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38 Bizarre Facts About the Fast-Food Industry

Creepy clowns aren’t the only thing hiding in the world of fast food

38 Bizarre Facts About the Fast-Food Industry

September 25, 2023

It’s kind of a miracle, when you think about it, the way humans have developed a system to serve food that is reasonably consumable within minutes of it being ordered. For most of human history, we had to wait for our meals. No longer! On top of that mind-bending thought, the fast-food world is full of surprises. For example, you probably didn’t know cocaine consumption made McDonald’s change its spoon design. More on that and 37 other facts about the fast-food industry below…

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38

McDonald's McSalad Shakers Grilled Chef Chicken Caesar Garden Props to McDonald's for attempting to make salads fun, but there's a reason we don't normally eat salads out of cups. This stayed on the menu for three years, not bad for a healthier option. CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

37

BK's deadly Pokeballs GRACKED.COM To promote 1999's Pokemon: The First Movie, Burger King's kids' meals came with mon-filled Pokeballs. Sadly, the balls were the perfect shape to form an airtight seal around a kid's lower face, and two children died of asphyxiation. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

36

The Gold 'n' Grill just slapped a pineapple slice on a burg. $1.10 CRACKED.COM McDonald's big idea in 1984 was to huck a slab of pineapple on top of a regular cheeseburger, presumably to tear this great nation apart at the seams Hawaiian pizza had exposed. — YouTube

35

McDonald’s

McDonald's replaced its coffee stirrers purely because of cocaine. 1999 People were actually using them to snort cocaine off of, and McD didn't want their product to be associated with that, so they redesigned them. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Snopes

34

CARL'S JR. Carl's Jr. You Just a Burger... But a Carls Hamburger Carl's Jr.® 1956 GRAGKED.COM Giving the star shoes has weird implications that somehow just the face didn't. Не has hands and feet? Is he Carl Jr.? Was Carl Sr. a real man that made love to a celestial body? I don't want answers, I want never to have asked the questions. — Mental Floss

33

Burger King's Burger Pizza In a clear publicity stunt (that we are continuing to help hype, so it's effective), a 2,500 calorie pizza-sized burger was only available in New York because New Yorkers aren't snobs about their pizza or anything. CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

32

Burger King's bizarre clown fixation CRACKED.COM On Halloween 2017, ВК promised a free Whopper to anyone who showed up to a US store dressed as a creepy clown. Then in 2020, several Scandinavian locations installed custom bathroom mirrors that would summon a spooky clown if you turned off the lights and said CANCELLED CLOWN three times. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

31

Shake 'em Up Fries were DIY cheese fries. CRACKED.COM Burger King gave customers the experience of being a real fry chef! Customers would dump a packet of flavoring into a bag of fries, and shake the whole thing up until every fry was sticky as hell. — YouTube

30

The first McDonald's drive-thru opened next to a military base in Arizona. 5 McDonald's SERVICE SYSTEM HAMBURGERS McDonald's The have Sold OVER 1 MILLION Soldiers at the base couldn't show up in public in a work or duty uniform, so a drive-thru was set up to allow them to buy at McDonald's anyway. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — AZCentral

29

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN TAKE Kentucky Fried Chicken AWAY It's finger lickin' good. Southern Hospitality - - - - containers KFC 1952 THANK YOU TM GRACKED.COM The first Colonel Sanders had the look of someone who sold fried meat from a roadside motel in Kentucky, which just so happens to be exactly how KFC started. It's finger licking good takes on a whole new meaning when this sleep paralysis demon is staring through your soul. — KFC

28

KFC's Double Down Calling the Double Down discontinued may be a lie as they keep retiring it and bringing it back when they want publicity, but what terrible food menu would be complete without this meat monstrosity? CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

27

McDonald's keeps giving out oral hygiene products MAXIMUM FLUORIDE PROTECTION BY A TOOTHPASTE NEW Colgate Winter- fresh NET WT. 1.4 OZ. MFP FL UORIDE GEL Gel HTR DOD AVGDO. 15 SAVE 15° hnice REACH YOUTH 24 KOREA S IL TOOTHBRUSH In CRACKED.COM They gave out toothpaste and toothbrushes in Happy Meals across the US in 1982. A decade later, they brought the despicable practice to Australia. In 2014, kids got free tooth swag just for showing up to any Wisconsin location. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

26

The McHotDog danced on Ray Kroc's grave. hot dog ho CRACKED COM Even though the Krocs started off in the hot dog biz, Ray Kroc later refused to sell them at McDonalds because he couldn't be sure the meat was high enough quality. Turns out: Americans don't really care about the quality of their speedy meats! — YouTube

25

Since 2014, the number of McDonald's restaurants has been shrinking. McCap McDonald's® McDonald's DRIVETHRU M The company had 14,350 restaurants in 2014, and that figure has been falling by 3% per year since. In 2018, for the first time since 2004, there were under 14,000. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Restaurant Business Online

24

SONIC SONIC DRIVE -IN SERVICE WITH DE SPEED OF SOUND Happy Eating TEXAS M-M-M-M-M OKLAHOMA SONIC HAM- BURGERS KANS ARKANSAS 1963 GRACKED.COM The first advertisements for Sonic Drive-In feature a well dressed man, who has the body of an earthworm, plug-walking with a steaming sack of hamburgers. They promise service with the speed of sound -not AT the speed of sound, but WITH the speed of sound. I suppose it's comforting to know that I won't be served a chili cheese dog in the vacuum of space. — Gray Flannel Suit

23

McDonald's Onion Nuggets Onion Nuggets Before the Chicken McNugget, there was the Onion Nugget. Introduced in the 1970s, they were clumps of onions deep-breaded and fried. CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

22

Burger King's sex toys Only on valentines Only from 6 PM KING BURGER Adults Meal - 18+ B+ CRACKED.COM For a few brief, sensual hours in 2017, ВК locations in Israel offered Adult Meals, which came with the mildest sex toys known to man. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

21

Peg Leg Chicken was a drumstick. CRACKED.COM Long John Silver's tried to crawl from the sea onto land in the 70's and 80's by offering a fried drumstick. Wait - is that supposed to be... Long John Silver's missing leg??? — 15 Fast Food “Innovations” That Were Just… Regular Food

20

Apples

McDonald's has a surprisingly massive influence on the apple industry. The consumption of sliced apples in the U.S. went up by more than 3x since McD's put them on the menu in 2004, and McD's now sells over 10% of U.S. sliced apples. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Business Insider

19

PIZZA HUT Pizza Pizza Hut Hut 1960's Pete TM GRACKED.COM The apron-wearing Pizza Pete was made back when character design for any restaurant mascot was just an Italian man in his 50's. Pete's design was characterized by his sleeveless checkered shirt, a bad comb over, a cowboy hat that never makes contact with his scalp, and both eyes on one side of his head like a flounder. — Insider

18

Burger King's Whopperito CLAME Most people look at a Whopper and go, You know what would make this better? If it were a burrito, too. Not all foods need to be a mash-up, but don't tell Burger King, who sold the novelty item to compete with Chipotle. CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

17

Celebrate Valentine's Day at a Waffle House love CRACKED.COM What better way to rekindle romance than with white table cloth service by candlelight surrounded by strung out truckers and drunks of all vocations? — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

16

The Bell Beefer was a sloppy Joe. CRACKED.COM Look, Taco Bell is great at coming up with exciting new ways to funnel ground beef down our necks. But horking down something called a beefer is where Americans draw the line. — 15 Fast Food “Innovations” That Were Just… Regular Food

15

The largest McDonald's restaurant isn't in the U.S. .- it's actually in Moscow. M The restaurant, on Pushkin Square, opened in 1990 after 14 years of negotiations, and seated 700 people (and they queued for hours to get in). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — CNN

14

WENDY'S WE OI ED НА FUNDERS Wendy's 1969 GRACKED.COM Wendy's didn't change up the old timey, western font until recently, but the creepy, Children Of The Corn original drawing of Wendy only lasted half a decade. Wendy herself looked like a portrait you'd find hanging up in a haunted Victorian style house, where her ghost would torment you with the same cold, dead eyes. — Wendy's

13

Pizza Hut's Hot Dog Bites Pizza Sure, hot dogs and pizza are good on their own, but Pizza Hut made sure to prove you can have too much of a good thing. The hot dog crust pizza came with a side of mustard and pretzel version. CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

12

Burger King's desperate plea for a Michelin star STOCK MICHELIN TYRES CRACKED .COM Coinciding with their unfortunately named Master Angus burger, the CEO of ВК Belgium launched a petition to get their now-fancy restaurants into the Michelin Guide. Michelin played along (to an extent), and agreed to inspect a location. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

11

The Priazzo was uncookably thick deep-dish pizza. CRACKED.COM Pizza Hut threw an Italian-sounding name on a casserole that was so thick, it took longer to cook than anyone was willing to wait for it. — YouTube

10

McDonald's changed its French fry recipe because of a customer with a grudge. Businessman Phil Sokolof spent $3 million on ads scolding fast food restaurants for their unhealthy food. When he targeted McD specifically, they folded. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — News.com.au

9

8

Taco Bell's Bell Beefer In the 1970s, Taco Bell introduced its chili burger. Basically a taco but with a bun instead of a shell. As if there weren't enough fast-food burger options, who thought we needed a harder-to-eat attempt? CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

7

The Noid caused a hostage crisis N PIZZA CRACKED.COM Domino's recently brought back The Noid, hoping we'd all forgotten that time in 1989 when a paranoid man, surnamed Noid, took two Domino's employees hostage because he thought the tagline avoid the Noid! was directed at him. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

6

McStuffins were Hot Pockets. CRACKED.COM McDonalds wanted to get in on the scalding pouch pastry game with two of their signature flavor profiles: ...chicken teriyaki, and ...pepperoni pizza. — YouTube

5

Burger King's Bacon Sundae Burger King has not earned our trust with ice cream, let alone experimental ice cream. It was only available for the summer of 2012, a simpler time when bacon was trendy. CRACKED.COM — The 16 Grossest Fast-Food Products (That Were Discontinued For Good Reason)

4

The moldy Whopper CRACKED.COM Burger King wanted to prove they were serious about removing artificial preservatives from their beef, so they publicized a neat timelapse of a putrid, rotting Whopper. — 16 Bizarre Non-Food Stunts From Fast Food Companies

3

The McSpaghetti is exactly what's on the tin. CRACKED.COM Ordering a Chicken McDo with McSpaghetti was a needlessly long way of ordering a chicken leg and some spaghetti -- but a really quick way to get heartburn. — YouTube

2

U.S. Army technology was vital in the creation of the McRib sandwich. YOUR OLD FRIEND IS BACK. It's the telltale sign of that tangy barbecue sauce The fact that the tender boneless pork is smothered in it mean way of getting POL with.this love affair The McRib is actually restructured meat, which is made using a technique developed by the Army in the '60s to lower its food bill. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — VICE

1

LITTLE CAESAR'S Little Caesar's PIZZA TREAT CHICKEN-FISHSHRIMP CARRY OUTS-DELIVERY MINUTE SERVICE Little Caesars 1959 GRAGKED.COM The Little Caesar's mascot has remained almost entirely unchanged since the 50's, even keeping his tuft of exposed chest hair (Yum!). What is disturbing is the inclusion of FISH and SHRIMP anywhere near my pizza treat. No thank you. — Little Caesar's

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