Let’s be honest, the ’90s were a golden age for fast food. Chains were taking risks, experimenting wildly, and throwing everything against the wall to see what stuck. Some of these creations became instant classics that we still talk about decades later. Others vanished into the ether, leaving behind only memories and a whole lot of online petitions. Today we’re diving into the fast food graveyard to resurrect the items that deserve another shot.
These weren’t just menu items. They were cultural moments. Think about it: while you were rocking frosted tips and listening to boy bands, these sandwiches and pizzas were defining your weekend plans. The 1990s were a wild time for fast food experimentation, and honestly, we think the era ended way too soon for some of these innovative creations.
McDonald’s Arch Deluxe
The Arch Deluxe was a hamburger sold by McDonald’s in 1996 and marketed specifically to adults, featuring the largest advertising and promotional budget in fast food history at the time before being discontinued after failing to become popular and becoming one of the most expensive product flops of all time. McDonald’s is estimated to have spent over US$300 million on the research, production, and marketing for the Arch Deluxe.
Here’s the thing: the burger itself wasn’t terrible. The Arch Deluxe was a quarter pound of beef on a split-top potato flour sesame seed bun, topped with a circular piece of peppered bacon, leaf lettuce, tomato, American cheese, onions, ketchup, and Dijonnaise. The problem? The average person would rather just have a Big Mac or a Filet-O-Fish and french fries, they don’t want the fancy stuff.
Those focus groups that inspired McDonald’s to scale up the burger were flawed because the people who participated were not representative of customers at large, a phenomenon economists call selection bias. Basically, the folks who volunteered to taste burgers were burger enthusiasts, not your typical drive-thru customer. The Arch Deluxe was finally discontinued on August 18, 2000. Still, in today’s gourmet burger landscape, maybe it would fare better.
Taco Bell Bell Beefer
Picture this: taco meat piled onto a burger bun. Weird? Absolutely. Delicious? Apparently yes. The Bell Beefer was a hamburger-based item that had seasoned beef, shredded cheese, taco sauce, and lettuce, and was on Taco Bell’s menu from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s, with a short comeback in the early 2010s.
The Bell Beefer was an original Taco Bell menu item from the restaurant’s founding in 1962 because founder Glen Bell wanted a menu item that might look a bit more familiar to the average American consumer, becoming one of the chain’s five original menu offerings alongside tacos, burritos, frijoles, and tostados. It was essentially Taco Bell’s way of easing Americans into Mexican food by giving them something that looked like a sloppy joe.
The passion for this sandwich runs deep. Disgruntled fans of the Beefer held restaurant sit-ins known as “Stank Festivals” in protest after its cancellation. I know it sounds crazy, but people actually protested over a fast food sandwich. The item reappeared on Taco Bell’s dollar menu at a smattering of locations in 2012, and was apparently especially popular in the Bay Area. Seems like there’s still a hungry audience waiting.
Pizza Hut Big New Yorker
The Big New Yorker was a huge hit when launched in 1999, and at 30% larger than Pizza Hut’s large pizza, it set the stage for future industry innovations. Pizza Hut debuted The Big New Yorker in 1999, measuring 16 inches across, making the pie 30 percent bigger than the restaurant’s standard large pizza.
Here’s where things get interesting. Since being retired from the menu, there have been numerous different requests for Pizza Hut to bring back The Big New Yorker, including social media accounts dedicated to its hopeful return, Reddit threads and even a Change.org petition with thousands of signatures. A petition on Change.org has received more than 3500 signatures urging the pizza’s return.
Good news for fans: The Big New Yorker returned starting February 1, 2023 at participating Pizza Hut restaurants. This proves that customer demand can actually work. Maybe other chains should take notes. The pizza comeback shows that nostalgia is a powerful force in the fast food world.
Burger King BK Broiler
Burger King was the first major fast food chain to introduce a grilled chicken burger to the marketplace in 1990, and their first grilled chicken burger, the BK Broiler, was one of the most successful product introductions in the fast food industry ever. Let that sink in for a moment. One of the most successful launches ever, and they still discontinued it.
The BK Broiler was a broiled chicken patty that was originally served on an oat bran roll with lettuce, tomato and a dill-ranch mayonnaise dressing. The introduction of the BK Broiler was one of the most successful restaurant product launches ever, and its success helped Burger King increase its profit margin by 47% over the corresponding six-month period in 1989.
So what happened? By 1992, sales of the BK Broiler had slowed to half of their peak. It was reformulated a few times during its run, and was eventually replaced by the Chicken Whopper in 2002. There were many pleas online for Burger King to bring back the BK Broiler, with some describing it as the best sandwich ever and revolutionary. The demand is clearly still there.
Wendy’s Monterey Ranch Chicken Sandwich
Debuting in 1993, this Wendy’s menu item has sadly been discontinued, and the Monterey Ranch Chicken Sandwich is an item that you can find home cooks on Reddit trying to recreate today. When people are literally trying to reverse engineer your sandwich in their kitchens, that tells you something important about its legacy.
The sandwich clearly struck a chord with customers. One commenter under a 1993 ad perfectly captured the sentiment: “You rarely realize you’re in the good times until they’re gone.” That hits differently when you’re talking about a fast food sandwich, doesn’t it?
The Monterey Ranch Chicken arrived on a Kaiser roll, which already made it stand out from the competition. Wendy’s has always positioned itself as slightly more upscale than other chains, and this sandwich embodied that philosophy perfectly. It vanished without much fanfare, leaving behind a devoted fanbase that still mourns its loss over thirty years later.
Jack In The Box Colossus Burger
Sometimes bigger really is better. In 1994, Jack In The Box introduced the Colossus Burger, which had a truly meaty stack of two ¼-pound patties and 8 slices of bacon. Yes, you read that correctly. Eight slices of bacon on a single burger.
That is an absolute mountain of meat for one sandwich. This was peak ’90s excess, the kind of menu item that made you question whether you should eat it or frame it. The Colossus represented everything bold about that decade’s approach to fast food.
Jack In The Box has always been willing to push boundaries, creating items that make you do a double take. The Colossus was no exception. It was the kind of burger that challenged your jaw’s structural integrity. While it didn’t last forever, it definitely made an impression on those brave enough to order it. The sheer audacity of putting that much meat between two buns deserves recognition.
Wendy’s Fresh Stuffed Pitas
These sandwiches lasted three years at Wendy’s, and have become a cult favorite since they were discontinued. The pitas offered something different in a sea of buns and tortillas, giving customers a Mediterranean twist on fast food.
Redditors and YouTubers alike call for its return, with speculation about why Wendy’s fresh stuffed pitas were discontinued ranging from poor sales to the labor intensity of making the sandwiches. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Making pitas to order takes more time than slapping together a standard burger, and in fast food, time is literally money.
It’s unlikely these will ever return as a permanent menu item, with the best hope being a specialty revival. That’s a shame, because the pitas represented Wendy’s willingness to experiment with formats beyond the traditional burger. They filled a niche for customers wanting something lighter but still substantial. The devoted following proves that sometimes the most labor-intensive items create the most loyal fans.
McDonald’s McStuffins
Back in the ’90s, McDonald’s was brave enough to try its hand at the hand pie game with McStuffins. Think Hot Pockets, but from the Golden Arches. These flaky, stuffed pastries were a bold departure from McDonald’s typical offerings.
The McStuffins represented McDonald’s attempt to diversify beyond burgers and fries into handheld comfort food territory. While McDonald’s has since found success with items like the McGriddle and various breakfast innovations, the McStuffins were ahead of their time in some ways.
The concept wasn’t bad. Portable, filling, and different from what competitors were offering. The execution just didn’t resonate with customers at the time, or maybe McDonald’s didn’t give it enough time to catch on. These days, with the success of empanada-style foods and the popularity of Hot Pockets, maybe McStuffins would find a warmer reception. Sometimes being first isn’t enough; you also need the right cultural moment.
Taco Bell Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito
The sheer existence of the Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito embodied the weird burrito era of the ’90s, and was introduced in 1995 when competitors like Burger King, McDonald’s, and Arby’s were also introducing bacon-including items. It was peak menu mashup culture before that became the norm.
The Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito was, essentially, a bacon cheeseburger transformed into burrito form, with a few key differences. Imagine all the flavors of a classic American burger, but wrapped in a soft tortilla instead of sandwiched between buns. It sounds chaotic, because it was. That was the point.
Taco Bell has always excelled at taking familiar concepts and Taco Bell-ifying them. The Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito was no exception. It rode the bacon wave of the mid ’90s while offering something uniquely Taco Bell. The fact that it hasn’t returned speaks to how quickly food trends can shift, even when the execution is solid. Maybe in our current era of culinary mashups and boundary-pushing menus, this burrito would finally get the respect it deserved.
KFC Original Popcorn Chicken Recipe
There is nothing like the “original” KFC Popcorn Chicken, with KFC later placing popcorn chicken back on its menu, but none of the recent versions compare to its original 90s version. Anyone who remembers the original knows exactly what we’re talking about here.
The bite-sized pieces of fried chicken were perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and this innovative fast-food item holds a special place in fans’ hearts. The texture, the seasoning, the proportions – everything hit differently back then. Current versions just don’t capture that same magic.
Fans want KFC to bring back the original Popcorn Chicken recipe. It’s not enough to have a product with the same name if the recipe has been fundamentally altered. The original popcorn chicken was perfectly sized for snacking, had the ideal crunch-to-tenderness ratio, and featured KFC’s signature blend of herbs and spices in a way that felt fresh and exciting. Companies need to understand that sometimes you can’t improve on perfection. Just bring back what worked.
