The Fast Food Trend Reddit Wants To Make A Thing Of The Past

There have been a lot of fast food trends that have come and gone over the years; remember the great chicken sandwich battle that began in 2019 (see Food Republic's ranking of the best and worst here). Or who could forget the plant-based craze that took place, coincidentally in the same year, which involved Burger King's rollout of its Impossible Whopper, made by Impossible Foods, as well as Del Taco and Carl's Jr. using Beyond Meat? There is one persistent trend that has stood the test of time, though, and some Redditors would like to see it go the way of Carl Jr.'s Beyond Burger — that is, gone from the fast food landscape — and it's the secret menu fad.

In a Cooking thread, someone posed the question, "Are there any [food] trends you feel are tired and overdone?" One of the top upvoted responses was, "'Secret menu' food items got really old really fast" (per Reddit). They explained that they're a former barista, and they found that customers expected them to know all the secret menu items that "some rando on the Internet" dreamed up.

On a rant post under the In-N-Out Reddit page, the OP called secret menus "a myth," while another commenter pointed out that it can actually be used as part of the marketing for a company, because it makes "people feel like they know more than others," they wrote (via Reddit).

In-N-Out Burger might not have the OG secret menu — people have likely been "hacking" menus since menus existed — but it certainly stands out as among the most recognizable. That's because the California-based chain, which is Alton Brown's favorite, and located mostly on the West Coast, became famous for its secret menu "animal-style" burgers and fries, which include a bunch of extras piled onto either — extra spread, cheese, grilled onions, the works. Starbucks is known for its highly customizable beverages, so it makes sense that its menu would also get hacked, including the wildly popular 2016 creation, the Pink Drink. However, pretty much any burger chain out there in the U.S. has a secret menu, whether they're aware of it or not.

Perhaps the secret menu trend will die on its own, though, because fast food restaurants are catching on, and these massive companies end up doing what they do best: Ruining customers' good times by acknowledging the menu hacks and using them as blatant marketing. In-N-Out and Starbucks both added secret menu items to their actual menus, while McDonald's actually presented customers with a short list of secret menu items, including its Land, Air, and Sea burger. In 2013, Panera rolled out a "hidden menu," but instead of catchy names for its low-carb items, it literally called them things like "Power Breakfast Egg Bowl With Steak." 

If you hear of a secret menu item that sounds so good you know you want to try it, but you're worried about ruining a fast food employee's shift by ordering it, don't fear; you can mitigate the damage by following these etiquette rules. First up is timing. An employee on any given day is going to be much more likely to acquiesce to your request if you time your order for when it's not busy. For many fast food restaurants, that would be between the hours of 2 and 5 p.m. — after the lunch rush and before the dinner crowd shows up.

Next up, don't use the name the item was given on TikTok or Instagram; just because you have heard of it doesn't mean the employee taking your order is chronically online. They could have zero idea what you're talking about when you order a Pokémon Go Frappuccino from Starbucks or a Meat Cube from Wendy's.

Which leads into our third tip: You should know exactly what the secret menu item consists of, and order it by ingredients instead. That way, you're not having a conversation like a Redditor on the Starbucks subreddit had, where a mom asked for a "TikTok drink" for her kid, but had no idea what actually went into it. Fourth and finally, order it online ahead of time whenever possible, instead of holding up a line or a drive-thru as you attempt to remember the intricate details of your menu hack item.