Taco Bell lobster? Chain goes high-end with U.S. Taco Co. restaurant
Which restaurant鈥檚 newest menu offerings include grilled mahi, molecajete salsa, and fresh lobster? Your last guess is probably the right one: Taco Bell.
The restaurant chain primarily known for bright orange cheese, 聽and taco shells made of Doritos is going upscale with a new restaurant concept in Huntington Beach, Calif.
U.S. Taco Co., Taco Bell鈥檚 effort at high-end, fast-casual fare, opens its first location Monday, and its menu doesn鈥檛 feature anything remotely resembling a Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Items include 10 specialty tacos with cheeky names and distinct geographical characters, from the Southeastern United States to the Hawaiian islands.
The 鈥淪outhern Squealer,鈥� for example, features pulled pork in a peach jalape帽o barbecue sauce. 鈥淏rotherly Love,鈥� a play on a philly cheesesteak, offers up carne asada steak, roasted pablano peppers, and queso.
鈥淲e take the ordinary and flip it on its head,鈥� reads a statement 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e Tacos, Fries, and Shakes. That鈥檚 it. No nachos, no burritos. Just Tacos. But, not your ordinary tacos 鈥� this is the 鈥淭he Best of America in a Taco.鈥� We take the best regional dishes from around America, add some great Mexican flavors, and serve them up in open-faced tacos. It鈥檚 kind of like a food truck you don鈥檛 have to chase.鈥�
The tacos run between $3.25 and $4.75 each. 鈥淭he 1%er鈥� a taco loaded with fresh lobster, sells for $10.
This isn鈥檛 Taco Bell鈥檚 first effort to appeal to a more sophisticated clientele. In 2012, the chain launched its Cantina Bell menu, taking direct aim at rival Chipotle with upscale ingredients like black beans and grilled chicken (and slightly higher prices to match). But U.S. Taco Co. targets clients who aren鈥檛 likely to enter a fast food restaurant in the first place, according to with Taco Bell CEO Jeff Creed in Nation鈥檚 Restaurant News back in April.
Taco Bell鈥檚 developmental team went with a taco concept, in part, to separate itself from the onslaught of burrito concepts in the world of fast-casual Mexican food. But U.S. Taco Co. is also part of the growing realization that traditional fast food might be an eventual dead end, at least in the United States. Fast food giants like McDonald鈥檚 and Yum! Brands (Taco Bell鈥檚 parent company) have been watching their US sales struggle for years now as Chipotle and other fast-casual chains, viewed as a step healthier and fresher, grow by leaps and bounds. As a result, established fast food brands are testing their own fast-casual and full-service restaurants.
Chipotle, the leader in the space, has launched Asian and Pizza fast-casual concepts Pizzeria Locale and Shophouse in limited locations over the past year or so.聽 Last summer, KFC, Taco Bell鈥檚 Yum! Brands sibling, began聽 testing KFC Eleven in Kentucky.聽 Sbarro鈥檚 try at a higher-end pizza chain, Cucinova,聽 has opened three new sit-down pizza restaurants in Ohio.
Taco Bell鈥檚 namesake restaurants, meanwhile, have managed to turn things around by going the other way, offering cheap, outrageous food not even purporting to be nutritious. Creed told Nation鈥檚 Restaurant News that he wants to double the chain鈥檚 sales by 2020 and add about 2,000 additional locations.
But if Americans eventually abandon traditional fast food altogether, Taco Bell hopes to have U.S. Taco Co. as a backup plan.聽
