Did you know your favorite fast food restaurants may be holding out on you? Many of them have secret menu items that most foodies don’t even know about. Now you can join a select few and order from the secret menus that are only published privately. But how in the world did the Secret Menu craze come to be? Well, there are a few reasons fast food fanatics started ordering from underground menus.
One reason consumers felt the need to start ordering secret menu items is because they wanted healthier alternatives. Originally, the fast food industry was only built for convience and taste. The first restaurants in existence served greasy, unhealthy meals – but they tasted delicious. As time went on, however, more and more consumers have learned about the health risks of eating fast food, which has caused a clean-eating movement. Before restaurants started to cater to the health conscious with healthy alternatives on the menu, people would customize their orders to make them a bit healthier. Some of these custom foods became so popular that they made it onto the secret menu!
Another reason secret menus became a thing was to change things up. Many restaurants launch new food items year round. But sometimes, all you want is a Butterbeer Frappuccino that’s nowhere to be found on the normal menu. Many secret menu items were created by combing two or more best-selling menu items. Sometimes, secret menu creations became popular because something was “missing” from the regular menu. For instance, at one point in time, Chipotle did not have a quesadilla on their main menu. (Seems like an obvious offering for a Mexican place, right?) However, it didn’t stop Chipotle fans from ordering it, so it became a part of the secret menu. Fortunately for all of us, Chipotle added the quesadilla to their regular menu (although nothing would stop us from ordering it, anyway).
It is also no coincidence that secret menus became popular right around the time that social media blew up. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram gave fast food fans a way to share their secret menu creations with the world. So, when John from Indiana snapped a photo of his Presidential Burger from Five Guys, all his friends in Nebraska wanted to try it for themselves at their local burger joint. The cycle continued, and here we are today – with a beautiful, long list of secret menus.
And while we’d love for Burger King’s Rodeo Burger to be a part of the everyday menu, we will just have to hope and pray that the worker preparing our meal will say yes to creating it time and time again. To see all of the most popular custom creations, check out the secret menus below.
Visit the Happy Hour section to see when you can save on your favorite dishes.
