Scoring a victory with its Super Bowl XLVII commercial, Taco Bell is giving away free churros with any purchase today in the U.S. (via a Facebook coupon). And in another sweet treat, Kraft's JELL-O brand is giving away free pudding cups on Tuesday in San Francisco, as promised in its post-Game ad, above.

Why console the losing team's hometown in Sunday's Super Bowl? JELL-O's pitch: "We're funning up the runner-up. Because nothing masks the bitter taste of defeat quite like the sweet taste of pudding. http://www.funthingsup.com #puddingdrop"

Taco Bell also adds steak to its new Cantina Bell menu partnership with chef Lorena Garcia today — more on that in the spot below:Continue reading...

In an unusual move by a major brand, CPG giant Nestlé responded this week to a $5 million U.S. class action suit over trans fats in its frozen pizza brands by posting a video on YouTube that pushed back against the claims.

The video, posted Wednesday on Nestle USA's corporate YouTube channel, was removed without explanation on Thursday (update: it's now back online).

The suit, filed by Katie Simpson of San Diego, Calif., claims that Nestle’s frozen pizza brands—DiGiorno, Stouffer’s, and California Pizza Kitchen—are a danger to public health because they contain trans fats. The ingredients are legal in U.S. packaged goods, though the state of California, New York City and Philadelphia have banned their use in restaurants.

"Katie has two young children and she likes to make pizza for them, and all kids love pizza," her attorney, Greg Watson, told ABC's Good Morning America. "It shouldn't have a toxic food additive that's been banned all around the world."Continue reading...

McDonald's is sort of limping along in the U.S. on the strength of its value menu, and there do not seem to be prospects for a return to sizzling growth anytime soon. So the fast-food chain is relying on the historic strengths of its brand — including locations, familiarity and convenience — to carry it through what is expected to be a ho-hum near-term future.

On Wednesday, the world's biggest QSR reported a higher fourth-quarter profit, but same-store sales growth of just 0.1 percent worldwide. That measure grew slightly in the U.S. thanks to the Dollar Menu and from pushing franchisees to stay open on Christmas. But same-store sales fell by 0.6 percent in Europe —McDonald's biggest market — and fell by 1.7 percent in the region encompassing Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Japan's sales decline of more than 6 percent in the fourth quarter was especially severe.

The immediate problem for McDonald's, at least in the U.S., is that first-quarter comparisons are becoming difficult due to last year's mild winter, and the chain doesn't have much new up its sleeve right now.Continue reading...

It's like staying up too late, watching Jerry Springer or not being nice to your mother: Many Americans don’t exactly feel good about visiting McDonald’s after they’ve done so, but they’re more than likely to do it again.

That’s one interesting conclusion from the latest survey by Consumer Edge Insight of Americans’ ratings of the biggest fast-food brands and the various attributes of their visits to the QSR chains.

McDonald’s placed No. 1 in the firm's latest poll in the category of "good value," with 57 percent. Subway earned 53 percent, and Taco Bell posted 48 percent.

David Decker, president of the research firm, commented on what factors made the grade:Continue reading...

New York City is downsizing its soda sizes, Australia is placing nasty images on its cigarette packs, and sales of organic food are growing in the U.S. Many places in the world certainly seem a lot more aware of health and wellness than they did only a few years back.

Yet amid it all, the doughnut industry continues to thrive, especially in the United States.

Dunkin’ Donuts it plans to open anywhere from 330 to 360 new locations in the U.S. this year, making it one of the fastest-growing quick-service restaurants.

Dunkin’, which has about 7,000 stores in 36 states, opened 291 stores last year in an effort to eventually have 15,000 locations. The brand “sells 1.7 billion cups of coffee every year,” the L.A. Times reports — more than anyone else.

The brand has just announced it will target California for some of its openings in 2015 — a state where Dunkin' has been runnin' on empty, with no stores there since 2002. Executives are confident that it's time to stage a return.Continue reading...

One of the more buzz-worthy exhibits at International CES in Las Vegas this week has proven to be HAPIlabs' booth. One of a glut of new health-centric gadget makers at CES vowing to track consumers' every blip and move, the developers of the device promise that its battery-operated, digitally connected HAPIfork can help you eat less and save weight by reminding you to ingest more slowly. Mom would be so proud.

"It tracks the time you start eating, the length of your meal and the number of times you bring your fork to your mouth," HAPIlabs CEO and Founder Patrice Boutain explained to ABC News in an interview at CES. If you go for too many of what he called "fork servings," HAPIfork lightly vibrates in objection and lights up an LED warning on the fork handle — sort of like the gentle reminders that occur these days in high-end, wired automobiles when you stray out of your lane.

A video for HAPIfork shown at CES promises that the device can help monitor your eating behavior, encouraging healthier habits and weight loss. It's CES, so it's touting its a Bluetooth connection, USB connector, mobile app, virtual coach and "fun social game." It'll be $99 when it becomes available at retail this year.Continue reading...

Yum Brands! may be lowering its 2013 outlook and fighting to keep Chinese customers flocking to KFC following a chicken safety scare, the brand has a secret weapon: the Colonel's other secret recipe.

KFC has brought its secret fried chicken recipe to 115 countries and now it's moving another secret recipe for another classic American food through their franchise stores: chocolate-chip cookies, which the quick-serve chain introduced as a limited time offer in select U.S. markets in late November.

Since KFC has gotten so much PR longevity out of the “vault” that supposedly contains the secret recipe Colonel Sanders used to make the chicken, the chain is keeping the top-secret recipe for the cookies locked up tight in there, too. 

And even though it's busy tapping into Super Bowl fever with its couchgating promotion, its chocolate chip cookies are still resonating with fans.Continue reading...

Mickey D’s, the Golden Arches, McD's, McDonaldos, Macca's. McDonald’s has plenty of nicknames worldwide, but you’ll never roll up to a franchise of the 72-year-old brand and find any of them on the restaurant’s official sign.

After all, the company has entered into plenty of trademark suits in attempts to protect its name. It lost a fight against Malaysia’s McCurry in 2009, but won its battle against the Philippines’ MacJoy. In the ’90s, thanks to the work of the McDonald’s legal team, San Francisco coffee shop owner Kathleen McCaughey had to change the name McCoffee even though it had existed with that name for 17 years. But McDonald’s is still thwarted in the Cayman Islands, thanks to a local entrepreneur's MacDonald's Family Restaurant there.

Even while its lawyers are busy protecting the brand name and trademarks, the corporation is letting its Australian team have a bit of fun with the name. The brand is affectionately called Macca’s Down Under, and the company has decided to adopt the nickname officially on signs at 13 outlets, on social media and in its advertising for a limited promotion that kicks off today and runs through Feb. 4th.Continue reading...