33 fast-food menu items you will never be able to order again
Kate Taylor
- Taco Bell and Subway have cut some major menu items amid the coronavirus pandemic, including the Mexican chain's Nachos Supreme and sub shop's roast beef sandwich.
- Other lost menu items in recent memory include Chick-fil-A's cole slaw and McDonald's McWraps.
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing fast-food chains to slash items off their menus. And some may never return.
It's time to say so long to potatoes at Taco Bell. The era of Subway roast beef sandwiches is also over. And french fries — not potato wedges — now reign supreme at KFC.
It isn't unheard of for lost menu items to return from the dead. And some chains — such as McDonald's — have said some of the items that were removed during the pandemic will be served once again as business stabilizes.
But these 33 fast-food favorites, some dating back to the 1990s, seem likely to be lost forever. Whether they were cut due to the pandemic or because they fell out of favor with diners, customers will no longer find these items on menu boards.
Taco Bell recently announced plans to cut potatoes from the menu.
The chain confirmed late last month that it would cut items, including Taco Bell's Spicy Potato Soft Taco, Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, and Cheesy Potato Loaded Grillers from its menu in August.
Read more: Taco Bell is slashing potatoes from the menu, and vegan and vegetarian customers are furious
Taco Bell also cut the Nachos Supreme and a host of other items from the menu.
Here's the full list of items Taco Bell is cutting from its menu in August, in addition to potatoes:
Tacos
- Grilled Steak Soft Taco
Burritos
- 7-Layer Burrito
Specialties
- Quesarito (still available via web/app for order ahead)
- Nachos Supreme
Cravings Value
- Beefy Fritos Burrito
- Spicy Tostada
- Triple Layer Nachos
Snacks
- Loaded Grillers
- Chips & Dips
Breakfast
- Mini Skillet Bowl
KFC is swapping potato wedges for fries.
In June, KFC confirmed to Business Insider that it was cutting its iconic potato wedges from the menu. Instead, customers would be forced to order fries.
Read more: KFC is replacing its iconic potato wedges with fries, and customers are furious
Subway cut roast beef and rotisserie chicken from its line up earlier this summer.
In June, customers began complaining on social media that Subway was no longer selling roast beef or rotisserie chicken. On Twitter, the company said that "some" locations may still be carrying the ingredients.
Read more: Subway faces backlash after slashing roast beef and rotisserie chicken from the menu
While the pandemic forced more chains to cut down menus, many were already trying to simplify options for customers. For example, Dunkin' announced plans to cut 10% of its menu in 2018, including smoothies.
Dunkin' also got rid of afternoon sandwiches and some breakfast items.
"It really started with our franchisees being concerned about how complicated our menu was and how difficult it is to train employees, and find employees as a result," Dunkin' Brands' then-CEO Nigel Travis told Business Insider.
"Secondly, we realized ourselves that we have a lot of items that probably needed to be culled, so to speak," Travis said.
McDonald's took its premium Signature Crafted Recipes burgers and sandwiches off the menu in 2019.
Options like the mushroom-and-Swiss burger and the bacon smokehouse buttermilk crispy chicken sandwich were cut, with kitchens dropping ingredients like Swiss cheese, white cheddar cheese, and garlic herb mushrooms.
McDonald's introduced its more expensive Signature Crafted Recipes in 2017.
Read more: McDonald's is killing its heavily hyped fancy burger lineup 2 years after launch
Chili's slashed its menu by 40% in 2017, losing items such as Mango Tilapia and Buffalo Fried Cauliflower.
Chili's ditched trendy items in favor of classics, such as burgers, ribs, and fajitas.
Read more: Chili's is removing dozens of items from its menu — here's what's being cut
Chick-fil-A stopped serving cole slaw in 2016.
The chicken chain ditched the option to make way for its "superfood" side featuring kale and broccolini.
Other lost Chick-fil-A menu items include the spicy-chicken biscuit, oatmeal, and cinnamon clusters
The fast-food chain quietly dropped the spicy-chicken biscuit, oatmeal, and cinnamon clusters from its breakfast menu in 2016 to make way for the Egg White Grill.
However, if you still miss the spicy-chicken biscuit, it is served in 44 cities across the US.
Read more: Chick-fil-A is quietly changing its menu, and people are devastated
Burger King's heavily-hyped hot dogs quietly disappeared from the menu.
When Burger King rolled out grilled hot dogs in 2016, the chain promised they would be a permanent menu item — despite immediate backlash against the addition.
Taco Bell aggressively advertised the Waffle Taco when the chain launched breakfast in 2013, only to kill the menu item two years later.
The Waffle Taco was replaced by the Biscuit Taco in 2015. Neither item is currently on Taco Bell's menu.
Fans have been desperate for Taco Bell to bring back the Beefy Crunch Burrito.
Support for the Beefy Crunch Burrito is one of the most organized movements in fast-food. Fans have leveraged social media in efforts to bring the menu item, which first debuted in 2011, primarily through a Facebook page with more than 70,000 followers.
However, organizers have been disappointed by the lack of progress. The founder of the movement — Richard Axton — ultimately quit in 2019, saying he was discouraged by Taco Bell's response.
Read more: Taco Bell customers are attacking the brand — and executives are thrilled
McDonald's killed the McWrap in 2016.
The change came just three years after McDonald's introduced Premium McWraps in 2013.
Read more: McDonald's is killing the menu item it created to take down Subway
McDonald's Chicken Selects are gone, but not forgotten.
McDonald's "premium" version of chicken nuggets had an 11-year run from 2002 to 2013. McDonald's debuted Buttermilk Crispy Tenders, in 2017, in an attempt to fill the Chicken Select hole left in customers' hearts.
McDonald's also killed its Mighty Wings in 2013.
The short-lived menu item was too spicy for some customers' taste.
McDonald's stopped selling McSalad Shakers almost two decades ago.
These disappeared in the early 2000s, but some fans are still holding out hope they will one day return.
McDonald's discontinued the Arch Deluxe in the late '90s.
McDonald's spent roughly $150 million to $200 million to advertise the Arch Deluxe when it launched in 1996, which was the most expensive promotional campaign in fast-food history to date, The New York Times reported.
While it failed to win over customers, McDonald's later tested a revamped Archburger at a handful of locations in early 2018.
Read more: McDonald's is bringing back one of its most expensive failures — with one major difference
Another vintage McDonald's menu item was the chain's pizza.
McDonald's hoped its pizza would help the chain compete against Domino's and Pizza Hut. But today there is just one McDonald's location in the US serving pizza — a restaurant in Florida that added the menu item in 2016.
Taco Bell also has some old-school lost menu items, such as the Bell Beefer.
The Bell Beefer featured taco meat, onions, lettuce, and mild Border Sauce. It was supposed to help the chain compete with rivals McDonald's and Burger King. However, customers lost interest in the Bell Beefer, and it later disappeared from menus by the mid '90s.
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