Taco Bell renewed PepsiCo through 2036 while KFC plans to switch to Coca-Cola. Two Café Refrescas are scheduled for national Taco Bell menus in December.
Dunkin's October 21 coffee-code offer is over, but certificates remain valid for five days after entry. Halloween collectibles and a Salem makeover precede a November 4 Marvel menu.
The Little Free Library collaboration connects Pizza Hut’s restaurant design and BOOK IT history with neighborhood book sharing.
The seasonal drinks build on earlier beverage launches, with an October afternoon bonus for Boosted members.
Rewards members can turn virtual paddles into entries for weekly prize drawings.
Six tracks, real musicians and a Frosty funeral.
Points connect restaurant purchases and digital orders.
The coffee gets dressed first.
Carl’s Jr. limited burger offers to the first 100 eligible entries.
Chicken-flavored cereal meets a gravy boat.
Cafe branding changes begin in coming weeks; a redesigned web and app experience follows over several months.
Applications require an invitation from the foundation.
An upcoming app points offer follows restaurant tennis collectibles, an announced HEAD collection and a public Grand Central pop-up.
A creator meal, capped espresso codes and a four-hour latte offer give customers three ways to participate in Dunkin’s fall campaign.
Boo! Books, scheduled Frosty Frights toys and a planned app-exclusive toy use different participation rules within Wendy’s seasonal program.
Dunkin’s Walmart-exclusive Febreze range follows earlier Native and Flipz launches, with scent-specific formats and separate retail channels.
The 2026 toy collection offers three donation levels and an online-only item, alongside a scheduled one-day Quincy dog drive-thru.
Wendy’s nugget promotion requires another purchase and a daily-refreshing app offer. Its earlier Frosty deal allowed several ordering channels.
Denny’s national catering rollout starts on ezCater with buffet bundles and individual boxes; ordering through its own website is still planned.
The summer campaign creates a window to measure customer trial, order contribution and repeat business. Its headline budget is not a merchant payout.
OpenTable's July launch rewards frequent diners with table access. Restaurants need to measure whether those bookings add business or reallocate existing demand.
The breakfast promotion takes entries June 18–July 2 and allows redemption through October 31, with account, photo and channel restrictions.
Freddy’s adds beef, chicken and veggie bowls to its permanent menu, building on earlier lettuce-wrap and customizable sandwich options.
One qualifying adult entrée earns one free kids meal. Sunday, dine-in and counter-order requirements define the family occasion and its economics.
The returning summer loyalty challenge adds a restaurant-level contest. Its economics depend on who changes their routine, including customers who never finish.
Panda schedules Cantonese BBQ Brisket for June 2 through August 10, while supplies last. Point and flat cuts and a char siu-style glaze define the summer dish.
A $12 box, a family bundle and a $259 catering package anchor Campero’s soccer promotion, with capped meal rewards for sweepstakes winners.
Crown Nuggets are scheduled for June 2, followed a week later by Crayola King Jr. Meals. The campaign combines a returning product, a stated meal price and coloring activities.
Farmer Boys said its $9.99 salad-and-drink deal was open to all guests. Removing the membership condition changes the offer’s role and what purchases can reveal.
Swipe Savvy says GiftAMeal will stay available independently as it plans integration. A restaurant fee funds donations triggered by guest photos.
April’s open houses extend Gregorys’ February franchise launch, bringing prospects into operating cafés backed by Craveworthy’s management and support organization.
A two-sandwich offer can drive app orders and account sign-ups. Its value depends on displaced purchases, order contribution and later visits.
McDonald's Shamrock Shake and Big Arch Burger generated short-lived, single-digit traffic bumps in early 2026. Placer.ai and AlixPartners data reveal a broader pattern: the industry's go-to traffic weapon is losing its edge as consumers grow more selective.
Little Caesars debuted $7.99 Four-N-One Stix nationwide, a 16-piece shareable breadstick product in four flavors. The launch signals a broader pizza QSR arms race for group snacking occasions against Domino's and Papa Johns.
Chipotle's one-hour tattoo BOGO on March 13 drove the highest single-day sales in the chain's history across 4,000+ locations. Here is the flash-window marketing formula that generated 12 million impressions.
Domino's and Pizza Hut are running nearly identical sub-$10 any-pizza deals at the same time. With Pizza Hut closing 250 locations and Papa John's shuttering 300, the pizza value war is no longer a marketing tactic. It is a restructuring event.
Starbucks cut earning rates for base-tier members by at least 25% on March 10, 2026, and the backlash was immediate. With 34 million U.S. members watching, every QSR chain running a loyalty program just got a live case study in what not to do.
Burger King's brand president gave out his personal work phone, fielded 30,000 customer messages, and aired a 90-second Oscars spot to nearly 20 million viewers. The result: restaurant visits up 7.4% year-over-year. Here's how the campaign worked and what other operators can learn from it.
For the first time in its history, Applebee's is spending more on digital and social marketing than television. TikTok reach is up 760%. The casual dining chain is rewriting the restaurant marketing playbook.
Yum Brands published its first Food Trends Report, pulling data from Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger Grill across 59,000 locations. The report spotlights craveable drinks and sauce customization as the next traffic drivers, offering operators a data-backed lens on where consumer demand is heading.
Chick-fil-A launched seven new menu items on March 9, 2026, capping a period in which the chain quietly rolled out six additional sandwiches earlier in the year. The headline move is a Jalapeño Ranch Club sandwich lineup that signals something more than a seasonal refresh.
McDonald's shuttered its CosMc's spinoff in May 2025 after 18 months, but the beverages that concept tested are now heading to 500-plus McDonald's locations and a planned national McCafe rollout. The story of how a failed brand became a beverage growth engine.
The 2026 FABI Award winners signal a decisive turn in foodservice product innovation: protein is king, global flavors are moving mainstream, and plant-based has lost its grip on the industry's attention.
Taco Bell unveiled more than 20 new menu items at its Live Más LIVE event in March 2026, a deliberate acceleration of its LTO engine. Behind the spectacle is a disciplined growth strategy targeting $3 million AUV per location and a $5 billion beverage business by 2030.
The first wave of plant-based QSR items over-promised and under-delivered. A quieter, more pragmatic second wave is emerging, built on hybrid proteins, vegetable-forward formats, and the economics operators actually need.
Gen Z now visits restaurants more often than any other generation, and their spending power is projected to reach $12 trillion by 2030. Here's what the data means for QSR operators.
Digital tipping prompts have become a flashpoint for consumer frustration, with 65% of customers reporting weariness from constant tip requests. Here's what QSR operators need to know about tipflation and what to do about it.
From Pizza Hut's Space Jam box to Shake Shack's free sandwich code, QSR brands deployed precision promotional campaigns during the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Here's what operators can learn from the most competitive marketing window of the year.
Taco Bell launched Dirty Sips as a permanent customizable beverage platform in March 2026, targeting $5 billion in drink sales by 2030. For operators and investors, the math behind the move is more compelling than the menu.
With traffic flat to negative across most QSR segments, major chains have pivoted to premium limited-time offerings to drive average check and generate headlines. McDonald's Big Arch, Burger King's Steakhouse Whopper, and a string of elevated seasonal items signal a new strategic playbook for a consumer base that won't give up restaurant visits but increasingly expects more.