rolling new food laboratory inventions for american chain restaurants thread

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081221002418/tacobell/images/d/da/Final1_copy.jpg

Foreign releases
In some markets outside of the United States, all references to Taco Bell in Demolition Man were changed to Pizza Hut, and therefore, Pizza Hut is said to have won the Franchise Wars.

wow, they have no idea about the truth

http://i.imgur.com/WTnpA2X.jpg

With condiment USB stick and wireless dessert.

omg I wish I'd known about that gross-ass chinese mcDonalds, I should have told my friend who's in Xi'an for 2 weeks to find a McDs and try it. Though on second thoughts, I *would* like to have another date with this person so maybe that would be cruel.

the kfc north america menu has remained stable for decades. i remember the introduction of the big crunch and the zinger and wraps and they seem dated now in a landscape of new food laboratory inventions for american chain restaurants. the only innovations over the last five years have been: no bun chicken, frozen corn mashed potatoes chicken in a bowl. kfc china decided to throw out the menu and start over again. i think the old beijing wrap was the first serious attempt at localization and it was a mild innovation and i never had much faith that hardcore localization would work, rice porridge for breakfast, black pepper beef on rice.... in their advertising, they started going with distinctly chinese themes (i always see the ad for the girl yearning for a taste of her sichuan home and finding it in a kfc wrap). the kfc model now is, like, all the benefits of the american fastfood experience (courteous chirpy girls at the till, open all the time, bright lights, delivery, one of the few places to hang around in a modern city, relatively inexpensive, omnipresent, 24 hour a day delivery) with the dullness of american fastfood replaced with a version of chinese food culture that is recognizable by locals.

mcdonalds china is, i think, still mostly about selling the experience of mcdonalds: mass american culture modernity and drivethrus and something distinct from chinese restaurant culture and a certain sophistication that's necessary in chinese urban life. maybe the localization is an attempt to push expansion in third tier cities, unexploited markets that kfc has managed to roll into and make a lot of money in. i dunno, rice in a bready wrapper is fucked up on the same level as quebecois combining spaghetti and pizza.

i'd like to try a p'zolo but i'm put off by the setup of most pizza hut restaurants, which is still dim lights and pleather banquettes and waitresses. if i'm ordering from pizza hut, i'm usually ordering a pizza to be shared in a communal setting and it doesn't seem right to order a round of p'zolos on top of that.

the only innovations over the last five years have been: no bun chicken, frozen corn mashed potatoes chicken in a bowl.

you appear to have forgotten...

http://www.randyclemens.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/doubledown.jpg

I remember reading that the double down was actually somehow less unhealthy than a lot of their other options.

So much american fast food and even "fast casual" food seems like diminishing returns vs. calories added to me. Like after a while there's only so much cheese AND mayonaise AND fried breadcrumbs AND bacony flavor you can cram into a thing.

no bun chicken = double down in that post

still can't believe i drove across an international border to eat a fastfood chicken sandwich with no bun.

xp to Hurting OTM

I'm decidedly not a food snob and firmly believe that if you want to eat something, even if it's "bad," you should go ahead and eat it and fuck the haters, but for me I can't imagine that the gross feeling after eating a Doubledown would be worth what it actually tastes like. Just the thought of how greasy my mouth would feel is dreadful.

and fyi I will gladly take a bus and then walk a half mile to go to Taco Bell when the mood strikes, so it's really just about personal preference and, yes, diminishing returns on the particular type of food.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/the-year-in-hot-dog-innovation/277507/

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/dogecosystem.jpg

http://sportsrapport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/white-castle-chicken-rings.jpg

Have we discussed the rise of the chicken ring yet?

I have not yet seen chicken rings for sale. But it's all just reclaimed, bleached chicken corpse meat pressed into shapes, right? Strip, ring, dinosaur, star, etc.

1) not american 2) i see this as something that has filtered upward from non-chain restaurants, not really a food laboratory invention. the lebanese donair and pizza place on my block in edmonton had a donair poutine, a donair pizza, a poutine pizza and a donair poutine pizza. this is in the same territory: pizza + poutine + shaved beef. most indie pizza places that do poutine pizza retain the tomato sauce, which recalls poutine italienne, but pizza hut takes the concept further by replacing tomato sauce with starch gelatinized beef gravy.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/images/2013/06/20130626-poutine-pizza2.jpg

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2013/06/reality-check-pizza-hut-cheesy-beef-poutine-pie.html

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/hotdogpic.jpg
hot dog seems excited to be with two ladies

Faster Faster KILL KILL KILL

http://c767204.r4.cf2.rackcdn.com/3016377b-e8ee-4b21-b2bd-17f8ba8dcffc.jpg

39 megapixel burger

the kfc north america menu has remained stable for decades. i remember the introduction of the big crunch and the zinger and wraps and they seem dated now in a landscape of new food laboratory inventions for american chain restaurants. the only innovations over the last five years have been: no bun chicken, frozen corn mashed potatoes chicken in a bowl.

uhhhh i ate the bones

http://taiwanonymous.blogspot.ca/2008/07/cartilage-kebab-at-kfc.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-22/product-test-taking-the-pizza-plunge-with-neverwet#r=hpt-ls

http://25.media.tumblr.com/c164d8bea1581cf4f4d399826d6d4f22/tumblr_mqcplhUt821qzoj6fo1_250.gif

Once the novelty wears off, it becomes hard to imagine coating your clothes or shoes with the stuff.

Are you joking? I would coat all of my shoes in NeverWet. This guy must not walk in the rain very much.

http://www.burgerbusiness.com/

this is my favorite blog

― i wanna be a gabbneb baby (Hungry4Ass),

thanking u h4a, every new post is a revelation

haha i love that LTO in a burger context can stand for something besides lettuce-tomato-onion

also the endless pre-coverage anticipating the Wendy's pretzel burger

it's like the royal baby of burgers

the fancy lettuce on it made me feel guiltier about taking the lettuce and tomato off and throwing it back in the bag.

dude!

whats up?

the price of vegetables

i don't care if it's mesclun. years of picking off iceberg stumps and peruvian midwinter tomatoes have trained me: pop the top and discard all excess vegetables.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/28/article-2380308-1B080039000005DC-23_634x683.jpg

Somehow that makes me want to be a vegetarian even harder.

if i was just veggie for ethical reasons i would totally eat in vitro meat

B-b-but the cow didn't consent to having her stem cells harvested!

But a good hamburger is not 100% lean. Do they have a plan to grow in-vitro fat to get that good 80/20 mix?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XskwWPbXC5A/UEKM-VS2AKI/AAAAAAAABHs/C_aJ63HTroM/s200/Toffiffee1.jpg

delicious stem cells

that's new?

http://www.burgerbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/BK_GarlicMeatBest.png

so far, american fast food restaurants seem resistant to the idea of multiple animals represented on a hamburger. i think. right? at least a chicken burger slammed onto the top of a hamburger would seem bizarre.

i've heard there are mcdonalds where you can straight up order a mcgangbang and they'll make it for you

but the making of it seems like a pleasure which you wouldn't want to deprive yourself of

pork accents, ok; full pork representation alongside beef or chicken, no go

Look at the garlic slices on that thing. Jesus.

http://i.imgur.com/5K9PHap.jpg

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/08/06/taco-bell-expanding-test-waffle-taco-breakfast/VawV1fjUCPzxmYOuPFBklK/story.html

staring slackly at this like it's an indecent gif in the nsfw thread

one of my fave tortas is one with ham, chicken and beef on it. mmmm.

i hate that this is generating discussion of whether or not a waffle taco is a good idea in general. waffle sandwiches of any kind are undeniable, like at lucky j's in austin or at my house, but of course taco bell are going to make a terrible version of it.