Navigating a dollar menu to get the most bang for your buck can be a little like
knowing the secret password to get into that underground club
and no restaurant has more effectively put its dollar menu to good use than
taco bell so here are the top 10 untold truths of taco bell's dollar menu
i'd like um how do you say taco and mexican
taco yes that's exactly the word i want to translate
it pre-dates mcdonald's dollar menu no i came here first you'd be forgiven for
assuming mcdonald's did it first considering they are the simpsons of
fast food restaurants but taco bell actually has the edge when
it comes to affordable food in fact its original attempts at a value
menu were even cheaper in 1989 two years before mcdonald's even
toyed with the concept taco bell began offering menu items for
as little as 59 cents the menu was fairly simplistic
but it served as a precursor to what we currently have at our disposal the
menu's first commercials aired with the promise that customers could get a taco
for 59 cents a supreme taco for 79 cents and
a big beef taco for 99 cents with inflation rates these numbers would be a
little more than a dollar but at the time it was a fairly big risk
it was launched as a strategy to create a perception that the restaurant offered
the cheapest fast food on the market one industry
consultant loved the idea's simplicity noting that there tended to be a lot of
confusion with menus often with different items costing oddly
priced amounts with taco bell you knew what you were
getting by all accounts the gamble paid off with taco bell becoming the best
performing chain restaurant in the country
i don't think i need to see the other exhibits first prize
not all taco bells have a dollar menu problem
if you should find yourself at one of the rare taco bell locations that does
not feature a dollar menu of any kind continue to search further social media
reports seem to confirm that most airport locations do not offer a dollar
menu as well as some locations near
universities but there's no real rhyme or reason as
to why that we've been able to find to clearly
outline a basis for which locations do and do not offer the cheapest option so
it pays to do your research prank or study prank or study you would
think that any location catering to the college crowd would make a dollar menu a
top priority if anyone needs some cheap eats it's all
the students out there trying to make ends meet uh two for one
sun pure frozen entree how about that the joys of menu hacking programs
hacking programs it may not come as much of a surprise
that the key to mastering a dollar menu to really maximize its full potential is
that you have to know the ins and outs of cost benefit
to the untrained eye when it comes to taco bell's menu
it may seem like a mishmash of tasty treats to get on the run
but to the true connoisseur one could easily paint a vast
canvas of a meal there's no shortage of handy guides online that will help you
organize your order to create the best most lavish dining experience you can
possibly get on couch cushion money and we recommend you
cycle through a few find the right combinations to customize
your plate part of the fun in doing this isn't so much the knowledge that you've
saved money but so you can feel like you outsmarted
the system reconfigured it to meet your
requirements bent it to your will so to speak ultimately we know this
isn't true the power the customer wields is fairly relegated to pointing and
clicking but there is some pleasure in feeling as
if you took a multi-billion dollar business for a ride
i'm a businessman with a business dollar menu origins invaders possibly
from space it's no surprise that taco bell didn't
have an easy time landing in america like many immigrants
it had trouble finding its footing the primary struggle was convincing
americans that mexican food wasn't that much of a stretch from what they were
used to eating they had the latino community
but convincing the rest of the country that the cuisine wasn't too spicy from
their normal diet would take work worse the company was resorting to
hispanic stereotypes cartoons sombreros and mariachi bands to
promote their product john e martin who took over the company
in 1983 saw only one solution make the prices so
low customers would have to be crazy to
resist sure could go for 100 tacos right about now
from there his plan to win over the hearts and minds of the country
and prove that tacos were just as tasty as burgers would just
fall into place while martin's overall plan was in the right direction
it wasn't well developed a single taco that should have cost
79 cents went for 39 cents so while transactions were exceeding
even the most optimistic potential future
their profit margins were crashing the launch of the value menu was
actually an increase in price slowly raising them to the correct margins over
time by 1990 the prices were adjusted
correctly business was moving at a clip and money was finally coming in their
operating profits had been upped by 26 as for the rest of the rebrand it was
only a matter of time before taco bell succumbed to more floral coloring
and even more stereotypical marketing from there
it was just a few steps to a talking chihuahua
hello friend cost is not always less children so naive one would assume
items are relegated to a dollar menu to accompany other
equally priced items to create a custom meal that is cheaper than whatever
generic combo the restaurant traditionally offers
but to assume this completely negates where a dollar menu is most effective
business-wise in 2014 taco bell began offering the cravings dollar menu which
included 11 popular items for the flat rate of a single dollar
plus tax unless you're in delaware even those in the car who may not be fans of
mexican cuisine could enjoy snacks like cinnamon twists
and more american offerings like the cheese roll-up while it may be less
expensive to put such items on a dollar menu it actually increases their price
by a penny granted this isn't exactly much of an increase
considering wendy's and mcdonald's were busy putting two dollar
items on their dollar menu and given how much we all perk up when it comes to
savings the difference is noticeable most
customers may not have noticed but some have caught the dark twisted
secret and not really cared quite honestly
i've seen too much dollar or value menu that's a tough choice in december of
2018 taco bell finally accepted the fact that
they had to make some adjustments the cravings dollar menu now under the
control of yum brands dropped the word dollar and subbed in
value which is never a good sign anything that
suggests a lack of transparency is never going to side with the old maxim
of the customer never failing in judgment and this was no
exception customers noticed rather glaringly obvious five dollar tacos
right next to their preferred cheap fix but this came as little
surprise no amount of pr could change one
irrefutable fact mcdonald's still sets the rules and taco
bell followed follow me taco bell's announcement of
their revamped value menu was loaded with quotes from high-level
executives about the care they put into what the menu means to a customer
but it was clear they were following the trend of competitors
the previous year mcdonald's launched the one two and three dollar value menus
offering a new echelon of variety each leveled at a cost
interestingly mcdonald's strategy wasn't all that much of a success
but that didn't change competitors from also revamping
just what they were willing to charge for certain luxuries
but tonight we're competitors taco bell breakfast for a buck
but i always tell you breakfast is a big boy's most important meal of the day
until mcdonald's recent push to serve breakfast all day
the industry looked at the most important meal of the day
as something best dealt with at the home front offering fairly limited breakfast
options that ended strictly at 10 a.m and worked best as quick on-the-go
meals caught between airport departures but just like
mcdonald's szechuan sauce being called for by rick and morty fans
so too was breakfast being demanded to be served for longer
sorry sir we stopped serving breakfast taco bell took notice
and today their dollar menu is special to date
they are the only major chain to offer items from the breakfast menu for a
dollar none of mcdonald's mcvalue menu is under
a dollar for breakfast nor at wendy's as for burger king it
only has three value breakfast items compared to
taco bell's five we imagine that when demolition man's
prognosticated franchise wars do begin the shot heard round the world will be
grounded on the battlefields of the breakfast table
it's the only legitimate answer to the lingering question of just
how taco bell was the sole surviving company
after those brutal days i'm a survivor taco bell dollar menu success
with the possible exception of dollar stores which are often falsely
advertised based on the name alone taco bell has benefited more than any
other company from their dollar menu we mentioned the uptick the menu had
made to business profits in 1989 but since then the menu has increased
business a total of 35 percent this could further enforce taco bell's
stability as many fast food restaurants are struggling
just this year even subway has seen a 25 drop in foot traffic and that's before
factoring in the untold damage the various global lockdowns will
cause i hope you're wearing masks sometimes so
how does taco bell manage to stay in business despite these unpredicted
restraints fairly well actually they were well
prepared long before word of antivirus caught the airwaves in the u.s
in 2018 the dollar menu was stacked with 20 items at the set
price the next year the addition of five dollar items on the value menu was
complemented with cheaper versions of other popular items like the double
chalupa as a result taco bell doesn't fear for
much in the coming years just it's not a big
deal welcoming vegetarians vegans and others
i can't go to taco bell i'm on an all-carb diet
it may be a long time coming before we see plant-based meat products on the
dollar menu at taco bell but considering the success the products have been
having at other restaurants such as burger king
there's probably no escaping this inevitable future
as we worry more about what we put in our bodies and as
meat costs production care and abuse raises concern amongst even the most
casual animal lover when presented with the facts
plant-based meat that actually approximates the taste of the real mccoy
appears to be the way of the future out of the way you and taco bell hasn't
been dismissive of this just last year their labs began
experimenting with food more suited to customers who abstain from meat for one
reason or another while the country may not have everyone
on board with the trend there really is no denying the potential
it has to sweep across the nation for just as there will always be a place
for die hard old-school meat eaters who can't get enough of it
so too will there be a market for sensible cautious diners
worried about what enters their digestive tract
i find it very uncomfortable i love eating
the limited time offer that offer was for a line of the time only
no customer really enjoys being informed that they only have a limited time to
try or purchase an item the entire marketing strategy
while effective tends to reek of a cash grab
disney studios attempted this with dvd releases of their classics
almost as though it were a veiled threat that they'd locked them back in the
disney vault why what is the customer meant to
experience with such a ploy essentially the company is acting
maliciously nevertheless we fall victim to the limited time stunts run by fast
food restaurants all the time why is it always me and taco bell is no
exception there is something to be said however
for the ingenuity they put forth in their limited offers
when an item on the dollar menu is described as being sold for a brief
window at least it's given the royal treatment
it deserves rarely do new additions to dollar menu
spark internet fire but last year taco bell was at the
center of such controversy when it unleashed
the double stacked taco fans of the item when it was on the more premium menu
lamented its sudden and mysterious disappearance
calling it the best item the restaurant has yet to offer
that all changed however last may when taco bell announced the double stack
would return but in dollar form that taco bell seized
this moment to launch the limited offer has left fans wondering whether or not
the double stack would become akin to mcdonald's occasionally
released mcrib something the item has been compared to
favorably on more than one occasion nevertheless it's now your dollar menu
sage customer use it wisely hungry for more tap
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