• by Teresa Buyikian , January 26, 2024

Love is in the air, and  Valentine’s Day menus are coming to restaurants nationwide. Here’s a roundup of this week’s industry goings-on.

New Menu Items

Baskin-Robbins has two new cakes for Valentine’s Day, available throughout February. The first, Love Potion #31, is a combination of white chocolate and raspberry flavored ice creams, with raspberry-filled chocolate flavored hearts, raspberry swirls and chocolate flavored chips. The second is the Crazy for You Cake, a heart-shaped cake covered in fudge accents and chocolate drips, OREO Cookie and buttercream rosettes, and can be personalized.

Dunkin is celebrating Valentine’s Day with the return of its limited time only themed sweets. Two heart-shaped donuts make their comeback – the Brownie Batter Donut, which contains a brownie batter-flavored butter creme filling, chocolate icing and Valentine’s Day inspired sprinkles; and the Cupid’s Choice Donut, which is filled with Bavarian Kreme and topped with strawberry-flavored icing and red and pink sprinkles. The Jan. 31 launches also will include the Pink Velvet Macchiato and a Frosty Red Velvet Donut, as well as Valentine’s Day merch in store.

Pei Wei Asian Kitchen has added Firecracker Shrimp to their menu. The dish combines large crispy shrimp, wok-tossed in the chain’s sweet and spicy Firecracker sauce and topped with scallions. Pei Wei has also announced the return of the Salmon Poke Bowl, a combination of honey-ginger marinated salmon poke, scallions, cucumbers, pickled ginger, crispy onions, and cilantro, served over mixed greens and sushi rice, and topped with the chain’s Yum Yum sauce.

Wendy’s has added a new Breakfast Burrito to its menu. The burrito contains two egg, six strips of applewood smoked bacon, breakfast potatoes, two slices of American cheese and cheese sauce wrapped in a tortilla. The burrito will be available in over 4,500 Wendy's restaurants in select regions across the U.S.

White Castle has launched its White Castle Love Kit, a Valentine’s Day-themed at-home meal kit that includes 12 Sliders: four Original Sliders, four Classic Cheese Sliders and four Jalapeño Cheese Sliders, along with preparation instructions. The kit also includes dill pickles, 12 Valentine's Day-themed Slider boxes, a White Castle-scented candle and a collection of exclusive "Craventine" cards to share.

New Locations

Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ, the fast-casual restaurant chain that features local craft and domestic beers and ciders on a self-serve beer wall as well as axe-throwing lanes, has opened its latest location in Mansfield, Texas.

The Habit Burger Grill has opened a new drive-thru location in Lexington, marking its fifth restaurant in South Carolina. The new location will host exclusive pre-opening VIP events for its CharClub and mobile app members.

Red Ribbon Bakeshop has opened its second New York location in Brooklyn. The bakery chain specializes in unique Filipino inspired sweets, such as the Mango Supreme Cake and Ube Overload Cake.