"chick-fil-a" news and stories

Heinz is rolling out a new ketchup container to replace their ubiquitous little packets, and Chick-fil-A is celebrating the new "Dip & Squeeze" ketchup by offering free waffle fries to customers tomorrow from 2-4 p.m. During the two-hour window, it's "Free FryDay:" All you have to do is ask for a Heinz Dip & Squeeze ketchup at the counter and they'll hand over a medium waffle fries to go with it.

But while the free fries are nice, we're way more excited about this ketchup innovation: We can't believe it's taken a ketchup company so long to make a ketchup container that you can dip your fries into. It may be a small luxury, but we'll take it.

• Read about Heinz's new green ketchup bottles at The Huffington Post.

Further solidifying itself a place to avoid on date night, White Castle is introducing two new garlic cheese sliders for a limited time. The first seems pretty uninspired: take one of the chain's original sliders and slap a slice of garlic cheese on it. The second adds a bit more pizzazz with mushrooms in a savory sauce.

White Castle is also premiering its Chicken Marinara Slider, topped with the aforementioned garlic cheese (see a theme here?) and the eponymous marinara.

Meanwhile, Chick-fil-A is set to start testing spicy chicken nuggets next month in Denver, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Augusta, Georgia. As Nation's Restaurant News points out, this follows the introduction of similar spicy nuggets at Wendy's, as well as spicy Wicked Chicken at Popeyes and the half-hearted superlative Spicier Spicy Chicken at Church's. (Perhaps Church's is holding back on unveiling its Spiciest Spicy Chicken until this apparent spicy skirmish among fast-food chicken places escalates further.)

On Wednesday we announced that Chick-fil-A would be honoring Cow Appreciation Day with a free combo meal at all locations -- with one catch: you had to dress like a cow from head to toe. We polled our readers and 71% of you said that you would dress up for the occasion. Well, we just couldn't help ourselves (I mean come on, it's free Chick-fil-A).

Our crafty photo editor spent a portion of the afternoon yesterday coming up with ideas for a costume and put together one fine bovine outfit.

The nearest Chick-fil-A took us on a road trip to Paramus, NJ, where the chicken chain is located in a food-court -- perfect...even more people to witness the ridiculousness. Putting the costume together in the restroom, I exited with slight hesitation with a cow bell around my neck and a tail attached to my pants. The reactions from mall shoppers walking by were priceless, even more the shocked looks from kids -- they just pointed in awe. Walking up to Chick-fil-A, I confirmed that I could have whatever sandwich I wanted (all of the kind Chick-fil-A employees laughing behind the counter) and ordered their new Spicy Chicken Sandwich.

The complete review of the new sandwich and photos after the jump...

The next big summer holiday after July 4th isn't Labor Day, after all: Chick-fil-A has presented us with Cow Appreciation Day. Arrive at just about any Chick-fil-A outpost across the country this Friday, July 9, dressed as a cow, and you'll score a free combo meal.

And what do they mean by "dressed as a cow?" Head to toe, ears to hoof...you get the idea.

But don't think you have to spend to the point of udder madness on your cow costume just to land a Chargrilled Chicken Club.

Perhaps in homage to the bovine beauties featured in their ad campaign (you know, those cows sporting those signs in creepy, serial-killer script, "Eat Mor Chikin"), Chick-fil-A is encouraging homemade. They've even got a "starter kit" that you can download from their website: cut-out spots, a cow snout and tail. Just "throw on a white T-shirt with white pants (even sweatpants) and stick on your cow spots using black contact paper."

It might be smart marketing, but food giveaways at fast-food chains tend to become well, free-for-alls. (Remember the endless lines at KFC in 2009 when Oprah promoted the chain's complimentary grilled chicken sandwiches? The word "riot" was used in more than one news headline during that disastrous campaign.) So when Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A decided to offer up their new Spicy Chicken sandwich gratis to customers, they decided to try a new approach: online reservations.

Talk about modern living. Anyone who wants to try the sandwich simply has to log on to GetSpicyChicken.com, give their location, name and email, and the company will display available time slots. (If the times are all taken for that location, you're pretty much out of luck.) The promotion runs between May 31st and June 5th, but the website started taking reservations late last week. Once you've registered, you print out the "invitation" and bring it into the store at the designated time. You get the sandwich, they get to avoid massive crowds.