This June, fast food chain Sonic Drive-In will rollout a pickle juice snow cone slush, according to Food & Wine (who's already taste-tested the new beverage):

We tasted the drink at Sonic’s headquarters in Oklahoma City, and it’s surprisingly delicious... Sweet and tangy, the bright brine compensates for the over-savoriness you might have been worried about. You won’t understand why, but you’ll keep going back for more sips, likely until it’s all gone. Our only gripe is that the slush is a bit too sweet, as if overcorrecting for the acidity, but maybe this is what has to happen for America to acclimate to—and embrace—pickle-flavored soft drink.

...No one can stop you for asking for a squirt of pickle juice in your shake, or on your burger, or on whatever your sick heart desires.

There are 3584 Sonic locations in the United States, should you wish to try it.

Sonic Will Roll Out Pickle Juice Slushes This Summer

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DHL has been shipping and losing packages for close to 50 years. Read the rest

I could be wrong, but I believe Jack in the Box's "Munchie Meals" have always been geared to the late-night cravings of cannabis users. It sounds like this new "Merry Munchie Meal" is being launched to unequivocally tie the soon-to-be legalization of recreational pot in California to the brand.

SFGate reports:

As California prepares for legal recreational pot on Jan. 1, the fast-food chain is partnering with a digital media company backed by rapper Snoop Dogg on a new "munchie" meal aimed at cannabis enthusiasts. While marijuana's connection to fast food is well-established, Jack in the Box will become the first national chain to explicitly embrace the drug.

The "Merry Munchie Meal," which will be available at three California locations for a week in January for $4.20, features two tacos, french fries, onion rings, five mini churros, three chicken strips and a small drink. The price isn't random: The number 420 is used as a code by potheads.

image via Merry Jane

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For the price of a few trays of Taco Bell, these Taco Bell Forever 21 clothes can make you look like a character from Idiocracy: Read the rest

Burger King Russia has filed a complaint with the country's anti-monopoly agency to have the film It banned because, they say, Pennywise the killer clown is free marketing for McDonald's. From Newsweek:

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In 2009, Arby's commissioned Phil Hansen to paint the Mona Lisa using grease from its fast food competitors. The piece is called "Mona Greasa."

(via Weird Universe)

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Burger King launched its own cryptocurrency, WhopperCoin, in Russian markets. Managed by blockchain startup Waves, WhopperCoin is essentially a blockchain-based loyalty rewards program. A customer receives one WhopperCoin for each ruble they spend on whoppers. A free Whopper can be had for 1,700 WhopperCoins. From the BBC News:

Ivan Shestov, head of external communications at Burger King Russia, said the scheme turned the Whopper into an "investment vehicle"...

"I don't imagine McDonald's will be quick to allow someone to pay for a Big Mac with their whoppercoins," (said Dr Garrick Hileman, research fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance). "Burger King's competitors are more likely to accept an independent crypto-currency like bitcoin."

Italian design firm Seletti and Amsterdam’s Studio Job created this cartoony fast food furniture line for the 2017 Maison & Objet tradeshow in Paris next month. They should have designed a chez lounge in the shape of a french fry and called it "the couch potato." (via Laughing Squid)

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Here are two great tastes that taste great together: Fast food and furniture.

European design firm Studio Job teamed up with Italian home goods and furniture house Seletti to create furniture fashioned after fast food.

Designboom writes:

at maison et objet 2017 in paris, seletti and studio job are bringing fast food to the fair. a hot dog and hamburger — archetypal images of american pop-culture — are transformed into actual furnishings, giving rise to the ‘UN_LIMITED EDITIONS’ collection. the debut of the series marks the italian brand’s introduction to the world of upholstered furniture, amalgamating studio job’s irreverent attitude and penchant for playfulness, with seletti’s accessible affordability.

Yes, I would like fries (lamp? pillow? rug?) with that.

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Mind Over Munch’s Alyssia offers a guide to some not-completely-terrible-for-you food choices at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts. She also has a guide to vegan fast food options that aren’t just salads:

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A McDonald's franchisee in Washington DC is celebrating Pride Month with fry boxes festooned with rainbows. That didn't sit well with televangelist Joshua Feuerstein: Read the rest

Miso Robotics' Flippy is a "kitchen assistant" robot that can grill, flip, prep, fry, and plate food.

“We focus on using AI and automation to solve the high pain points in restaurants and food prep," says Flippy CEO David Zito. "That’s the dull, dirty and dangerous work around the grill, the fryer, and other prep work like chopping onions. The idea is to help restaurants improve food quality and safety without requiring a major kitchen redesign.”

And what of those millions of people who flip burgers to make ends meet?

“Tasting food and creating recipes will always be the purview of a chef," says Flippy CEO David Zito. "And restaurants are gathering places where we go to interact with each other. Humans will always play a very critical role in the hospitality side of the business given the social aspects of food. We just don’t know what the new roles will be yet in the industry.”

(TechCrunch via Laughing Squid)

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Taco Bell will soon offer fully-catered weddings at its Las Vegas flagship restaurant. Key selling points of this elegant offering are that this Taco Bell Cantina location has a DJ booth, pours booze, and has big digital displays. The $600 wedding package includes:

• A ceremony in the chapel inside the restaurant with an ordained officiant within as little as four hours

• Private area for a reception inside the restaurant with up to 15 of your closest family and friends

• Custom merchandise, including a sauce packet garter and bow tie, “Just Married” t-shirts for the bride and groom, Taco Bell branded champagne flutes and, of course, a Taco 12 Pack filled with tacos and a Cinnabon Delights cake for dessert

• A Sauce Packet bouquet is also available for the bride to use during the ceremony

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Around Christmas, many KFC restaurants in Japan see 10 times their average daily sales. Customers order their KFC special Christmas dinner weeks in advance or wait in line for hours to score a Kentucky Christmas dinner package including chicken, side dishes, cake, and even wine. WTF??! Marketing, that's what. From the BBC:

According to KFC Japan spokeswoman Motoichi Nakatani, it started thanks to Takeshi Okawara, the manager of the first KFC in the country. Shortly after it opened in 1970, Okawara woke up at midnight and jotted down an idea that came to him in a dream: a “party barrel” to be sold on Christmas.

Okawara dreamed up the idea after overhearing a couple of foreigners in his store talk about how they missed having turkey for Christmas, according to Nakatani. Okawara hoped a Christmas dinner of fried chicken could be a fine substitute, and so he began marketing his Party Barrel as a way to celebrate the holiday.

In 1974, KFC took the marketing plan national, calling it Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, or Kentucky for Christmas. It took off quickly, and so did the Harvard-educated Okawara, who climbed through the company ranks and served as president and CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984 to 2002.

The Party Barrel for Christmas became almost immediately a national phenomenon, says Joonas Rokka, associate professor of marketing at Emlyon Business School in France. He has studied the KFC Christmas in Japan as a model promotions campaign.

“It filled a void,” Rokka says.

Andy Warhol eats a Whopper, from Jørgen Leth's 1982 documentary/art film "66 Scenes from America," a collection of moving "postcards" from the United States.

According to YouTube user Hidden Below, who posted this clip, Warhol eating the burger is "a classic ASMR trigger scene, so if you got ASMR you might wanna bookmark this video for a good time."

Noted.

(via Weird Universe)

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Chili's advertised free Veterans Day meals for service members. But not for black U.S. Army veteran Ernest Walker, who shot video of a confrontation with a manager who refused to honor the deal. The man came up to his table and took his food from him.

I ordered the waitress was wonderful. It took about 35 mins for meal to come. So when it attived I gave her a Tip as asjed for a take out.

She said sure, at that point a old white guy wearing a Trump flag shirt walked buy me on hi way to the bath room. He came back and aked me what unit did i serve in the 24th. I said no the 25th.

He said he was in world war 2 in Germany and we did not see people like you over there. They would no allow blacks.

I just listened he left then came back to bathroom again and pet my dog. So waitress put foid in container.

Then the managers comes and says a somes guest at the restaurant say that your not a real Soldier. I reply what are you serious what guest.

The manager Wesly Patrick said can I see military ID. I felt that was reasonable I most people ask for that so I shoed him my ID it checked out.

At that point all he should have said was 'Sir I am sorry Thank you for your service and I would have left.

But instead ge says ' tbe guest also says that your service dog is not a service dog.

I'm loving it. McDonald's New Zealand created a site for people to "build your own unique burger" and name their creations. Problem is, the submissions appeared on the site without moderation. Read the rest