Whitle Castle's New Value Meals

White Castle has 3 new limited-time value meals priced at $2.99.

The new "Craver Savers" include a saver size fry and a saver size drink.  Sandwich choices for the meals are 3 Original Sliders, 2 Chicken Ring Sliders with cheese, or 2 BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders.

To sweeten the deal, White Castle has a coupon for a free upgrade (to regular fry and small drink).

Battle of the Tiny Hamburgers: North vs. South

Laughing Squid has a great little post about White Castle & Krystal, The War of the Tiny Hamburgers: North vs. South.

The post has some great restaurant photos of the 2 purveyors of tiny hamburgers and the tiny hamburgers themselves.

As you can see from the map below (that I've modified from the one at Wikipedia), White Castle's market is in the North and Krystal's is in the South.  The only 2 states with both restaurants are Kentucky and Tennessee.

And as Laughing Squid points out, "One thing is certain, the West Coast is missing out on all of the tiny square hamburger action."

Castle's Chicken Rings from holy chicken?

When I wrote about White Castle's new flavored chicken rings last month, I ended by asking, "What the heck is a chicken ring?"

Now White Castle's PR agency has produced a viral video, with a photo (shown) and a story to go along with it, which attempts a humorous approach to explaining the chicken rings' origin.

I think it's good that White Castle has a sense of humor about the obvious questions that arise from serving such a bizarre menu item, and it's much more enjoyable than the self-righteous claims of superiority that some fast food companies (read Arby's) has done about the 'quality' of their chicken.

Having said that, this viral campaign is a bit weak. The doctored photo is good, but the video is simplistic; the actor quite annoying. What could have really helped is a dedicated website with the back story, more photos, and other chicken ring related features, like Long John Silver's Shrimp Buddy site, or BK's Coq Roq site to promote their chicken fries.

Anyway, here's the video, with the story below it:

Cincinnati, OH - Buck "Cooter" Jones was driving down State Road 22 Monday morning when he discovered what has been a long standing urban myth.

After running out of gas that summer morning, Jones sauntered down Hidden Valley Road in search of a gas station. Instead of finding fuel, he stumbled upon farmland, but not just any farm - it was the rumored chicken ring farm.

"The chickens, I never seen nothing like 'em," Jones said. "These nuggetless birds were just running around with holes right through their middle." But, seeing the irregular shaped chickens wasn't the weirdest aspect of the discovery; it was the aroma radiating from the farm.

"I've been around a lot of chicken farms in my day, and none of 'em got my mouth watering quite like this one," Jones said. "It was a strong, spicy smell, almost like Tabasco Sauce, mixed with a ranch dressing smell, but I don't know where it was coming from. I looked around and it was just me and a bunch of 'O' shaped birds."

Within days of the chicken encounter, White Castle restaurants introduced new, intensely flavored chicken rings, available in Tabasco and Hidden Valley Ranch flavors for a limited time only. A White Castle representative denied any knowledge of such chicken farms and would not reveal the source or process of making the rings.

New flavored chicken rings at White Castle

White Castle has introduced two new flavored varieties of their chicken rings.

The new flavors are co-branded with Tabasco and Hidden Valley and are (obviously) flavored with either Tabasco sauce or Hidden Valley Ranch.

The new flavors are being promoted in a new TV ad, which says they will be available for a limited time only (July 23-August 19 according to QSRWeb).

The question remains: What the heck is a chicken ring?

Fast food cards everywhere

Plastic gift cards (resembling credit cards) have become very popular with most major retailers in recent years and now that most of the fast food industry has (most only fairly recently) begun to accept credit cards they, too, are taking advantage of their magnetic stripe capabilities.


So far I've discovered these 'convenience cards' at Jack in the Box (Jack CA$H), McDonald's (Arch Card), Burger King, Taco Bueno, Sonic Drive-In, White Castle, and Starbucks. Some of the chains even have special websites for their cards and use the new web addresses in their TV ads, like www.mytacobuenocard.com and www.mysoniccard.com.

The industry seems to have a lot of confidence in the brand loyalty-building abilities of these cards. McDonald's, for example, is putting 13 million $1 cards out there for free via Southwest Airlines and American Express.

[thanks: McChronicles & MBP]

White Castle: Honey Chipotle Chicken Sandwich

White Castle has introduced their "lastest crave," the Honey Chipotle Chicken Sandwich. It will be available beginning in September and into October at all White Castle locations.

"The sandwich with a touch of sweet and a touch of heat will have to be savored quickly since it will only be around for a limited time."

New items from White Castle, El Pollo Loco & Taco Bueno

The French Onion Cheeseburger is the newest product to hit the White Castle menu and will be available beginning July 17 for a limited time. It combines French onion cheese and creamy French onion sauce on the classic White Castle slider. El Pollo Loco today announced the introduction of their Fuego Chile Orange Chicken, available for a limited time in the Fuego Grilled Burrito and on the new Fuego Tostada Salad. Taco Bueno ads to their MexiDips & Chips menu item by adding Southwest Spinach-Artichoke Dip.

White Castle's Jeeves on ebay for charity

White Castle has put the butler, Jeeves, from their latest television commercial up for auction on ebay. The winning bidder also receives 52 "Crave Case" coupons (a $750 value). The proceeds from the auction will be donated to Second Harvest.
[Thanks Dason]