A fast-food executive explains how the 'Costco factor' is helping chains introduce increasingly bizarre foods to the menu

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A fast-food executive explains how the 'Costco factor' is helping chains introduce increasingly bizarre foods to the menu

Sonic

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

A sampling of Sonic's menu.

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  • Fast-food menus have been filled with bizarre menu items, but few have been as controversial as Sonic's pickle juice slush.
  • Sonic manages to convince shoppers to buy pickle juice slush and other more out-there menu items with a strategy that one executive described to Business Insider as "the Costco factor."
  • By offering mega-deals on bizarre menu items, Sonic and other fast-food chains convince customers to give them a chance - similar to Costco's emphasis on offering free samples to prompt customers to make a purchase.

Fast-food menus are weird - and they're getting weirder.

Taco Bell debuted a taco with an egg shell. Tim Hortons rolled out a super-limited release of a Buffalo sauce-flavored latte. And, Sonic has its pickle juice slush.

"People's minds are open to trying things," Scott Uehlein, Sonic's vice president of product innovation and development, told Business Insider.

One reason for the increasingly adventurous menu is what Uehlein calls the "Costco factor."

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"You walk into Costco, and you can basically have your lunch there," Uehlein said. The abundance of free samples are geared toward convincing people in buying things that they may have otherwise not added to their shopping carts.

"Costco, if you watch what they taste, it's things that are $10, $11, $12, not things that are $2," Uehlein said. "There's a high barrier of entry there."

Sonic

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Sonic's pickle juice slush.

Sonic had adapted that strategy to the fast-food chain's own needs.

"Five years ago, I might have had to put out tiny little taste cups and tell people 'try the pickle juice slush,'" Uehlein said. "Now, we can sell it at happy hour, so you can try it for not a lot of money."

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With deals and bundling more out-there items with more standard fare, Sonic has been able to debut Uehlein's sometimes twisted creations - pickle slushes, burgers that substitute beef for mushrooms, and footlong Philly Cheesesteaks served in hot dog buns.

According to Uehlein, convincing customers to try and item - just once - is crucial in making the item a beneficial addition to the menu in the long term. Pickle juice slush, for example, sounds repulsive - but if people are able to get it half price, they might realize that it is shockingly enjoyable and keep buying the limited-time offering while it's on the menu.

It also helps that people are getting more adventurous in general about what they're interested in eating. People are seeking out more complex, creative, and sometimes simply strange options, so menus are naturally going to get weirder as a result.

"I think our palates are growing up," Uehlein said.

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