As it had been previously reported, the biggest Tex-Mex fast food chain in the world is planning to expand further than the fast food concept towards a more Chipotle-like environment to catch a new public (namely, the so-called millennial generation) through the Taco Bell Cantina, now open in two venues across the country.
The Taco Bell Cantina, now open in Chicago and San Francisco, is the new fast casual concept from the chain, serving up different kinds of alcoholic beverages (such as beer, wine, Sangria and spiked up Freezes), as the company tries to gain back some of the customers Chipotle has taken away.
NPR describes the look of the first Taco Bell Cantina, located around Wicker Park in Chicago, as something unlike a regular Taco Bell location, rather saying that it "looks like Taco Bell saw how Chipotle dressed on the first day of junior high and begged its mom to get it the same clothes."
However, unlike a regular restaurant from the Yum! Brands company, the Taco Bell cantina is described as a fun place to stay at instead of the regular "purgatory" the queues and the like end up becoming for its patrons.
As San Francisco Gate reports, describing the San Francisco location near AT&T Park, other features in the Taco Bell Cantina include large flat screen televisions, different power outlets that can even be plugged through USB ports and a drive-thru app for a "mobile pickup window" service, as well as a new grade of menu items besides the usual Taco Bell ones, including vegetarian nachos.
According to San Francisco Chronicle, this hip new venture is the first official Taco Bell in the city, as the franchise in the region, Golden Gate Bell, operates 85 locations throughout the Bay Area, but it has mostly focused on the suburbs so far, as the proper city has something of an allergy to the more traditional fast food restaurants.
In any case, check out some pictures of the new Taco Bell Cantina below!
Taco Bell tries to be hip, woo millennials with new Cantina concept https://t.co/2GPPW8Mo3O pic.twitter.com/EQ7QOEPcpc
— SFGate (@SFGate) September 25, 2015
Take a look around America's second boozy @TacoBell, now open in SoMA https://t.co/4TpEhfbCvA pic.twitter.com/xojBKuGk1R — Eater SF (@eatersf) September 25, 2015
Is Cantina the new techie taquito target for @tacobell? via @Esther_mobley https://t.co/Ei7eV581S9 pic.twitter.com/XhKSMozUNe
— The Chronicle (@sfchronicle) September 25, 2015
