Four food and beverage stories cut through this week's industry noise: Red Lobster's return of its signature Endless Shrimp promotion, Taco Bell's throwback limited-time menu, Ferrero Group's acquisition of grain brand Purely Elizabeth, and a voluntary recall of Outshine Fruit Bars over possible foreign matter contamination.
Menu Moves
Red Lobster brought back its Endless Shrimp promotion starting August 17 for a limited time, giving guests the ability to mix and match five shrimp preparations throughout their meal. The return of the promotion is a significant signal for casual dining operators: after the chain's well-publicized financial struggles — in which Endless Shrimp itself was partly blamed for margin pressure — its reintroduction as a limited-time offer rather than a permanent fixture reflects a more disciplined approach to value-driven promotions. For operators watching casual dining recovery trends, the move underscores how chains are recalibrating crowd-pleasing deals within tighter cost controls.
Taco Bell leaned hard into nostalgia with its Decades #TBTB menu, launching nationwide on August 20. The limited-time lineup revives four items from 2016 — the Naked Chicken Chalupa, Meximelt, Beefy Crunch Burrito, and Caramel Apple Empanada. Rewards members received early access to the Beefy Crunch Burrito beginning August 18. The rollout is a textbook example of loyalty-program-first sequencing, a strategy QSR operators across segments have adopted to drive app engagement before a broader public launch.
Acquisition and Recall
On the CPG side, Ferrero Group reached an agreement to acquire Purely Elizabeth, the Boulder, Colorado-based wellness brand founded in 2009. Purely Elizabeth has more than doubled its sales over the past two years, driven by its granola, oatmeal, and cereal portfolio, while also expanding into the protein segment. The deal extends Ferrero's footprint well beyond confectionery and into the fast-growing better-for-you breakfast and snacking category — a space that continues to attract heavyweight acquirers. Foodservice buyers and grocery and retail buyers tracking wellness trends should note the acquisition signals continued consolidation in the modern wellness grain segment.
Operators and retailers stocking frozen novelties need to be aware of a voluntary recall issued by Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. affecting select Outshine Fruit Bars due to possible foreign matter contamination. Products involved include Outshine Strawberry, Watermelon, Grape, Tangerine, and Black Cherry 6-Count 2.5-ounce Fruit Bars, as well as the Outshine 24-Count 2.5-ounce Variety Pack Fruit Bars. The affected lots were distributed to retailers nationwide. Operators with these SKUs on hand should pull inventory and check with their distributors for return and credit procedures immediately.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
