For Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM)’s Taco Bell, thinking outside the bun means going gourmet.
The chain that once used a talking chihuahua to sell chalupas is working with Miami chef Lorena Garcia to win back eaters who have become accustomed to Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s (CMG) style of Mexican fare. Menu items will include Chipotle staples such as black beans, cilantro rice and corn salsa, Greg Creed, Taco Bell’s president, said last month.
Like 15 people alerted me to this news so I figured I should note it here — and thanks to all for the heads up — but I’m not sure it’s actually “news” per se. If you’ll recall, we heard reports of a “Chef’s Signature line” at Taco Bell as early as a month ago, and if that doesn’t imply “fancier versions of Taco Bell stuff,” I don’t know what does.
Also, it seems like a lot of people are taking speculation from industry experts and sources and running with it as fact here, and I’ll believe that Taco Bell will abandon traditional Taco Bell products when I’ve eaten the world’s last MexiMelt and not before.
Clearly Greg Creed is making some changes at Taco Bell — some of them long-anticipated — and I suppose a new line of gussied-up products to compete with Chipotle is a sensible one to try. But let’s not go assuming Taco Bell is going to become a straight-up Chipotle knockoff, because a) that’s not going to happen and b) I’m pretty sure no chain working to become Chipotle would simultaneously release a taco made from Doritos.
Long live Fourthmeal.
Tedquarters 