They don’t exist. They’re secret. Yet, walk into a growing number of fast food restaurants and you’ll be able to order something that isn’t on the menu. They’re called “secret menus” and they seem to be the latest in advertising and marketing strategies in the highly competitive fast food world.
Apparently, it’s a little like guerrilla marketing for a product or movie, where you get the word out through all kinds of odd videos, social media memes, publicity stunts, etc. In the fast food world, word-of-mouth marketing is being accelerated via social media and they’re taking advantage of it. Especially at places like Panera Bread, where, according to Bruce Horovitz at USA Today (March 10), they’ve spread the word that things can be had that aren’t on the menu. The trick: You have to ask for it.
And Panera isn’t the only fast food restaurant chain that allows customers to order products not on the menu. McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and In-N-Out are also said to be involved in the “secret” struggle for customers, although only McDonald’s flat-out denies that there’s a “secret menu” or that they promote any such products. (But you’d expect that kind of denial in a “secret” war, right?)