MenuMasters 2013: Taco Bell

Simple ideas sometimes yield the most significant breakthroughs. But ideation and execution are often different beasts, and such is the story of the wildly successful rollout of Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos.

That until 2010 no one had the idea to flavor the Irvine, Calif.-based Yum! Brands Inc. subsidiary’s standard corn taco shells with Doritos Nacho Cheese powder surprised even the 5,700-unit chain’s chief executive, Greg Creed.

“It’s a flavor marriage made in heaven, right?” Creed said.

But even the best marriages don’t achieve bliss without a few side trips through hell. And making the Doritos Nacho Cheese-flavored shell presented some significant challenges.

“We started with this great idea … but the challenge became, ‘How the hell are we going to make this shell?’” Creed said. “That part of it turned out to be much more difficult than anyone thought.”

Mass producing corn tacos is old science, but getting flavoring to adhere to those shells’ exteriors was a novel challenge. Seasoning holds well to flat chips, Creed said, but bent contours of a fried taco shell complicate adhesion. Seasoning the shell before frying and bending wasn’t an option, either.

Taco Bell’s manufacturing partner, Doritos brand owner Frito-Lay Inc., had a say in the item, as well. While the shell had to meet Taco Bell’s standards, it also had to resemble a Dorito as closely as possible — even crunch like one when eaten.

Another challenge: The new seasoning tended to migrate to other menu items during employee handling, said Elizabeth Matthews, Taco Bell’s senior director of food and beverage innovation. To solve the problem a sturdy paper “holster” was designed to protect each taco’s seasoning.

All in all, the Doritos Locos Taco recipe was altered 40 times to achieve the final taste and texture. The development of the menu item, from test to market trials, lasted about 2 1/2 years.

“It took a lot of engineers and food-smart people to execute this,” Creed said. “But they got it done.”

Not a product, but a platform

Continued from page 1

Doritos Locos Tacos debuted in March 2012, and 375 million were sold by the end of the year. An additional 100 million sold in the first quarter of 2013. Not only was it the most successful new product launch in Taco Bell’s 51-year history, Creed also credited the new creation for Taco Bell’s 8-percent increase in same-store sales in 2012.

“Just last year’s sales impact alone was $500 million — for one product,” Creed said. He then quickly corrected himself: “This is not a product; it’s a platform on which we can build other products.”

Of the more than 120 Doritos flavors, Creed estimated Taco Bell will only use a handful of them in future products. The chain successfully launched its Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos in March and plans to follow that up with a chile-lime flavored Flamas Doritos Locos Taco later this year.

Creed said changes to future tacos will likely include updated fillings, as well, though he said he expects portion sizes likely will remain the same: 78 grams for the regular size, 113 grams for the supreme.

“They’ve really captured the excitement of a novelty item and almost a pop culture item,” said Kathy Hayden, foodservice analyst for Chicago-based research company Mintel. “It’s a synergy of two good brands that have a lot in common and probably have the same fans.”

Mac Brand, founding partner at Boston’s Bellwether Food Group, commended Taco Bell for scoring a bull’s-eye on its Millennial-consumer target.

“They’ve done a really good job of understanding what brands resonate with consumers who use their brands,” Brand said. “It’s absolutely clear that they’ve done their research.”

Creed said the Doritos Locos Taco was “a reinvention of the taco” originally meant to celebrate Taco Bell’s 50th anniversary in 2012. What the company didn’t expect was that the taco update would also trigger a
reinvention of the way it markets.

In addition to a TV advertising push, he said the most creative efforts came from social media initiatives. Lessons learned on the Nacho Cheese taco launch provided great lessons for rolling out the Cool Ranch variety, he said.

“With Nacho Cheese, when [a fan] made a Facebook post or tweet, we took that and put it on our digital billboard in Times Square,” he said. His team improved the experience by using a software platform that not only placed fans’ posts on the billboard, but also sent fans a picture of their post being displayed in Times Square.

For the Cool Ranch launch, Taco Bell introduced via social media Cool Ranch “speakeasies” to which fans were led and given a secret password that yielded a free taco. One speakeasy was inside a flower shop and another was inside a parked van that contained a harpist handing out tacos.

Most recently, Frito-Lay added its own line extension by introducing Doritos Locos Tacos flavored chips. On the back of each package, Creed said, is a bounce-back coupon for a free Doritos Locos Taco.

“Why not get into retail distribution as a way to get more people to try it?” Creed said. “This is what a great partnership is all about. They’ve innovated off our product, and we’ve innovated off theirs.”