The Worst Food Collabs Of All Time

It’s no secret that we love a collab here at Sporked. We cover them constantly (Oreo’s new collab? We looked at that today! Subway’s new collab with Moana? Yesterday’s news, baby!). And there’s a reason why there are so many of them: They work. When two or more brands come together, Avengers-style, and make a new product, it gets people talking. It gets people purchasing. And most of the time, everyone’s happy. 

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That doesn’t quite happen all the time, though. There have been some food collabs that have gone down in history as some of the most misguided of all time. And here are our favorite misfires. Sorry to these brands.

French’s Mustard and Skittles

Back in 2023, Skittles and French’s Mustard decided that what the world was missing – nay, what the world needed – was candy that tasted like a hot dog condiment. And lo, mustard Skittles were born. The food world was promptly sent into a tizzy about this one, with the general sentiment being “really? Did we need this?” We didn’t, folks. We didn’t. 

Unsurprisingly, these Skittles weren’t exactly a must-have snack, unless you must have something that just tastes, well…strange. We tried these Skittles back in 2023 and gave them a 5/10. “I don’t really understand why anyone would buy these,” we said at the time. We still don’t. 

Burger King and Cheetos

Back in 2016, Burger King and Cheetos pulled a menu item we never knew we needed out of the bag: Cheetos Chicken Fries. The idea behind this one was that Cheetos dust would provide both flavor and crunch — and, naturally, that the collab would lead to a lot of buzz.

It did, but not in a good way. These chicken fries were an almost immediate clanger, due to the fact that the Cheetos dust either didn’t crisp up properly, leaving a soggy mess, or didn’t provide enough flavor. Customers took issue with one or the other and, often, both. Ultimately, a swing and a miss.

Compartés and Velveeta

Keeping in the vein of candy collaborations that take their core, successful flavors and spin them in wild directions, a couple of years back, we got cheese-flavored chocolate truffles from Compartés. Man, 2023 was an odd year, huh? We would understand if the cheese Compartés used in its truffles was an artisanal choice intended to create unexpectedly brilliant layers of flavor, but nope. It was Velveeta.

Not only were these truffles odd to look at, with their bright yellow shells, and bizarre to eat…they were also expensive. They came in at roughly $5 per chocolate. No thanks.

Arby’s and Old Spice

Sorry, Arby’s and Old Spice – this one still gives us the ick. In 2022, the two brands collaborated to promote, respectively, Arby’s’ Half Pound Roast Beef Sandwich and Old Spice’s Sweat Defense Dry Spray. The idea was that the spray would prevent the meat sweats you’d inevitably get from the sandwich. 

Now, call us old-fashioned, but sweat and food don’t necessarily make for great bedfellows. Unsurprisingly, this caused a big splash, marketing-wise – and unsurprisingly, it was a bit gross. 

Hidden Valley Ranch and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

Once again, we’re thrown back to 2023. What was in the water, we wonder? We’re not sure we want to know, because whatever it was produced the demon hybrid that was Hidden Valley Ranch and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. The two brands came together to make – yep – a ranch-flavored dessert. 

Is it any shock that it was a big ol’ dud? We gave this ice cream a paltry 2.5 out of 10 in our taste test, because, and who’d have thought it, ranch-flavored ice cream is pretty disgusting! We weren’t the only ones who thought so, either. Hard pass from the world on this one.