Cheapism/Auntie Anne's/Burger King/BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse
Every year around the first of April, at least a few fast-food joints dish up some absurd gimmick, trying to pass it off as the latest and greatest menu item. Fans will either lose their minds with excitement or stir up a disgruntled uproar online only to discover on April 2 that the whole thing was just a joke. Well, it's almost April, ya fools, and we're rounding up some of the most bonkers fast-food April Fools' Day pranks we've seen over the years.
BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse is a hand-crafted pizza joint that also offers pizza-cookie hybrids, known as Pizookies, on the dessert menu. Just in time for April Fool's Day this year, the chain has announced a pickle version of its cookie-pizza hybrid. While we know the pickle craze is going strong and the press release of this briney dessert swears up and down it's not a joke, we're on our tippy toes about it.
Related: The Most Indulgent Appetizers at BJ's and Other Popular Chain Restaurants
What started as an April Fool's Day prank developed into the burger with the most cult-like following at Culver's. Since the gimmick first came about, this burger — which is topped with a deep-fried slab of cheese — has popped back onto Culver's menu a couple of times.
Related: The Most Over-the-Top Fast Food of the Past 10 Years
The smell of Auntie Anne's pretzels is our siren song every time we stroll around the mall food court. It's salty, buttery, and downright mesmerizing. Still, we wouldn't choose it over Chanel No. 5 in the perfume department, so it's a good thing the pretzel joint's fragrance was a fluke.
Have you ever ordered a Big Mac and wished it was precisely 1/48th the size of the one you received? That's what McDonald's claimed the Micro Mac to be. It was a fit-within-a-pinch burger nibble that turned out to be a goofy gimmick after all. This didn't surprise many people since this gag wasn't all that believable to begin with.
Give us a second, guys. We have to shake off the shudders. This one makes us gag every time. We imagine the contents of a shake like this are similar to the goop they create fast-food chicken nuggets with, and not even whipped cream could make that stuff slurpable.
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Chick-fil-A suspiciously announced their first-ever foray into the beef market, the steak filet sandwich, on April 1, 2012. Here's a tip for you, folks: If a fast-food chain unveils an eyebrow-raising new menu item on April 1 or a couple of days ahead of it, you can bet your behind it's probably a prank. Alas, the chicken chain couldn't part ways with its cow holding the "Eat Mor Chikin" sign, so steak was a no-go.
