If you’re introducing a new fast-food product, the best way to get it into the public’s hands is to give it to them for free in a massive taste test. That’s the logic that Jack In The Box is using in their promotion for the Double Jack, in which they’re giving away a million burgers to anyone who’s interested. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Rite Aid Shareholders Vote To Approve $9.4B Merger With Walgreens
By 2.4.16
Walgreens’ path to bring Ride Aid under its wing passed one hurdle on Thursday, as shareholders for the latter chain of drug stores approved a $9.4 billion merger plan. [More]
Subway Is Really Excited About Raising The Price Of Its Footlong Promo From $5 To $6
By 2.4.16
There’s nothing like a little breathless excitement to try to convince your customers that raising the price of something popular is a fantastic idea, which is perhaps why Subway was so pleased to let customers know that “ALL” its classic footlong sandwiches will cost $6 from now on. That’s right, the same menu item that Subway used to push for just $5 during its typical promotion. [More]
4 Reasons Tribal Lands Lack Better Access To The Internet
By 2.4.16
According to the latest data from the FCC, more than two-thirds of people living in rural tribal lands currently lack access to decent Internet, nearly 30 percentage points higher than the rate for the rest of rural America. So what is it about these tribal lands that makes connecting so difficult? [More]
Readers Share Secrets Of The Starbucks ‘Undertow,’ Or Whatever They Call It
By 2.4.16
Earlier this week, we sent one of our editors on a mission: to find out whether something billed as a Starbucks secret menu item exists at all the chain’s stores. The short answer: no, but if you describe the drink, any store will make you one, even though they’re kind of a pain and usually reserved for special occasions. [More]
You Can Apparently Now Tell Your Amazon Echo To Order A Pizza
By 2.3.16
Not in the mood to call, go online, or send an emoji text or Tweet to order pizza? How about just yelling your order at the speaker in your living room? Now you can, at least if that speaker is the Amazon Echo, and you want Domino’s. [More]
CVS Unveils First Store-Within-Store Pharmacies At Target
By 2.3.16
Target customers will soon see what $1.9 billion can buy, as CVS has officially started rebranding the big box store’s pharmacies into its own mini drugstores. [More]
Federal Government Rolls Up Another Subpoena, Serves It To Chipotle
By 2.2.16
While the good news for Chipotle is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have closed their investigation into the burrito eatery’s multi-state E. coli oubreak, late last week the company was served with a federal subpoena demanding more information about an earlier outbreak of norovirus in California that sickened 200 people. [More]
Filled Cupcake Oreos Are Really Happening, Will Arrive February 8
By 2.2.16
In Manhattan this week, there appeared a mysterious Oreo-shaped door in a wall. When you open the door, to no one’s surprise, you find Oreos. Parent company Mondelez plans to use the door, which they call the “Oreo Wonder Vault,” to introduce new flavors to the public shortly before they reach real-life stores. Today, they opened up the vault to distribute Filled Cupcake Oreos. [More]
7 Things We Learned About Food Safety Oversight From A Foodborne Illness Expert
By 2.2.16
Foodborne illness outbreaks have dominated the news in recent months: E. coli and norovirus at Chipotle, listeria in prepackaged Dole salad mixes, and salmonella in cucumbers. These outbreaks have sickened — and in some cases killed — consumers, and one food safety expert says that inadequate safety oversight is at least partly to blame. [More]
Secret Menu Adventure: Consumerist Tries To Order An ‘Undertow’ At Starbucks
By 2.1.16
Here at Consumerist’s virtual headquarters, we were reading a Starbucks fan blog, as we do, and noticed a passing reference that took us by surprise. A post mentioned a “secret menu” drink called the Undertow, which consists of hot espresso on top of cold half-and-half and flavored syrup. This sounded both confusing and delicious, so we made the editor whose office is closest to a Starbucks go out and try to order one. [More]
CVS Sued Over Claims Its Algae Supplement Improves Memory
By 2.1.16
Drugstore giant CVS is being sued for marketing and advertising its algae-based Algal-900 DHA supplements as proven memory enhancers, when the science used to prop up that claim is allegedly bogus. [More]
World Health Organization Declares Zika Virus “Emergency”: Which Airlines Offer Refunds, Rebooking?
By 2.1.16
The World Health Organization officially declared the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne illness that has been linked to birth defects in thousands of babies, an International Health Emergency. [More]
Taco Bell Taking Pre-Orders For “Surprise” Super Bowl Item That’s Probably A Quesalupa
By 2.1.16
With less than a week left before the Super Bowl, Taco Bell is once again teasing fast food lovers about its forthcoming “mysterious” new menu item — which will most likely be the year-old “Quesalupa,” or as Conan O’Brein eloquently nicknamed it, the “case of lupus” — offering customers the option to pre-order the meal online before its big debut on Sunday. [More]
Pizza Hut Offering Stuffed Garlic Knots Pizzas Sprinkled With $100 Worth Of Gold For Super Bowl Sunday
By 2.1.16
For all those times when you’re in the mood to eat Pizza Hut, but just feel like you should be eating more precious metals with your cheese and sauce, the chain is putting an expensive twist on its new Stuffed Garlic Knots Pizza, by sprinkling a “nearly $100 worth” of edible gold on top. [More]
Burger King Employees Break Restaurant’s Windows In Response To Prank Phone Call
By 2.1.16
Burger King customers in the San Luis Obispo, CA area were likely concerned when they showed up yesterday to find about a dozen of a restaurant’s window’s smashed out overnight. But this wasn’t an act of random vandalism, it was done on purpose by Burger King employees after they received a warning phone call that turned out to be a prank. [More]
CDC Reportedly Set To Close Book On Chipotle’s 9-State E. Coli Outbreak
By 2.1.16
While federal investigators have yet to pinpoint the cause of an E. coli outbreak that sickened more than 50 Chipotle customers in nine different states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announced today that the outbreak has come to an end. [More]
Starbucks Shrinks A Whole Serving From Iced Espresso Classics
By 2.1.16
Good morning! It’s time to stumble to your kitchen and make something caffeinated to aim at your mouth. One handy way to do that when you’re especially sleepy is to buy pre-mixed iced coffee or espresso and milk drinks at a grocery or discount store. Only Starbucks, a popular maker of those drinks, has shrink rayed an entire serving out of their iced espresso drinks. [More]
