Secret menu items, unlocked
Starbucks has a new treat on tap for the holidays. It鈥檚 seasonal and sugar-packed 鈥� a dessert and a drink in one. We鈥檙e not talking about the Chestnut Praline Latte, which the chain added to the menu as part of its holiday push in November. It鈥檚 another drink generating buzz among Starbucks acolytes: the Christmas Cookie Frappuccino.
A white-cream-based Frappuccino with shots of peppermint and toffee nut syrup, the Christmas Cookie Frappuccino isn鈥檛 listed on the Starbucks menu. It鈥檚 one of hundreds of possible combinations that make up the coffee giant鈥檚 鈥渟ecret menu.鈥� Other popular entries include the Butterbeer Latte (a milk steamer with shots of caramel, toffee nut, and cinnamon dolce syrup), and London Fog (an Earl Grey tea latte with vanilla and caramel syrups).
Such hidden nuggets have been commonplace at fast-food chains for decades 鈥� McDonald鈥檚 has the Monster Mac, and Burger King has Frings (a combination order of fries and onion rings) 鈥� but they have become more widespread (and a lot less secret) thanks to fans who compile the information on secret menus in online forums at sites like hackthemenu.com. Chains will publicly deny the existence of secret menu items while quietly encouraging people to go ahead and order them.
鈥淸T]he 鈥榮ecret menu鈥� will remain as such and the brand prefers to continue rewarding its guests who exercise their right to HAVE IT YOUR WAY庐,鈥� a Burger King representative wrote ABC last year.
And why not? For fast-food chains, secret menu items are a good way to nurture customer loyalty and enthusiasm while breaking up the intrinsic monotony of identical items at thousands of locations. Some have done away with the 鈥渟ecret鈥� part altogether: California burger chain In-N-Out prominently features its secrets on its website.
How you order a secret menu item depends on the restaurant. You can easily get the Quesarito (a burrito/quesadilla hybrid) made-to-order at Chipotle. If you want the Christmas Cookie Frappuccino at Starbucks, though, it鈥檚 best to tell your barista how to make it 鈥� but shhh, it鈥檚 a secret.
