If you love infusing your drinks with raspberries or prefer your mac and cheese in sandwich
form, get ready to be disappointed.
These are the beloved fast food items that have already disappeared from menus this year.
One particularly surprising discontinued item is the Dunkin' Dunkaccino, which the donut
shop decided to dump in mid-March of 2023.
The hot version of this mocha-like drink first appeared in 2000, while a frozen version arrived
in 2015.
But now, both are gone from the menu forever.
A Dunkin' spokesperson issued a statement to Today.com that read,
"As we focus on innovation and finding new ways to delight guests, we continually evolve
our menu in an effort to deliver a fast, frictionless experience.
The Dunkaccino is retired for now, but there’s always the chance for its return in the future."
Since a machine rather than a barista made the drink, you could always rely on it having
a consistent flavor, which surely contributed to its popularity.
Luckily, there's a hack to still get it as a secret menu item: all you have to do is
order a hot chocolate with a turbo shot.
"Dunkaccino?"
"Don't mind if I do!"
There may be entire restaurants dedicated to chicken wings, but it wasn't working out
for KFC.
And so, their Kentucky Fried Chicken Wings flew the coop.
It's all part of the chain's decision to simplify its menu with only their most popular items,
as four other items also disappeared at the same time.
As Brittany Wilson, director of KFC U.S., told Food & Wine in February 2023,
"Though we are removing a few items, it will allow us to make room for some new, exciting
additions to the menu in 2023."
By simplifying its menu, the chain hopes that it can improve its drive-through times.
And based on social media, this may have been a smart decision.
One recent Reddit thread on the "Saved You a Click" subreddit didn't seem to particularly
care that the Kentucky Fried Chicken Wings were on the chopping block.
So ultimately this isn't the biggest loss.
There are certainly plenty of other restaurants out there that are making decent wings, after all.
Another item leaving the KFC menu is the Popcorn Chicken Combo.
If you're a fan of the chain's tenders, you don't have to worry because they're staying
on the menu.
But in the course of simplifying menu boards, the less-popular popcorn poultry option was
taking up too much valuable real estate.
The popcorn chicken isn't completely gone, though, as bite-sized pieces of fried chicken
still show up in the chain's Famous Bowl.
Several customers posted on the "Saved You a Click" subreddit about how the Popcorn Chicken
was the only reason they ever went to KFC, although several rarely visit anymore.
With popcorn chicken fans rarely visiting and the menu items suffering from quality
decline, perhaps it was just time for this item to depart.
"Buh-bye.
Buh-bye.
Thanks now.
Buh-bye."
Nashville hot chicken has been all the rage lately.
It originated in the 1930s, but the spread out of Tennessee has only happened much more recently.
KFC jumped on the trend in 2016, and while the overall Nashville hot craze is still going
strong, it apparently wasn't working out that well for KFC.
So to make room for its better-selling items, the chain removed anything with Nashville
hot sauce from its menus.
However, there were plenty of people who loved this line of items.
As one lamented on Reddit,
"They've basically been begging me to stop visiting for the past few years but this would
be the final nail in the coffin."
Some like it hot, but sometimes they're left out in the cold.
Strawberry Lemonade is another casualty of the great KFC menu cull of 2023.
It used to be a reliable non-caffeinated beverage option, but now it's no more.
The chain used Dole Classic Lemonade for this sweet drink, so it wasn't just some home-grown
beverage.
At one point, you could even order it in a giant-sized sharable plastic packet.
The new simplified menu at KFC still has lemonade, just not of the strawberry variety.
Perhaps the problem was that there simply weren't enough people aware of it.
As one fan bemoaned on Twitter in July 2020,
"Why don't more people talk about how good KFC's strawberry lemonade is?
I just had it and I'm in love."
Alas, cult classics can't always survive forever at major chains.
If you want some dessert at KFC, you have options, but you won't be able to feast on
chocolate chip cookies anymore.
Once upon a time, the chicken chain baked its cookies on site, and they were pretty good.
But since they started to serve packaged cookies in 2019, they haven't gone over very well.
Any cost and time savings that KFC achieved by no longer baking its cookies fresh seems
to have been lost in quality.
We don't see anyone begging the chain to keep these treats around, so perhaps it was wise
to let them go in favor of something else.
Hopefully, whatever that something else is, it won't be pre-packaged.
"What, you want a cookie?
Get the hell out of my face!"
Panera used to have a gooey corner of the culinary market absolutely covered.
Not only did their grilled mac and cheese sandwich contain mac and cheese, naturally
enough, it also featured Parmesan Cheese Crisps.
Simply put, it maximized your ability to enjoy bready pasta goodness with lots of creamy
cheese sauce.
Plus, you could get it as a part of the chain's choose-two deals with either soup or salad.
Unfortunately, it wasn't everyone's idea of a great sandwich, and so, it's now been fully
erased from Panera menu boards.
As you might imagine, this sandwich was especially popular with kids.
But it wasn't exactly as popular with employees.
As one Panera worker revealed on Reddit,
"[I'm] so glad to hear that thing was discontinued [...] No one ever ordered it until it was
10 minutes to close and we were somehow out of the mac blend and there were no prepped
macs left."
While Panera probably could still make this sandwich, as they always have bread and mac
and cheese remains on the menu, we can't imagine they'd appreciate anyone asking for it.
For as long as we can remember, we've been able to order anything at Starbucks with raspberry flavoring.
Whether you wanted it in your mocha, your steamer, or your lemonade, the raspberry syrup
was right there just waiting for you to ask for it.
Throughout the years, it's been a key component in both regular menu items and secret menu hacks.
But in March, a Starbucks spokesperson revealed to Parade Magazine,
"As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate the ingredients in our stores, and
have decided to discontinue raspberry syrup.
Customers can expect limited inventory at stores throughout March as we remove it from
our menu."
So if you need your raspberry Starbucks fix, you might still be able to quench it if you
act fast.
But once it's gone, it's gone.
Some customers are hoping that the chain is replacing it with another syrup flavor like
lavender, strawberry, or even orange for creamsicle-flavored drinks.
And of course, we can always hope that the raspberry resurfaces sometime in the future.
"Raspberry."
If you've tried to order a salad from Wendy's lately, you've probably noticed that this
section of the menu has shrunk down to just three options.
Sadly, the Southwest Avocado Chicken Salad is the latest casualty.
One person leaked an internal Wendy's memo on Reddit that revealed that it was scheduled
to be replaced by a new Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad on March 28.
Customers were excited when the chain first offered the Southwest Avocado Chicken Salad
back in 2018, particularly anyone following a keto diet.
Fortunately, the Cobb salad will still come in handy in that regard, with its chicken,
eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and crispy fried onions, though sadly no avocados.
Interestingly enough, the newest veggie lineup is looking strangely like the "New Garden
Sensation Salads" that Wendy's introduced back in 2010.
In the spring of 2023, the chain will offer a Parmesan Caesar Salad, a Taco Salad, and
an Apple Pecan Salad, in addition to the Grilled Chicken Cobb.
Anyone who has ever worked in fast food knows that grilled chicken sandwiches rarely sell
as well as their fried counterparts.
Customers generally liked Wendy's grilled chicken offerings when they ordered them,
but too many other people tend to give into their fried chicken cravings far too easily.
With spicy chicken sandwiches appearing on so many fast food menus now, it's no wonder
that grilled chicken selections are being neglected.
And so, all of Wendy's grilled chicken sandwiches are being discontinued.
According to an internal Wendy's memo leaked on Reddit, the chain is replacing all of its
large pieces of grilled chicken with diced chicken.
The memo also revealed that switching to diced chicken for its salads and wraps will allow
for yearly savings of $20 to $30 million.
If you're not in the mood for salads or burgers, there are still plenty of different chicken
sandwiches on the menu at Wendy's.
They'll just now all be fried instead of grilled.
As of March 2023, Wendy's sunburst melon lemonade has completely disappeared from the menu.
The chain will at least continue to offer their all-natural lemonade, strawberry lemonade,
and pineapple mango lemonade.
And the sunburst melon has now been replaced by a blueberry pomegranate variety.
Based on social media chatter, it seems like hardly anybody had anything good to say about
the sunburst melon, so Wendy's probably made the right decision here.
Plus, with over 100 grams of sugar for a large, this drink was simply way too sweet.
Critics posting online declared that it tasted like a mix of watermelon, spoiled cantaloupe,
and maybe even cucumber.
While strawberry was also detected as a flavor note, nobody suggested that it tasted anything
like lemons.
That doesn't exactly sound like the sort of lemonade that you ought to be keeping around.
Starting in 2020, you could order a Beyond Burger from Denny's if you wanted a plant-based
patty instead of a ground beef one.
But as of March 2023, that's no longer the case.
However, you can still ask for those Beyond Burgers for a little while in the hopes that
your local Denny's has a lingering supply available.
However, once they run out, you'll most likely be out of luck.
Fortunately for those who don't want a meat-based burger, the chain will be switching to a new
variety of veggie patties.
This is good news for diners who prefer the taste of a veggie burger to that of plant-based
patties that try to mimic meat-based burgers.
The brand supplying the new patties will be Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger.
And if it's the same as what's available for the public to purchase via retail, then it's
a vegan burger.
However, it does contain soy, which can be off-putting to some veggie burger aficionados.
If you've ever had a veggie burger at White Castle and liked it, you'll probably also
be satisfied with Denny's new offering, as it will be using the same patty.
The California variety is among the most well-liked of Dr. Praeger's different veggie burgers,
so we're optimistic that customers will be happy with this change.