• by Teresa Buyikian , May 31, 2024

QSRs gear up for the unofficial start of summer with more dessert and beachy options.

Locations

Jollibee, the international Filipino fried chicken chain, announced the opening of its first location in Seattle on June 7. The new store marks the third Jollibee in Washington state and 101th store in North America.

Little Caesars has opened its latest location in the Bronx with local franchisee Suhel Ahmed. During the grand opening this week, the new location presented a grant of $1,000 to the Bronx Bethany Community Corporation, which supports children in the community facing food insecurity.

Naf Naf Middle Eastern Grill announced three new locations within Love's Travel Stops in Greenville, Virginia, Barstow, California, and a Tennessee location to be determined. The Greenville location is set to open in the second quarter, with the other two slated for the fourth quarter.

Menus

Chicken Salad Chick added a White Chocolate Layer Cake to its permanent menu, available as a slice or whole cake. The hand-frosted, homemade style item  features three layers of white chocolate sponge cake with butter and cream cheese frosting. The brand plans to expand its dessert offerings in the near future with additional flavors like Red Velvet, Chocolate Frosted and Caramel as seasonal offerings.

Playa Bowls has announced its new summer specials menu featuring hazelnut cocoa spread Nutella, available from June 4 to Sept. 3. The new offerings include the Beach Bum Bowl, which is Half Playa Acai Base, Half Stupid Cupid Base (strawberry, banana & coconut milk) and topped with blueberry flax granola, strawberry, banana and Nutella Cocoa Cold Brew. The Summer Vacay Coconut Protein Bites contain blueberry flax granola, coconut flakes, vanilla whey protein, honey, chia seeds, coconut oil and Nutella.

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue has expanded its craft beverage menu to include new signature offerings at select locations as part of its partnership with beverage platform Botrista. The new menu features two signature drinks, Lilikoi Lemonade and Lilikoi Smoothie (described as a “naturally sweet, tart & zesty lemonade refresher”) alongside a selection of boba teas (classic, taro, matcha, strawberry) and fruit smoothies (taro, strawberry, pineapple-coconut).

Taco Bell and Cheez-It have come together to launch two new limited-time items. The Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme contains the usual Crunchwrap staples such as seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, lettuce, sour cream and diced tomatoes, but the typical tostada shell is replaced with a Big Cheez-It (16x the size of a regular Cheez-It) cracker before being wrapped inside a tortilla that is then grilled. The Big Cheez-It Tostada features the Big Cheez-It cracker topped with layers of Taco Bell's seasoned beef, diced tomatoes, crisp lettuce, shredded cheese and cool reduced-fat sour cream.

The new items are available now in the Taco Bell app and nationwide on June 6.