With the launch of its new Cantina Bell menu, Taco Bell hopes to move into the more upscale fast-food circuit currently occupied by Chipotle. The new menu -- which had been tested in Bakersfield, California and Louisville, Kentucky -- will hit stores nationally early next month.
The offerings from the Cantina Bell, created by Miami chef Lorena Garcia, feature fresher, healthier ingredients like "black beans, 'fire-roasted' corn salsa, cilantro rice, pico de gallo and citrus- and herb-marinated chicken," according to Adage.com. Although the menu options might remind Taco Bell lovers directly of the competition -- namely, Chipotle -- they'll be less expensive. Executives hope that the new flavors will make Taco Bell popular with new audiences, especially women.
Brian Nicol, an executive at Taco Bell, gives nearly all the credit for the innovation to Garcia. "She brought a lot of new thinking, a lot of fresh approaches to our ingredients that change the flavor profile of the brand," he said. Garcia began working with Taco Bell in 2010, and she will be competing in the Bravo channel's reality show Top Chef Masters this summer. If customers don't like the items on the Cantina Bell menu, there's no problem. Taco Bell will refund or exchange the product. This, however, isn't likely. "Our experience has been when they try it, nobody's returning them," Nicol said.
This isn't the only change happening at the chain restaurant. First, it introduced a breakfast menu to West Coast locations in January, and executives say that they hope to expand the breakfast options nation-wide by 2014. Then, Taco Bell changed its slogan in February from "Think outside the bun" to "Live Mas." Most recently, the restaurant created the "Doritos Locos Taco." The new product uses a taco shell made out of nacho cheese-flavored Doritos. It is the most popular Taco Bell product ever, according to The Huffington Post, selling approximately 100 million in its first 10 weeks. In contrast, it took McDonald's about 18 years before it sold 100 million burgers. FoodBest is reporting that the popularity of the Doritos Locos taco has inspired Taco Bell to create a Cool Ranch variety and a Hot-and-Spicy version.
