The fast food landscape has never been more experimental. From bizarre flavor combinations that sound like they came from a fever dream to culinary mashups that would make your grandmother faint, chains are pulling out all the stops to capture our attention and our wallets. With the popularity of social media, strategies in 2025 involve bold and typically limited-time offerings designed to generate buzz and attract customers hoping to avoid FOMO, or the fear of missing out.
McDonald’s CosMc’s: The Space-Age Beverage Revolution
McDonald’s is promising that the menu at its new CosMc’s restaurant will be out of this world. The fast food giant, which this week announced that the spinoff brand would be opening its first location in Bolingbrook, Illinois, has revealed the full roster of menu items for the concept. This isn’t just another coffee shop wannabe.
Instead, the restaurant will serve a large array of beverages and treats “with bold and unexpected flavor combinations, vibrant colors and functional boosts.” The drink menu will feature dozens of new beverages, including lattes, slushes and teas unavailable on the regular McCafe menu. Think churro frappes and turmeric lattes that look like they belong in a sci-fi movie. For drinks like the Island Pick-Me-Up Punch – a berry lemonade with dried strawberries – customers will be able to add “boosts” to their drink such as an energy shot or vitamin C shot.
The menu features drinks that are “inspired” by CosMc’s, the drive-thru beverage concept that McDonald’s launched in late 2023 and has been expanding to additional locations. However, they’re now testing these cosmic concoctions in regular McDonald’s locations. The new lineup, which is still branded as CosMc’s, has six drinks in three categories: coffee, crafted soda and refreshers. The coffees are a Creamy Vanilla Cold Brew and a Toasted Vanilla Frappe; the crafted sodas are a Sprite Berry Blast and a Sprite Lunar Splash; and the refreshers are a Popping Tropic Refresher and a Strawberry Watermelon Refresher.
Taco Bell’s Tortilla-Coated Chicken Nuggets
After years of speculation, Taco Bell is finally joining the chicken nugget trend and coming out with their own. Taco Bell’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets don’t look too special at first glance. But when you find out what they’re made of, you’ll see why a lot of people are very excited about this meal. Imagine all white meat chicken marinated in spiced jalapeño buttermilk before being breaded in a tortilla coating and fried to golden crisp perfection.
This is the kind of innovation that makes you question everything you thought you knew about chicken nuggets. They’re not content to just copy McDonald’s or KFC. Instead, they’ve created something that screams Taco Bell from the first bite.
The genius lies in the tortilla breading, which gives these nuggets a completely different texture and flavor profile than anything else on the market. Taco Bell isn’t afraid to be different, and it definitely painted outside the lines when it released its Crispy Chicken Nuggets right at the end of 2024.
Little Caesars’ Bacon and Cheese Crazy Puffs
In 2024, Little Caesars ventured beyond pizza, launching pepperoni and cheese Crazy Puffs. The chain has reportedly been developing a bacon version by adding Bacon and Cheese Crazy Puffs to its menu. These aren’t your typical pizza bites.
The puffs consist of handheld pizza dough cups filled with pizza sauce and three cheeses –mozzarella, Muenster, and cheddar – and topped with applewood-smoked bacon, garlic butter, and Parmesan cheese. The combination of textures is what makes these special. Reviews from customers are largely favorable, highlighting the soft texture of the inside and crunchiness from the caramelized cheese on the outside. The generous amount of bacon bits adds a nice touch of saltiness, without overwhelming the cheeses.
Unfortunately for fans, the Bacon and Cheese Crazy Puffs were only available for a limited time, having already disappeared from Little Caesars’ menus. This is the cruel reality of experimental fast food items.
Shake Shack’s Fried Pickle Innovation
Shake Shack has traditionally only offered crinkle cut fries as their side option, though they have reportedly tested fried pickles in select locations. The dish features the brand’s dill pickles sliced thick, coated in a seasoned batter, and fried until crispy. They are served with a side of buttermilk ranch for dipping.
The response has been nothing short of enthusiastic. Reviews on TikTok say the pickles are large and perfectly fried, and the breading is light, crunchy, and well-seasoned. The pickles themselves are described as juicy and tangy, with the soft texture a nice compliment to the crispy outside. The consensus is that these are a top-tier fast-food fried pickle.
But here’s the heartbreaking part: The item was only available for a limited time and was discontinued at the end of the summer, so you’ll have to visit other fast food chains for fried pickles now. This perfectly captures the fleeting nature of experimental fast food items.
Crumbl’s Dubai Chocolate Brownie Craze
Inspired by the Arab desert, Knafeh, and featuring chocolate, pistachio, tahini, and kataifi, the Dubai chocolate bar rose to popularity after a viral TikTok in 2023. Crumbl was one of several chains to jump on the trend in 2024, releasing its Dubai Chocolate Brownie as one of the rotating flavors of the week in August.
The chain’s version featured all the flavors of the famed bar in the form of a brownie, and quickly won over food reviewers. Happy customers raved about the fudgy brownie base and textural contrast of the crunchy, kataifi pastry, as well as the sweetness from the milk chocolate topping that balanced the flavors in the brownie.
This is a perfect example of how social media trends can completely transform fast food innovation. Many reviewers agree it’s a surprisingly good representation of its chocolate bar counterpart. The success shows how chains are now actively monitoring viral food trends and racing to capitalize on them.
Culver’s Cereal Concrete Mixers
In August, Culver’s unleashed its new Cereal Concrete Mixers for a limited time. The treat was inspired by the comforting taste of milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl. This is nostalgia marketing at its finest.
The lineup features three varieties made with General Mills breakfast cereals, including Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The genius is in tapping into that universal childhood memory of drinking the flavored milk after finishing your cereal.
Some items, like the Concrete Cereal Mixer and Thin Mints Frosty, tap into the powerful emotion of nostalgia. These mixers represent a masterclass in how to transform a simple memory into a profitable menu item.
Papa John’s Crispy Cuppy ‘Roni Revolution
The third largest pizza fast food restaurant in the U.S., Papa John’s regularly changes its menu, so it should be no surprise it’s featured on this list! The chain’s Crispy Cuppy ‘roni is a new fast food item that offers pizza lovers a new take on the classic pepperoni. This new pizza topping features thick-cut pepperoni that cups and crisps around the edges when it cooks.
This innovation might seem simple, but it’s revolutionary for pizza lovers. The cupping effect creates little grease pools that intensify the flavor while the crispy edges add a completely different texture.
Papa John’s has essentially reinvented one of pizza’s most basic toppings by simply changing how it’s cut and prepared. Sometimes the most effective experiments are the simplest ones that enhance what already works.
Dave’s Hot Chicken’s Cauliflower Sliders
Take one look at this slider and you probably wouldn’t even think that this crunchy looking sandwich would be made entirely of vegetables. Let’s face it, eating vegetables isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea. So how do you make veggies even better? By deep frying them of course! Dave’s Hot Chicken (more like Dave’s Not Chicken), introduced this new menu item that surprisingly doesn’t contain any chicken. Instead it’s hand sliced cauliflower heads, seasoned, fried, and placed between two buns.
This represented a bold move for a chain literally named after chicken. Cauliflower Sliders became available starting January 8, 2024, through Dave’s Hot Chicken branches and their website. The experiment demonstrated how chains sought to capture the growing plant-based market without abandoning their core identity.
Pizza Hut’s My Hutbox Customization
Stuck on choosing one thing to eat at Pizza Hut? Well, this pizza giant has come up with a new fast food item that will solve your dilemma: the My Hutbox. From this year, customers can now create their own meals at affordable prices. Pair two personal pan pizzas with boneless wings or fries, and for those who don’t want pizza, swap it out for a cheesy melt.
This isn’t just about offering variety. It’s about solving the age-old problem of indecisiveness. Pizza Hut has essentially created a choose-your-own-adventure meal that lets customers mix and match their cravings.
The customization trend reflects how modern consumers want control over their dining experience. Some of the top ways for innovating new fast food menu ideas include considering plant-based and global cuisine options, offering customizable bowls, and implementing seasonal and limited-time-only offers.
These nine chains prove that the fast food industry has entered its most experimental phase ever. Whether driven by social media virality, nostalgia marketing, or pure culinary curiosity, these innovations show that chains are willing to take serious risks to stand out. Some experiments fail spectacularly, while others become the next big thing that everyone copies. What do you think about these wild creations? Tell us in the comments.
