Salted Caramel Pancakes Are Now At Denny's For Its New Influencer Menu
Anyone using social media, be it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or any other forum, is probably wildly aware of the effect social media influencers can have. Influencers have become so important to companies' marketing campaigns that 2017 was named "the year of the influencer [based on] their unprecedented proclivity for conversion and reach" (via Forbes).
Food companies have also been using influencer marketing to reach consumers. Chick-fil-A provided influencers with a user-specific loyalty card that afforded them the opportunity to eat one free meal per day and had fans chomping at the bit. According to TikTok influencer @ashleeonair, her post about loyalty cards went so viral that Chick-fil-A "[stopped] doing them and [gave] out gift cards" instead. Recently, Heinz promoted its Halloween-themed tomato blood ketchup with the help of TikTok influencer EJ Marcus, who dressed up as "a vegetarian vampire."
And Denny's is no different. Earlier this year, it announced that it would be releasing a Social Stars Influenced Menu and has already updated its items with new options from various social media stars. There's one in particular that Denny's probably hopes fans will go bananas for.
Denny's has salted caramel and banana pancakes
In February, Denny's debuted its influencer menu, which boasts "iconic menu items" partly shaped by a batch of 24 TikTok creators, per a press release. The company announced that the offerings would roll out in bursts, beginning with three items inspired by three pairs of influencers. Recently, Denny's introduced a new batch of menu items, including It's Bananas Salted Caramel Pancakes.
According to a company press release, the pancakes come "with layers of shortbread cookie pieces" along with "vanilla cream, fresh bananas, more shortbread crumbles, and a salted caramel drizzle." The meal is rounded out with either sausage or bacon as well as eggs and hashbrowns. For this dish, Denny's teamed up with influencers Cy Nguyen (@cylovesfrogs) and Achieng Agutu (@noordinarynoire). Social media users may have seen Nguyen on TikTok making Vietnamese spare ribs with a sticky sweet sauce, coconut soda, and quail eggs, or visiting a lobster food truck, among other food-filled adventures. Agutu, a self-described "tantalizing confidence queen," is what Vogue described as "a life coach meets hype girl" who offers positive messages and dons colorful outfits in posts.
This isn't the first time Denny's has offered a salted caramel and banana pancake. In 2017, it had a similar offering, and at least some of the reviews were fab. One YouTuber called Karebear described the pancakes as "delicious" and lauded them as fluffy and tasty. Another reviewer, WrecklessEating, said they had a "freaking awesome flavor."