Bites & Sips: The Great Chickening, Merch Madness and Cultural Zeitgeists

When the going gets tough, foodservice operators get going by ramping up innovation. So, while the past year was challenging, it also produced an embarrassment of menu and promotional riches—a trend that’s already carrying into the new year.

Chicken Out

The USDA reports that chicken consumption has doubled since 1980, and the food-away-from-home industry has been both a major driver and beneficiary of the trend. Various media outlets have touted the “Age of Experiential Chicken” and coined the term “The Great Chickening” to describe its ubiquity on menus. Restaurants have lived up to that billing: McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wingstop and Popeyes launched chicken wraps, Wendy’s introduced Chicken Tenders dubbed Tendys, and White Castle introduced a new Crispy Chicken Slider. In a savvy move, seafood stalwart Long John Silver’s made waves with Chicken Planks, the basis for a new menu platform. Meanwhile, fried-chicken OG KFC didn’t rest on its feathers, but created a whole new concept, Saucy by KFC, built around a tenders-and-sauces combo that targets Gen Z diners.

Looking ahead, expect continued use of chicken as a familiar point of entry for unfamiliar global dishes, like Lazy Dog’s Tikka Masala Meatballs made with chicken. And watch for the possible arrival of Chinese Spice Bags, an unlikely Irish-Chinese mash-up that consists of a paper bag filled with Chinese spices and Irish takeaway staples like chicken and fries. It’s customizable, convenient and gives the buyer instant street cred.

Merch Madness

Credit: Chipotle

Chipotle teamed up with trendy luggage and travel gear brand BÉIS to create a special collection inspired by the fast casual’s packaging.

Chains typically unleash an onslaught of branded merchandise at year’s end, and this holiday season, special props go to Denny’s for Sticky Kicks. Described as “impractical, unnecessary and completely over the top,” the limited-edition footwear features clear, sealed side panels filled with Denny’s syrup.

Bakery specialists are exploiting aroma to maintain customer connection, as with personal-care brand Native’s doughnut-scented collab with Dunkin’ in early 2025; it included deodorants, lotions and body washes in scents like Vanilla Sprinkle, Strawberry Frosted and Boston Kreme. Unilever’s Dove x Crumbl cookie-inspired body-care products sold out at Walmart, which extended the promotion with the recent addition of the Nilla Bean Cupcake scent with notes of buttercream frosting.

Looking ahead, expect social-media-baiting, lifestyle partnerships to proliferate, as with Chipotle’s current promotion with BÉIS Travel for the To Go Collection. It includes 20 pieces of luggage and travel accoutrements inspired by the chain’s packaging and may serve to prevent travelers’ burrito-separation anxiety.

Jolting Joe

The coffee juggernaut continues at full speed, with new chain entries of foreign powerhouse brands, like Luckin Coffee from China and The Coffee from Brazil, entering a very crowded coffee market.

Dedicated coffee-holics can also multitask as they sip their preferred brew, while listening to coffee-centric podcasts like Filter Stories or attending coffee raves, nighttime coffee-clubbing events that have been growing in triple digits according to ticketing platform Eventbrite.

Looking ahead, watch for more coffee-adjacent innovation, like Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii’s nifty Rescubes—coffee-flavored ice cubes that don’t dilute cold coffee beverages—and expect cold foams to get even hotter. Prognosticators at Tastewise predict the appearance of functional cold foams formulated with specific health benefits that support hormone balance, relieve stress and more.

Zeitgeist Reflections

Last year, Chicago icon Portillo’s deftly leveraged the new pope’s appointment with the Leo, a limited-time sandwich described as “divinely seasoned Italian beef, baptized in gravy.”

Competing in what analysts have dubbed the experience economy, restaurants have taken some noteworthy initiatives to respond to consumer expectations. In 2025, McDonald’s introduced a Restaurant Experience Team, while Starbucks hired a manager of fashion and beauty, a former cosmetics exec challenged with creating buzzworthy, experiential brand moments.

Other chains sought to trap lightning in a bottle with of-the-moment promotions. TGI Fridays limited-time 6-7 Kids Club tapped into the nonsensical but inescapable 6-7 meme, and Chicago-based Portillo’s paid tribute to newly elected, native Chicagoan Pope Leo IX. The Leo Sandwich was made with “divinely seasoned Italian beef” and served with a “holy trinity of peppers.”

The 1980s called and want their apps back—appetizers, that is. Buyers Edge Platform reported that appetizer orders rose 20 percent last year, while entrées and desserts were flat-to-declining. Straight from the old-school fern bar playbook, the five top items, all of which saw double-digit growth, were mozzarella sticks, pickle chips, cheese curds, jalapeño poppers and cheese bites.

Speaking of the ’80s, fashionistas embraced the “cowboy core” clothing trend, and Chili’s, which has been consistently two-stepping ahead of the competition, teamed up with Western-wear label Tecovas to create limited-edition cowboy boots made from the same burgundy vinyl as the restaurants’ booths. No word yet on whether the chain will go full urban cowboy and install mechanical bulls.

Affordable Indulgences Persevere

Looking ahead, economic uncertainty won’t dull consumer demand for affordable indulgences. Beverages are an obvious play here, but so is ice cream, which has turned into a real viral buzz builder. The menu at trendy Bad Idea in Nashville, Tenn., for example, reflects the chef’s Laotian heritage and includes Velveeta Ice Cream, which is inspired by savory desserts common throughout Southeast Asia and has garnered rave reviews. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream paired with Carnival Cruise Lines in September to create sunscreen-flavored ice cream that reportedly tasted of vanilla and coconut and presumably kept sun-seekers cool on the inside, while baking on the outside. It sounds like just the ticket for BÉIS-toting, Sticky Kicks-wearing, overheating foodies cruising for the next big trend.