Fast Food Customers Are Privy To This Menu Trick That's Been Trying To Fool Them For Years - Tasting Table

"If you are a fast food aficionado, there's a little feeling of excitement every time your favorite restaurant introduces a new menu item. Unfortunately, those new items don't always live up to expectations. Far too often, restaurants try to pull one over on customers by adding a single ingredient, like bacon, or a new sauce to an existing menu item, then presenting it as something new."

"In 2019, McDonald's rolled out the Bacon Big Mac, which was just a classic Big Mac with bacon added. The Quarter Pounder got the same bacon upgrade. In 2022, they introduced the Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder, which was, again, a Quarter Pounder with bacon added. Wendy's periodically adds the Big Bacon Classic to its menu, but as many have pointed out, this is just a Dave's Single with bacon added, which you could order any time."

"In addition to bacon, many restaurants will offer a barbecue or Western version of a classic as a new menu item. Burger King has done this a few times with things like the Rodeo Burger, which is basically just a Whopper with onion rings, bacon, and barbecue sauce. Carl's Jr. did very much the same with its Western Bacon Cheeseburger. So did A&W with its Ringer burger. The Western Whopper split the difference by adding bacon and barbecue sauce to a classic Burger King Whopper."

Fast-food restaurants often present minor ingredient changes as new menu items, commonly adding bacon or new sauces to existing items. Examples include McDonald's Bacon Big Mac and Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder, Wendy's Big Bacon Classic equating to a Dave's Single with bacon, and Taco Bell's bacon cheeseburger burrito and BLT taco from the 1990s. Chains also use Western or barbecue variants to refresh classics, such as Burger King's Rodeo Burger, Carl's Jr.'s Western Bacon Cheeseburger, A&W's Ringer, and the Western Whopper, which typically add onion rings, bacon, and barbecue sauce. These tweaks often recycle core sandwiches rather than creating genuinely distinct offerings.

Read at Tasting Table