Let’s just be blunt: a bunch of major companies are kind of cheating.
Within the spicy, spunky idea of “a secret menu” they can vaguely betray or run free of their usual brand values, and in some cases fail to comply with simple regulations about providing nutritionals.
So those bread vendors at Panera can go gluten free without admitting anything is wrong with gluten.
Chipotle can just declare that it teaches its employees to be responsive to customer requests and never admit they have an official secret menu. Then they sort of wink. <— (That link is a really entertaining story in fastcodesign, there, from late February.)
Taco Bell is the same way; they defend the practice by pointing out that their customers are creative.
Most flagrantly, McDonald’s can ring up your McGangBang on its register without ever even knowing what you’re talking about.
[IMPORTANT: Don’t spend very much time thinking about what was going on in the mind of the first lady (the older lady in the car wearing a purplish-blue shirt) when she was guessing what a McGangBang was.]
Which is all fine except it gets them out of posting calorie counts.
And after crowing about their willingness to do so last year.
At least In-n-Out—who kind of gets credit for the original idea, or at least lays claim to it—owns its secret:
But it still doesn’t list the nutritionals.
