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10 fast food failures you rightfully forgot about
Seafood at Taco Bell? Kentucky Fried… Beef? These spin-offs and experimental dishes were doomed.
They can't all be Whoppers. Fast food chains are constantly churning out and test marketing fresh menu items. Sometimes, if they feel extra bold, the companies roll out entirely new restaurant concepts. The success rate is not particularly high.
Every brand has its fair share of failure. McDonald's has repeatedly tried to dip into Italian food to no avail. Turns out, people do not want McSpaghetti. Burger King and Taco Bell seem to roll out new dishes monthly. Over the decades, some of the duds have become industry legend.
Here are some of the sandwiches and side ventures from the big chains that did not stick around. Do you remember any of them?
1. Kentucky Roast Beef
In the late 1960s, Colonel Sanders tried to make the leap from poultry to livestock. By 1970, there were about 100 Kentucky Roast Beef restaurants dotted around the country. However, the Arby's-like outlet fared about as well as Colonel Sanders Inns motels. Sometimes you just have to stick with the secret recipe.
Image: thisisjohnbook / Tumblr
2. Kentucky Fried Chicken Ribs
"KFB" was not KFC's only venture into meat. In the 1970s, the chain experimented with selling "Country Style Ribs." As some former employees recall at inthe70s.com, "The secret to the fantastic flavor was that the ribs were floured up with the original recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken flour and then fried under pressure. We would then saturate them with barbeque sauce and leave them in the warmer for a while to let the sauce properly soak in."
Image: roadsidepictures / Flickr
3. Burger King Flame Broiled Meatloaf Sandwich
"McDonald's doesn't have it. Wendy's doesn't have it. I bet nobody else has it!" Bob Uecker proclaimed in the "BK Tee Vee" commercials for the Flame Broiled Meatloaf Sandwich. The long, onion-covered patty was unveiled in 1992. There was good reason they didn't have it, Bob. This thing wasn't even fit for the cheap seats. Strike three, indeed.
Image: Burger King / YouTube
4. Burger King table service
Around the time their meatloaf sub sank, Burger King rolled out table service and "BK Dinner Baskets." (One of the options was the meatloaf, actually.) The company hoped to encourage families to eat in, chowing down on "upscale" orders like the Shrimp Dinner Basket and the Steak Sandwich Dinner Basket. While they waited for the meals, diners could munch on complimentary popcorn. We wonder how many patrons asked their teenage waiters for a wine list.
Image: Thinkstock / Wikipedia
5. Pizza Hut Priazzo
In the mid-'80s, Pizza Hut attempted to go Chicago style with their deep dish Priazzo. Perhaps part of the problem was that they made up the confusing name "Priazzo" instead of just calling it "Pizza." Priazzo sounds more like a classical music term meaning "play hurriedly while running to another restaurant."
Image: Pizza Hut / uncletnuc
6. McPizza
Sticking with pizza, let's now remember McPizza. Or, well, "PiMMa"? Launched in the late 1980s, McPizza failed in the States but clicked with Canadians. As of 2015, Eater reported that two locations (in Ohio and West Virginia) were still serving the stuff in America.
Image: McDonald's
7. McDonald's Hula Burger
On Good Friday, 1962, McDonald's boss Ray Kroc hoped to lure hungry Catholics who were abstaining from meat. He tested two beefless options — the Hula Burger and the Filet-o-Fish. The former was basically just grilled pineapple rings in a hamburger bun. Whichever item sold better would stay on the menu. The final score? The Filet-o-Fish won in a landslide, 350 to 6, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Image: Thinkstock
8. Border Bell
Home of Google, Mountain View, California, is a hotbed of innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley. However, not all brainstorms are billion-dollar ideas. In 1997, Taco Bell attempted to start an upscale sister chain called Border Bell to compete with the Chevy's of the world. However, to the surprise of no one, costumers never think "upscale" and "Taco Bell" in the same sentence. The location, pictured here, converted into a regular ol' Bell.
Image: Google Maps
9. Sister's Chicken
In 1979, Wendy's went to war with the Colonel. The burger chain tested its Sister's Chicken spin-off for three years before launching nationally. To be fair, the concept stuck around far longer than most things on this list. After giving it a go for about a decade, Wendy's sold the chain to its largest franchisee.
Image: YouTube
10. Taco Bell Seafood Salad
No. No, no, no, no, no. According to Business Insider, the chain was forced to pull the menu item after reports of food poisoning. Even the commercials were rather disgusting.
Image: Taco Bell / YouTube
SEE MORE: 8 DISCONTINUED FAST FOOD MENU ITEMS THAT NEED TO COME BACK
That all being said, there are some failures we'd like to see come back, like the Bell Beefer, BK Bundles and the McD.L.T. READ MORE
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