Burger King New Chicken Fries Are Back

If you've ever wondered why Burger King Coupons , McDonald's and KFC consistently "bring back" shelved menu items (respectively, Chicken Fries, McRib/Shamrock Shake, the Double Down "sandwich") for a limited time, the key reason is simple: Quick-serve restaurants (QSRs) need to give Joe Consumer—who tires of the same old menu items all the time—a buzzy/fun reason to start patronizing their locations again.

Marketing the return of such menu items via social media is practically a no-brainer. For instance, since launching #chickenfriesareback on Monday, Burger King has averaged 380 tweets a minute while garnering 150,000 total social media mentions in the campaign's first 72 hours, according to Eric Hirschhorn, CMO of the Miami-Dade County, Fla.-based company.

"Over time, people forget what it is you have in the restaurant," he said, explaining the "bring back" strategy employed by so many QSRs. "So you bring things back for a period of time, and then you make business decisions based on that."