How we cover new menu drops
New items, returns, limited runs and goodbyes from the chains we cover, written in our own words with a public source for every story.
Where drops come from
We follow the newsrooms of restaurant chains and established food news sites, listed at the bottom of this page. We only read the feeds that publishers offer for that purpose. Our reader identifies itself as DupeEatsBot, checks each feed every two hours at most and respects robots.txt.
From each source we keep only the headline, the link and the date. We never republish an article’s text or images. If you run one of these sources and would rather we didn’t follow your feed, tell us and we’ll stop. Contact us.
What makes a drop
A drop is a menu item at a chain we cover that is new, back, available for a limited time, in a test, sold only in some areas, leaving soon or discontinued.
We leave out company news, lawsuits, recalls, health and nutrition stories, alcohol, toys and merch, apps and loyalty programs, and coupons or giveaways.
How we check
Every story has at least one public source. Stories we publish automatically also need a source from the chain itself or two independent ones, recent dates, no copied text and no health claims. Stories that don’t pass wait or are dropped. If in doubt, we don’t publish.
What we write
Today, summaries are written automatically from the sources’ headlines and our product catalog, using fixed templates, without AI. Each story says how it was written.
If we ever use AI to help write a story, the story will say so, every fact will still have to come from the sources it links, and it will be checked automatically against them before it’s published. How we use AI.
Each summary is short, in our own words, gives the date the news was reported and links every source we used, so you can read the original story. We never copy articles or use brand or press photos. When we have a real photo of the exact product, we use it. Otherwise we use a freely licensed photo of the same kind of food, labeled “Illustrative photo”, or a simple text tile.
We don’t add prices, taste opinions or anything the sources don’t say.
Weekly roundup
Every Monday we publish a roundup of the drops published the week before, Monday to Sunday (UTC). See the weekly roundups.
Corrections
Spotted a mistake? Use Report a problem on the story, or contact us with the link. If we got it wrong, we fix it or take it down.
Sources we follow
Chain newsrooms
- Chipotle Newsroom (opens in a new tab)
- Dunkin’ Newsroom (opens in a new tab)
- Inspire Stories – Arby’s (opens in a new tab)
- Inspire Stories – Sonic (opens in a new tab)
- Subway Newsroom (opens in a new tab)
- Wingstop (opens in a new tab)
Food news
- Brand Eating (opens in a new tab)
- Foodbeast (opens in a new tab)
- Parade (Food) (opens in a new tab)
- Sporked (opens in a new tab)
- Tasting Table – Fast food (opens in a new tab)
Industry news
- Grocery Gazette (opens in a new tab)
- Nation’s Restaurant News (opens in a new tab)
- PR Newswire – Restaurants (opens in a new tab)
- QSR Magazine (opens in a new tab)
What we never do
No paid placements, no sponsored drops and no affiliate links in drops. Chain names are used only to say which item a story is about.
DupeEats is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the restaurants or brands mentioned.