Viral Fast Food's Unholy Rise

Starting this month at IHOP, you can eat a Belgian waffle topped with chunks of New York cheesecake and blueberry compote. The chain’s Very Blueberry Cheesecake Waffullicious Waffle is also stuffed with cheesecake-flavored goo and more blueberries and, at 750 calories, makes a Big Mac feel lite. The waffle, which the menu describes as “lush,” tastes like a sickly sweet dessert. Lucky customers get a free stomachache.

“If you think all this sounds desperate, you’re right,” says Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant industry analyst at research firm NPD Group. She’s talking specifically about the blueberry cheesecake monster and its savory sibling, the Bac ’n’ Cheddar Waffullicious Waffle, but also more generally about the gluttonous stunt marketing that has spread throughout the fast-food industry. KFC has been mixing mashed potatoes, fried chicken, bacon, corn, cheese, and gravy in one bowl since 2011. In 2012, Pizza Hut briefly sold a pizza with a crust made out of cheeseburgers. In July, TGI Fridays began offering unlimited appetizers for $10. The Olive Garden recently sold a thousand $100 “Never Ending Pasta Passes,” which give people the chance to eat as much fettuccine Alfredo as they can keep down until early November.