being eaten before the EPA had a chance to add it to the endangered-edibles list), which took him from Central America to a forest in Canada where the croque McRib in question lay buried (either frozen, we hope, or shot through with enough trans fats to keep it preserved and still tasty).

Frye also won a trip to Germany, the only country in the world where the McRib is served year-round. Try it with a side of McKartoffelsalat and a McWeisswürst. (McDonald's, we thought of it first!) See the video after the jump.

Filed under: Fast Food, Videos, Chain Stores / Restaurants

Fresh Fries or Else! McDonald's Customer in Standoff

COMMENTS 1

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Dec 28th 2010 @ 2:00PM

Photo: geligakmn, Flickr

There's a running joke in the Cary Grant-Doris Day film That Touch of Mink (1962), about how much mischief the folks from Upper Sandusky, Ohio, are willing to get up to. In a word, not much. Seems contemporary Sandusky residents are a lot more cranky and aggressive than in Doris's day.

At a Sandusky-area McDonald's, cops had to be called in when customer Robert Quillen got ticked off about what he claimed were less-than-fresh french fries, says a report from the Sandusky Register. Quillen refused to leave until he got better fries, and threw some choice words at the Mickey D's employee who disagreed with him but offered to refund his money. Nope, nothing doing: This dude wanted hot fries for his wife, who was waiting for him in the car.

Quillen claimed another employee went after him with a mop, but no charges were filed because, says the Register, there were conflicting reports. Mrs. Quillen, it seems, went fry-free that day.

Which reminds us of a classic MADtv moment, with comedienne Anjelah Johnson as sassy "King Burger" employee Bon Qui Qui, who believes the customer is always wrong. Check out this YouTube video.

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants

In Japan, 'Tis the Season for Fried Chicken

COMMENTS 2

by Jason Best, Posted Dec 20th 2010 @ 3:00PM

KFC and Colonel Sanders in Japan Photo: Khaled Kassem / Alamy

Nothing says Christmas like a monster bucket of KFC -- if you're in Tokyo, that is.

In what may be one of the most bizarre cases of lost in translation, it turns out that the Japanese love the Colonel's secret recipe come yuletide. They love it so much, in fact, that they line up for blocks in order to nab one of KFC's Christmas Party Barrels or reserve their finger-lickin' good favorites two months in advance.

"Japan is well known for taking foreign products and ideas and adapting them to suit domestic taste, and Christmas is no exception. A highly commercialized and non-religious affair, lots of money is spent annually on decorations, dinners and gifts," writes the Financial Times, which credits an ad campaign in the 1970s for placing KFC at the center of the Japanese holiday table.

The Christmas Party Barrel includes eight pieces of chicken (either all fried or half seasoned with garlic and soy), a Caesar salad and a chocolate-mousse cake on a decorative plate, all for the equivalent of about $46.

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants

McDonald's Sued Over Happy Meal Toys

COMMENTS 4

by Jason Best, Posted Dec 16th 2010 @ 2:00PM

McDonalds happy meals lawsuit Photo: David Paul Morris / Getty Images

Making good on a threat it issued this summer, a public advocacy group has filed a class-action lawsuit against McDonald's to stop the burger giant from putting toys in Happy Meals.

Last June, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) warned McDonald's that unless the company immediately stopped using Happy Meal toys to market to kids, it was going to take McDonald's to court. No surprise: McDonald's didn't exactly "cease and desist," as any parent who's recently stumbled over a cheap plastic Transformer on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night will tell you.

CSPI contends that by luring kids in with the promise of toys, McDonald's is encouraging them "to develop a preference for nutritionally poor Happy Meals," according to its press release. While McDonald's counters that parents can choose healthier Happy Meals for their kids, such as those that include low-fat milk and apple slices, CSPI charges that fries and sodas are essentially the default option at the majority of McDonald's franchises, and no such Happy Meal is healthy for a four- to eight-year-old.

Filed under: Fast Food, Chain Stores / Restaurants