Wendy’s is offering a new pretzel Baconator for a limited time. The burger features a half-pound beef patty, topped with melted American cheese and six strips of Applewood-smoked bacon, served on a warm pretzel bun.

Burger King brought back several cheesy items to menus, including its melts and cheesy tater tots.

Making its return to Burger King’s menus are the classic melt and the bacon melt, and making its debut is the shroom n’ Swiss melt, which features two slices of toasted bread, layers with two Whopper Jr. patties, Swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms and Stacker Sauce. The cheesy tots are making their return for the first time since 2021.

White Castle is bringing back its Sloppy Joe, Spicy Joe and Smoky Joe sliders, as well as its mac & cheese nibblers.

The Sloppy Joe slider is made with lean ground beef, onions, tomatoes and bell peppers mixed with a sweet and tangy sauce. The Spicy Joe slider adds jalapeño cheese and jalapeño crisps, while the Smoky Joe slider has smoked cheddar and crispy onions.

The mac & cheese nibblers feature cheddar cheese and macaroni coated with a crispy batter.

Quiznos added a club peri peri sandwich to its menus for a limited time. The new sandwich features grilled chicken, creamy peri-peri sauce, bacon, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, jalapeños and melted cheese, all served on Italian white bread.

“Our guests are daring, and we strive to give them new, globally inspired flavor mashups that match that energy in a unique and delicious way while providing a filling meal,” said Mike Gieseman, vice president of culinary and innovation. “Following the lead of previous flavor mashups such as our kimchi Philly and big fat Greek sub, the club peri peri sandwich is the latest offering that pushes the boundaries of what guests expect from Quiznos.”

Krispy Kreme is partnering with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products to launch its first-ever “Elf” donut collection.

The new and returning flavors include:

• Buddy Snow Globe donut: A glazed donut dipped in sugar cookie light blue icing and white sprinkles and topped with both powdered sugary snow and a chocolate “Elf” piece.
• Buddy Makes Breakfast donut: A glazed donut topped with cake batter spaghetti butter crème, colorful milk chocolate candies, sprinkles and a maple drizzle.
• Christmas Lights donut: A glazed donut dipped in chocolate icing, drizzled with green icing, and topped with rainbow sprinkles and a chocolate “Elf” piece.
• Santa Belly donut: A donut stuffed with Cookies & Kreme filling, dipped in red icing, and decorated with Santa’s belt and belt buckle candy piece.

Subway offered a first bite of its new footlong chocolate chip cookie, which came to restaurants nationwide on National Cookie Day. On Dec. 4, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and New York, consumers could visit select Subway restaurants that were transformed into Cookieway and got one free footlong cookie with the purchase of any footlong sub.

Popeyes added chicken wings as permanent menu items for the first time. The chicken wings are available in five flavors including new honey BBQ, roasted garlic Parmesan and signature hot flavors, and returning flavors of ghost pepper and sweet ‘n spicy.

The Cheesecake Factory added a new peppermint stick chocolate swirl cheesecake to its menus, which features peppermint swirled with white and dark chocolate cheesecake, all on a mine chocolate brownie.

“We are so pleased to introduce a new holiday cheesecake,” said David Overton, founder and chief executive officer of The Cheesecake Factory Inc. “Our peppermint stick chocolate swirl cheesecake is a really delicious and festive new flavor, and we are very happy to add it to our legendary dessert lineup for the holidays.”

IHOP launched a limited-time lineup of products inspired by the new Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Wonka.” The new menu features several “whimsical” items, including purple pancakes, pancake tacos and more.

“IHOP has established itself as a highly creative and collaborative theatrical partner in the family dining category, and the latest ‘Wonka’ menu is the brand’s most creative partnership yet,” said Kieran Donahue, chief marketing officer at IHOP. “Every good thing in this world started with a dream, and we are excited to continue serving more joy to more people every day and bringing families together for breakfast, lunch or dinner with this innovative menu of original items, inspired by the story of Willy Wonka.”

Jimmy John’s is adding a new peppermint chocolate cookie to its shops for the holiday season.

“The obsession we see for our cookies year-round is incredible, but we had yet to launch a cookie made specifically for the holiday season — a time when cookies are truly top of mind for all,” said Dustin Hilinski, director of culinary innovation at Jimmy John’s. “This year, we set out to create a cookie that would both capture the flavors of the season while giving our loyal cookie fans an exciting, new treat to enjoy throughout the holidays.”