When it comes to fast food, most customers know what they want. You're not going to McDonald's or Burger King for fine dining, and while you might occasionally try a new menu item that sounds tempting, you're there for quick and easy comfort food. Despite this, plenty of fast food restaurants have tried some bold new options over the years, and they have often proven to be failures. Some went over well with customers but were too much work, while others were just terrible in every way. From the Halloween Whopper to the McDLT, let's take a look at the biggest fast food failures of all time.
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00:00Love it or hate it, fast food is the backbone of American cuisine.
00:04But there are really only a handful of truly iconic fast food menu items.
00:08For every Big Mac or Whopper, there are hundreds of other McNothings that somehow made it out
00:13of the test kitchen and had fast food fans scratching their heads.
00:16It's safe to say these are the biggest fast food failures of all time.
00:20The french fries are pretty good.
00:23French fried potatoes?
00:25Yep, french fries.
00:28McDonald's Arch Deluxe
00:30While it started out as a family restaurant, these days McDonald's remains focused on making
00:34kids happy.
00:35But in 1996, the Golden Arches wanted to appear more grown-up, so they released the hamburger
00:40equivalent of an awkward 16-year-old.
00:42Tina, eat.
00:43Eat the food.
00:44Eat the food!
00:48The Arch Deluxe featured a quarter-pound patty on an artisan bun with peppered bacon, lettuce,
00:53and tomato.
00:54McDonald's promoted it as the burger for sophisticated tastes, but this off-brand attempt was an
00:59epic failure.
01:00Hey, McDonald's, just do you.
01:03Burger King Satisfries
01:05In 2013, Burger King launched Satisfries, announcing their fried foray into semi-health-conscious
01:11eating.
01:12It's time to get Satisfried.
01:1340% less fat, 30% less calories, only at Burger King.
01:17But BK's Satisfries were more like Satistfries, and the lower-cal side failed for many reasons.
01:24First of all, everyone knows French fries aren't a health food.
01:27Second, the fries cost more money than the regular ones.
01:30And finally, the fries weren't even that healthy.
01:32You cannot eat fast food.
01:34Why not?
01:35Because it will go down your throat and drop instantly to my thighs.
01:38A medium order of the crinkle-cut fries clocked in at 340 calories.
01:42Despite also replacing regular fries with Satisfries in kids' meals, Burger King phased
01:47out the side item a year later, due to unsatisfying sales.
01:52Wendy's Frescata
01:53Before they became known for sending out epic tweets, back in 2006, Wendy's wanted to give
02:02Subway a run for their money.
02:04So Wendy's launched a line of healthy deli sandwiches.
02:07But although the Frescata sandwiches were a fan favorite, Wendy's pulled them from the
02:15menu less than a year later because prep was difficult and slow.
02:18The artisan rolls were baked fresh, and every sandwich was made to order.
02:22Wendy's may be all about freshness now, but it doesn't look like they'll be offering any
02:25Frescatas ever again.
02:27McDonald's McDLT
02:32While it might have helped launch the career of Seinfeld's Jason Alexander, the McDonald's
02:36McDLT wasn't a successful burger, even though it graced the menu from 1984 until the early
02:411990s.
02:42The McDLT was served in a Styrofoam container, which was the main reason for its demise.
02:53The fancy container was designed to keep the hot side hot and the cool side cool, and it
02:57was the customer who had to do the work of stacking the two sides together.
03:00When those that are kept apart finally come together, it's not just good.
03:05The meat is fantastic.
03:08McDonald's grillmaster Ken Fortin told Serious Eats that a lot of McDonald's locations couldn't
03:13properly prepare the burger, saying,
03:14"...there was a special heating-cooling machine that we had.
03:17It was like a rack heater, but cold on one side and hot on the other.
03:21I think a lot of locations just used regular heaters, so customers only ever got warm burgers."
03:27Lukewarm burgers?
03:28We're not loving it.
03:31Burger King A1 Halloween Whopper
03:33Back in 2014, Burger King Japan released the Kuro Burger.
03:37A year later, Burger King Stateside released the A1 Halloween Whopper, with a black bun
03:42that got its color from the A1 steak sauce baked inside.
03:45But although this was going to be a seasonal menu item, the chain took some heat regarding
03:49that black bun.
03:50In October 2015, USA Today reported that several Burger King customers complained via Twitter
03:55that after they ate the bun, their poop was green.
03:58"...you gotta be kidding me.
04:00Everything you just said is my favorite thing to do.
04:05Every day."
04:06A certified nutrition counselor told the mag,
04:08"...to make poop turn that color green, it would require far more dye than is in the
04:13typical type of A1.
04:14My guess is that they're using a concentrated form."
04:18"...what do you put in that sauce?"
04:19"...well you start off with a little lemon juice and some ketchup…"
04:23Burger King BK Dinner Baskets
04:25Burger King wanted to change the way their customers ate their food by offering BK Dinner
04:29Baskets in 1992.
04:30"...it's a whole new thing, and it's happening at Burger King."
04:35From 4 to 8 p.m., your local Burger King would serve their food in dinner baskets and bring
04:39it to your table.
04:40Even though Burger King promoted the BK Dinner Baskets and table service using Dan Cortez
04:45from MTV Sports, the fast food chain quickly retired the gimmick, and the whole thing was
04:49forgotten, along with Dan Cortez.
04:51"...come on, I know you're a big TV star."
04:54"...now look, I used to be a big TV star, okay?
04:58I'm not anymore."
04:59McDonald's Mighty Wings
05:01There was a brief moment when the Mighty Kids Meal wasn't the only Mighty thing at McDonald's.
05:06"...hey, what's going on?"
05:07"...oh, nothing.
05:08We just forgot to get you a Mighty Kids Meal."
05:14McDonald's Mighty Wings were an epic failure, yet for some reason they were brought back
05:18in 2016 at some locations and then quickly ditched again.
05:21"...I feel like a Kentucky Fried Idiot."
05:24When McDonald's launched the product at the start of the 2013 NFL season, they were charging
05:28$1 per wing.
05:30Considering you can get a McDouble for the price of a measly little chicken wing, they
05:34weren't exactly a good value.
05:36Bloomberg reported back in 2014 that McDonald's began to sell the wings at 60 cents per piece
05:41because the chain had an astonishing surplus of 10 million pounds of frozen wings.
05:46Not only was the price still too high, Advertising Age reported that many customers found the
05:50wings too spicy.
05:52Of course, any spiciness can be cured with a dip in some ranch dressing, but we all know
05:56how stingy they can be with the dipping sauces at the drive-thru.
05:58"...no soup for you!
05:59Come back one year!"