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Summer additions center around new sandwiches and beverages.
Dunkin’ is debuting a new series of spicy menu items and summer-inspired products. The Hot Honey Bacon Sandwich, Hot Honey Bacon Wake-up Wraps and Hot Honey Snackin’ Bacon were developed in collaboration with Mike’s Hot Honey to bring consumers a blend of sweet and savory flavors.
Additionally, the company is adding Bonfire S’mores Frozen Coffee, S’mores Cold Brew, a S’mores Donut and Tornado Twist SPARKD’ Energy, an iced energy beverage.
Subway has unveiled Footlong Dippers, a new snack offering that joins the company’s Sidekicks menu. The product features melted cheese and meat rolled in flatbread, with flavors like pepperoni and cheese, chicken and cheese, and double cheese. Priced at $3 per Footlong Dipper, each item is served with one of the brand’s 11 signature sauces.
“Subway’s all-new Dippers embody the changes Subway has made over the past few years by elevating our food and guest experience to better meet the needs of today’s diner,” said Doug Fry, president of Subway North America. “Our guests devoured nearly 30 million Sidekicks since their debut in January and they will find all 33 flavor combinations of Dippers for $3 to be equally irresistible.”
Panera is launching a new line of cinnamon roll-based items, CinnaScrambles, along with three new sandwiches: the Bacon Double Take, the Ham, Egg & Cheese and the Steak & Wake.
Additionally, the company is continuing its cinnamon roll innovations with CinnaTops. The new line of products feature cinnamon rolls topped with icing and a Panera bakery item, with varieties such as Candy Cookie, Choco Chipper Cookie and Fudgy Brownie.
Yum! Brands subsidiary Pizza Hut has unveiled its latest menu innovation, Chicago tavern-style pizza. The square-cut, thin-crust style pizza is aimed at consumers seeking more shareable and snackable pizza formats. Pizza Hut’s tavern-style slices are available in four varieties: pesto margherita, double pepperoni, spicy chicken sausage and ultimate tavern pizza.
“These menu additions represent a bold step forward as part of our culinary mission to bring our guests modern innovation that embraces what we know our customers are loving and looking for in a pizza,” said Rachel Antalek, chief food innovation officer at Pizza Hut.
Along with the new pizza style, the company is expanding its menu with several toppings and sauce additions. Spicy marinara sauce, pesto sauce swirls, diced garlic, grape tomatoes, caramelized onions, fire-roasted peppers, cupped pepperonis and chicken sausage are now permanently available at stores nationwide.
Krispy Kreme has released a limited-time donut collection in celebration of the Fourth of July. The Star Spangled Sweetness Collection contains Firework Cookies & Kreme Filled Doughnuts, unglazed donuts with a cookies and creme filling topped with decorative red and blue icing and a candy piece; Cotton Candy Sparkler Doughnuts, glazed donuts dipped in icing and cotton candy sugar with buttercream dollops; and Freedom Flag Doughnuts, glazed donuts decorated with icing representing the US flag.
“From backyard barbecues with family, friends and neighbors to lined sidewalks at neighborhood parades, our Star Spangled Sweetness doughnuts make celebrating our Independence Day sweeter than ever,” said Dave Skena, global chief brand officer for Krispy Kreme.
The donuts are now available in dozen-count boxes at participating Krispy Kreme locations and in six-count boxes at select retailers.
Panera is launching four new cold beverages for the summer season. With flavors like pomegranate hibiscus tea, citrus punch, blueberry lavender lemonade and tropical green smoothie, the drinks were inspired by consumer interest in “exciting, on-trend flavors,” according to the company.
The fruit-forward beverages are now available at Panera locations nationwide.
Restaurant Brands International brand Popeyes is permanently adding boneless chicken wings to its nationwide menu. Made from all-white chicken meat, the battered and fried wings are available in Classic, honey lemon pepper, Signature Hot, honey BBQ, sweet ‘n spicy and roasted garlic Parmesan flavors.
“Our culinary team brought the best flavors from our existing Wing platform to this new boneless offering to give our guests the best of both worlds,” said Jeff Klein, president of Popeyes North America.
Sonic Drive-In has unveiled a new line of customized beverages with Flavorista Favorites. The products incorporate a variety of soft drinks, slushes, lemonades and more. Flavors include Classic Cruiser, Twisted Flamingo, Lemonade Cream Cooler, Paradise Sunset, Rainbow Slush and Grape Escape. The beverages are available exclusively through the Sonic app beginning July 1.
More than 400 products were introduced at the annual event.
Launches over the last year include white chocolate cookies, Pop’ums pretzel snacks and more.