Menu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, IHOP, and Del Taco
Menu Tracker
Plus innovation from Applebee’s, BJ's, Freddy's, Long John Silver's, Zaxbys, and more
June 26, 2026
A growing number of consumers, younger ones in particular, appear to be deciding where to eat based as much, or more, on what drinks are available as the food. So we’re seeing beverage innovation all over the place.
Applebee’s is bringing back its Dollarita program, Freddy’s has new teas, lemonades, and dirty soda, Long John Silver’s has dirty sodas, too, Hardee’s has tropical drinks, El Pollo Loco has new iced coffee options, and Noodles & Company has a new proprietary drink mixing soda and limeade that it developed in collaboration with Coca-Cola.
Chinese coffeehouse chain Chagee is now offering matcha made from tea grown in China.
The majority of matcha is now grown in China, in fact, but Chagee is taking the unusual move of highlighting that fact, even detailing which tea varieties it’s using.
Dubai chocolate — that combination of chocolate, pistachio, and shredded and toasted phyllo dough called kataifi — should probably have been the sort of flash-in-the-pan item that would have been hot for a couple of months, but it has proven to have staying power.
IHOP, which offered special Dubai chocolate pancakes at just three locations last year, saw such viral success with them that it’s now available systemwide and a milkshake to go with it.
Also, Ruby Tuesday, who we haven’t heard from in a while, has a Dubai Chocolate sundae along with a bunch of other new menu items for the summer.
Taco Bell is testing chili-cheese items in Louisville, Kentucky, and bringing back the Enchirito among other things nationwide, and Zaxbys is leaning in to the beloved combination of chicken, bacon, and ranch.
Del Taco is selling carnitas, Church’s Texas Chicken is bringing back its Smokehouse options, and Nick the Greek has halloumi fries.
Blaze Pizza has new salads.
BJ’s has new chicken sandwiches and is one of many chains celebrating the United States’ 250th anniversary with special items. So are Dairy Queen and Krispy Kreme, while Little Caesars has a pizza celebrating the latest Spiderman film.
Golden Chick has apple empanadas and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is made with spicy falafel.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on TikTok and Instagram: @foodwriterdiary
About the Author
Bret Thorn
Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News
Senior Food & Beverage Editor
Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.
Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications.
He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.
From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.
He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN.
A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.
He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.
Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.
He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.
A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends.
Bret Thorn’s Experience:
Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989
Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary
TikTok: @foodwriterdiary
Content Spotlight
The Technomic Top 500: Another tough year for chain restaurants
Top 500 chain restaurant sales slowed again in 2025 as consumers cut back on dining, but sectors like coffee, beverages and snacks and chicken thrived
Featured
Jun 25, 2026
Jun 17, 2026
Recent News
Content Spotlight
Get to know Rick Cardenas, the Darden CEO who started there as a busser
The executive shares his advice, along with his most-binged TV show, favorite sports team, and most-used app
Source: This story originated with Nation's Restaurant News.
View Original Article →