[Scene opens with a lone, shrouded figure alone on stage, head bowed under the spotlight, slowly clapping] We’ve got to hand it to you, McDonald’s. When you go after a particular test market, you really know how to go after it. To wit: The fast food chain is testing its Lovin’ Value Menu at 125 locations in southeastern Wisconsin. That menu features a new item — mozzarella sticks, in a direct pitch to the cheesy heart and soul of every Wisconsinite. [More]
Food & Personal Care
McDonald’s Pushing Hot Cheese On Susceptible Wisconsinites In Test Of Its New “Lovin’ Value Menu”
By 6.23.15
Groups Call On Subway’s Sandwich Artists To Use Antibiotic-Free Meat In Their Masterpieces
By 6.23.15
With major fast food chains like McDonald’s, Chick fil-A, Chipotle, and Panera all now sourcing at least some meat that wasn’t raised using medically important antibiotics, a coalition of some 50 consumer and health advocacy groups are asking Subway, the fast food chain with the most stores in the U.S., to give drug-free meat a try. [More]
Subway Celebrates 50th Anniversary By Changing HQ Street Name To ‘Sub Way’
By 6.22.15
Subway, the seemingly ubiquitous sandwichery, turns 50 this year. Happy birthday, Subway! The company has decided to celebrate by renaming the Milford, Connecticut street where its headquarters is located in its own honor, and local government has agreed to the change. The new name: Sub Way. Of course. [More]
Unhappy Subway Customer Hurls Sandwich, Soda, And Car At Employee
By 6.19.15
There are many ways to express your dissatisfaction when you aren’t happy with a product or service, but we do not recommend any of the methods that a woman in California used earlier this week when a sandwich displeased her. According to local police, first she hurled words at the employee, then her sandwich, then her beverage. After that, things got even worse. [More]
Burger King Introduces Top-Secret Sauce For Chicken Fries
By 6.18.15
You’ve surely heard the expression “secret sauce,” but Burger King is taking the idea a little further with their new dipping sauce for chicken fries. The sauce isn’t just secret: it’s so secret that it isn’t on the menu. Of course, it’s not so secret that the company isn’t promoting it on their Twitter and Facebook accounts, but some stores haven’t heard anything about it. [More]
It’s Finally Happening: Newest Unicode Update Includes Emojis For Tacos, Hot Dogs And Cheese (!)
By 6.18.15
Starbucks Closing All Standalone La Boulange Bakery Cafés By Fall
By 6.17.15
Back in 2012, Starbucks bought a San Francisco-based bakery chain, La Boulange, to help class up its offerings in the pastry case. While Starbucks will keep the brand for the pastries served in Starbucks cafés, the company has decided to close the 23 standalone La Boulange locactions that have stayed in business since the acquisition. [More]
Starbucks Expands Mobile Ordering To 3,400 More Stores In 21 States
By 6.16.15
Three months after Starbucks began allowing residents in the Pacific Northwest to order and pay for their java without any (or hardly any) human contact, the coffee chain plans to take its mobile ordering service across the country by expanding to 21 states. [More]
Burger King Celebrates Summer With Mass-Produced Pulled Pork Hoagies
By 6.16.15
I don’t know about you, but when I think “classic American barbecue dishes,” I think “Burger King.” Except…no, that isn’t really true of anyone, is it? Yet the company still thinks that the mass-production of their “extra long pork sandwich” is a good idea, and is inflicting it on the American public. [More]
FDA Says Artificial Trans-Fat No Longer Approved For Use In Food
By 6.16.15
Artificial trans fats are believed to promote coronary disease by increasing the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood while decreasing the levels of good cholesterol. While the use of partially hydrogenated oils — the largest dietary source of these trans fats — has dropped significantly in the last decade, there is still concern about their continued use and the impact it’s having on consumer health. Today, the FDA declared that these oils are no long “generally recognized as safe” [GRAS] for use in human food and is giving manufacturers three years to eliminate them from prepared food products. [More]
Chipotle Working On A New Tortilla That Cuts Ingredients From 11 To 4
By 6.15.15
While homemade tortillas don’t require a plethora of ingredients or a time-consuming process — throw together some water, flour, oil and salt and cook, basically — it’s not so easy when it comes to churning out millions of tortillas daily. That’s why Chipotle is working on a new formula that would cut the ingredients list down from 11 to just those four, but allows the company to mass-produce the tortillas at the same time. [More]
CVS Buying Target’s Pharmacy Business For $1.9 Billion
By 6.15.15
If you’re a Target shopper who picks up your prescription refills at the same time you get your groceries, towels, toilet paper, and whatever else you buy at the big-box retailer, your Target’s in-store pharmacy could soon be run by CVS. [More]
Deep-Fried Starbucks Coffee Joins List Of Ridiculous Food You Can Find At The Fair
By 6.12.15
If you thought the world couldn’t possibly cough up yet another deep-fried food oddity, you were wrong and you’ll probably be wrong again if you think people will ever stop chucking things into hot oil. The deep-fried trend is especially prevalent at fairs and festivals, with this year’s nominee for freakish fare showing up at the San Diego County Fair to much ado: Deep-fried Starbucks coffee. [More]
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams Shuts Down Again Over Listeria Contamination
By 6.12.15
That didn’t last long. About a month ago, Ohio-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams was reopening its scoop shops following an April recall of all of its products for listeria contamination. But this morning, the company’s CEO announced some bad news. [More]
Walgreens Wants To Lure Shoppers With A Makeover For The Makeup Aisle
By 6.11.15
For some, when it comes to buying makeup or beauty products the destination is always the department store, not the drug store. At department stores there are sales associates to help you find the right colors to complement your skin or offer high-end beauty brands. But Walgreens wants to change that, with a revamp of its beauty and cosmetics area. [More]
Feel Like The Trip Home Is Quicker Than The Trip There? Science Says You’re Not Alone
By 6.11.15 — Updated: 5.2.17
After reading the above headline, you’re probably already saying to yourself, “Yessss I know exactly what that feeling is!” The “return trip effect” is one we’ve all likely experienced — it seems to take a long time to get somewhere — whether it’s vacation, a visit to relatives or a business destination — and a much quicker time to arrive back home again, even though you traveled the same distance. Scientists are on the case to try and explain why we all feel this way. [More]
Pizza Hut Officially Announces Pizza Surrounded By Pigs In Blankets
By 6.10.15
Over the last eight years and in multiple countries, Pizza Hut has been carefully developing their “hot dog stuffed in a pizza crust” concept. An early version stuffed only the ends of a regular-length hot dog inside the crust, creating a pretty flower shape. Then the frankfurters lay horizontally along the crust, like the ropes of cheese. Now the crust has finally come to America, as the Hut hinted earlier this week. [More]
CDC Says Its Investigation Into Blue Bell Listeria Outbreak Is Over (But People Could Still Get Sick)
By 6.10.15
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued its final report on the recent outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes linked to contaminated Blue Bell Creameries ice cream products and deemed it over, we might not be out of the woods yet: Consumers could still get sick from eating contaminated ice cream that’s hanging out in their freezers, which is something some people are apparently doing. [More]
