Imagine you’re on the hunt for a new, affordable apartment in a big, expensive city. You’ve spent all day going from place to place, hoping to find one that even slightly resembles what the rental agent promises. Then you go check out a possible pad, only to find out there is an operational, pop-up Burger King inside. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Walgreens Pulls Swastika-Patterned Hanukkah Gift Wrap From Stores
By 12.9.14
Swastikas in any pattern are terrible. But swastikas — intentional or not — in the pattern of Hanukkah-themed items are even more jaw-droppingly terrible. And that’s exactly what a California customer says she found when she went shopping at Walgreens. [More]
Canada Gives The Union Of Burger King & Tim Hortons Its Blessing
By 12.5.14
Burger King has been itching to go down the aisle with Tim Hortons for months, and now that the coffee chain’s motherland has given the okay, it’s one step closer to wedded bliss. Canada has officially given its approval of Burger King’s bid to buy Tim Hortons. No word on whether it’s likely to cry during its toast at the reception. [More]
Starbucks Wants To Open A Chain Of Even More Upscale Coffee Shops
By 12.5.14
You may have thought that Starbucks was already an upscale coffee chain. Perhaps it is, compared to brewing your own Folgers at home, but there are even pricier coffee shops out there that offer even finer coffees. Starbucks wants to compete with these shops, which you haven’t heard of because you can’t afford to visit: even if you can, you probably don’t want to pay $45 for a pound of roasted beans. [More]
Pizza Hut Australia Now Offers Doritos-Coated Crust
By 12.4.14
Pizza Hut may have introduced an amazing array of pizza variations recently, but their newest variation is one that you won’t be able to find in this country. While a Doritos-coated, cheese-stuffed pizza crust might seem like a quintessentially American treat, you can only get this pizza in Australia. [More]
CDC: This Year’s Batch Of Flu Shots Might Not Fight Current Flu Strain That Well
By 12.4.14
There you are, arm bared and teeth set, ready to endure the needle required to deliver a dose of flu vaccine, because you know that getting a flu shot will prepare you against the onslaught of illness. But it might not work out all that well, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, because this year’s batch of vaccine is proving a bit weak in the face of the current strain of flu going around for 2014-15. [More]
Customer Sues Domino’s Because Intestine-Piercing Wire Bristles Are Not A Pizza Topping
By 12.4.14
If you’ve ordered enough pizzas, you’ve probably come across a few with a stray topping that shouldn’t be there. In most cases, the worst that can happen is you eat some green pepper, sausage, or mushroom that you hadn’t intended on consuming. But one Washington state man claims he didn’t realize until it was too late — and he was having emergency surgery — that he’d eaten some Domino’s Pizza topped with wire bristles. [More]
What Does It Cost To Open A New Taco Bell?
By 12.3.14
Maybe you’ve been in that moment, chowing down on a chalupa and hating your job, thinking to yourself, “I should just open a Taco Bell and cash in on hungry suckers like me.” It’s not a bad thought, but making it a reality will cost you anywhere between $175,000 and $2.5 million. [More]
Starbucks Offers Customers Chance To Win Free Coffee Every Day For Life (Actually, 30 Years)
By 12.3.14
Because no one did it better than Willy Wonka, Starbucks is the latest company to promise customers something extra special hiding in their gift cards or mobile app transactions: These 14 golden tickets will win their bearers free Starbucks every day for life, or actually, one complimentary beverage or food item every day for 30 years. [More]
Burger King Revives Yumbo Sandwich, Menu Item Discontinued In 1974
By 12.2.14
The Yumbo, a hot ham and cheese sandwich, debuted on the Burger King Menu in 1969 and disappeared in 1974. That’s almost a decade before most of the company’s current leadership was born, but there are plenty of customers who do remember the sandwich fondly and will return for it. They probably won’t all freak out on Twitter like chicken fries fans did, though. [More]
Computer Glitch Informs Frustrated NYC Commuters They Don’t Have Enough Money To Ride
By 12.2.14
Whether you live in New York City and take public transit or are a straphanging commuter in another city, you know the ultimate frustration of swiping your card during the morning rush and having the system inform you that you’ve got “Insufficient Fare” and need to go add money. The screams of rage were even louder yesterday morning when a computer glitch messed with 10,000 commuters who otherwise thought they had plenty of money to ride. [More]
Pizza Hut Claims It Can Glean Customers’ Dinner Desires From The Subconscious
By 12.1.14
While most food chains wish they could read all their customers’ minds and magically produce exactly what it is we’ve got a hankering for, Pizza Hut is claiming that it can actually do that… sort of. Using eye-tracking technology and a tablet, the company says it can pluck UK diners’ desires straight from their subconscious. [More]
You Can Now Get Hot Doughnuts From Domino’s (In The U.K.)
By 12.1.14
Have you spent the morning moping in your cubicle, wishing that someone would bring you a box of donuts and a vat of coffee? A new item from Domino’s in the United Kingdom would get you halfway there: the chain pizzeria is now rather inexplicably selling donuts. Hot donuts. [More]
If You’re Missing $100K, Your ATM Card And Some Drugs, Someone At Burger King Found Your Stuff
By 12.1.14
Does your back feel suddenly lighter? Is it like you were carrying the weight of $100,000 in cash, along with some drugs and a mysterious white rock, and now you aren’t? Perhaps you left your backpack filled with money, drugs and your ATM card at a Burger King in San Jose, where a manager discovered it. [More]
Maybe We Should All Just Stop Eating Sprouts
By 11.26.14
Sprouts are exactly what they sound like: the first sprouts from plants like beans or alfalfa, grown for a short time and then packaged for maximum deliciousness in a stir fry or on a salad. However, two pieces of sprout-related news from this week might make you pause before adding them to your salad. [More]
Sorry Camel, Fewer People Than Ever Are Smoking Between Every Thanksgiving Course
By 11.26.14
It’s been 78 years since Camel rans its full-page Thanksgiving ad encouraging smokers to enjoy a cigarette after every course of their holiday meal to aid with “good digestion.” Since then, food has apparently gotten a lot easier to digest — and people aren’t so keen about dying of lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease — as a new CDC report finds that fewer Americans than ever are aiding their digestion with cigarettes. [More]
Payday Lenders Now Outnumber McDonald’s (But Still Not As Many As Subway)
By 11.26.14
There are more than 14,000 McDonald’s locations in the U.S., meaning you’re rarely more than a few miles away from a Big Mac. But even though payday loans are illegal in more than a dozen states, these short-term predatory lending operations outnumber Golden Arches eateries by nearly 1.5 to 1, though they still have some catching up to do with the vast number of Subway stores. [More]
Subway Franchisee Sentenced For Hacking Registers, Stealing $40K In Gift Cards
By 11.25.14
A former Subway franchise owner was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his part in remotely hacking the restaurants’ computer systems in order to obtain more than $40,000 in gift cards. [More]
