Peter Stromquist

Tag: fast food

  • Dog Haus Review – Nationwide Chain (Rockford, IL location)

    A review of the slider corn dog and burgers at the Dog Haus chain. Rockford, IL location.

  • KFC Georgia and Nashville Chicken Review – Nationwide

    I’ve always been impressed at the vertical/horizontal menu expansions at Yum Brands restaurants (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC). Yum (formerly Trincon) was born in 1997 as a spin-off from Pepsi, who previously operated these businesses as the Pepsi fast food division. They’ve flirted with expansion, acquiring and spinning Long John Silvers / A&W, and with […]

  • Beef-A-Roo Review, Rockford, IL

    There’s the undisputed champion of fast food “roast beef” places, Arbys, which has more than 3300 units. There have been some ‘also rans’along the way, the Roy Rogers chain (once over 300 units) tried to be a national contender. Hardees, with over 3000 units, has always featured a similar product on their menu systemwide after acquiring both the Roy […]

  • Nationwide – Arbys Reuben Sandwich Review

    I clearly remember my first visit to an Arby’s, it was in the area of Minneapolis surrounding the U of M, and at that time, they had a glass enclosed “oven” in the middle of the dining room where the ‘roasts’ were cooking (at least that’s what I remember). Arby’s was founded in Boardman, Ohio, in […]

  • Why the Communication Break Between the Public and American Fast Food Companies?

    I admit, I’m not understanding the apparent disconnect between consumers and the major fast food companies. Anecdotally, it would appear that the American public has become more interested in “healthier options” as well as knowledge of the source of their foods. One could surmise this not only from media reports, but also from the apparent […]

  • Pie Five Pizza Review

    Arguably at the top of growth chain for the fast casual dining segment, the relatively new “made on demand” concept  pizza places appeal to customers on three points:  value pricing, quality ingredients, and fast service. There are quite a few entrants into the category already, including Blaze, MOD, and Pie Five, which was started and […]

  • Wendys Premium Cod

    Wendy’s used to send gift cards to food bloggers, particularly to sample a new or LTO product.  They stopped, not sure why.  Couldn’t have been that significant of an expense as a line item in their advertising budget.  Now they email press releases in hopes that people like me will write about something.  If one […]

  • What’s With McDonald’s? “Too Big to Fail?”

    The phrase, “too big to fail” was bandied about a lot during the financial crisis, especially in discussions about banks, insurance companies, car manufacturers. I’m not sure if that was true or not – of course there would have been a lot of pain if one of those companies had gone under, and a lot […]

  • Steak N Shake Shooters Review

    Started in Normal, IL, in 1934 by  ex marine Gus Belt, Steak N Shake is so named for its focus on ‘steakburgers’ and milk shakes. The marketing slogan “in sight it must be right” referred to the fact that originally, the beef was ground in plain sight of the customers, and originally was a grind […]

  • Tigard, OR – Burger King Big King Review

    I keep expanding my trials for “new” fast food, either out of curiosity or due to having free coupons.  Today I tackled Burger King’s “Big King,(tm)” their answer to McDonald’s Big Mac. Burger King started in 1953 as “Insta-Burger King” in Jacksonville, FL, a small chain of franchised operations. Running into financial trouble within a […]