Taco Bell’s move to selling alcohol is not only an attempt to lure millennial consumers to its restaurants, it’s also another way for Taco Bell to better compete with Chipotle, which already features open kitchens and serves alcohol, Money reports.
Advertisement
The next cantina will open later this month in San Francisco.
Whether Taco Bell can make the transition remains to be seen.
What do you think of Taco Bell’s planned cantina restaurants? Further, with the eco-friendly designs and inclusion of alcohol in the menu, Taco Bell will be able to connect with the young generation, who are gradually moving away from fast food concepts.
Taco Bell is the latest Yum!-owned fast food brand to get an upmarket version.
Taco Bell cantina will also have a hip, new look, which will focus on “simplifying and modernizing the restaurant experience”, according to the press release. ‘Can you imagine buying an acre of land in a neighborhood like [Chicago’s] Wicker Park?
In other words, cantina is not truly different in the marketplace, just new for Taco Bell, and may fall short in the sales department once the novelty wears off.
Taco Bell is treading carefully into booze. Next week a Chicago Taco Bell will be offering up alcohol.
Ahead of the opening of the Chicago location, Borkan agreed to hire a security guard for weekend nights to assuage concerns from some neighbors that his Taco Bell will become a center of drunken shenanigans and underage drinkers. Stack Wine comes in individually sealed, one-serving containers from which drinkers only need peel off a lid to get to their wine.
The Wicker Park restaurant’s brick walls and prismatic glass were restored to help preserve the 100-year-old building.
Advertisement
As part of Taco Bell’s overall growth plan, the brand is on a path to add 2,000 stores to its portfolio by 2022. These new joints will not only have a tapas-style menu, but they’ll also serve booze! Cantina restaurants will also feature a new tapas-style menu of shareable appetizers – including nachos and rolled tacos – during designated hours each evening, in addition to the full standard Taco Bell Menu. The restaurant will open on Tuesday, September 22. When asked about working for the chain, Kim said, “At first, I was a little resistant to agreeing to work for this big corporation, but I knew if I didn’t do it, they’d find some 21-year-old to take the job”.
