Welcome to First Bite, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, your daily source of news from NRN hosted by Holly Petre.
Today, we’re examining how Taco Bell took a viral moment and made it last.
Doja Cat made up a rap verse on TikTok that went viral asking Taco Bell to bring back the Mexican Pizza, which was pulled from menus in the great menu purge of 2020. They brought back Mexican Pizza and later called Doja Cat the “voice of the Taco Bell people.”
That was in May.
Two weeks later, Taco Bell was out of Mexican Pizza, blaming it on supply chain disruptions.
While the item was supposed to be an LTO, the offer was supposed to last six months, not two weeks. Fans were outraged. The Taco Bell musical, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and the team behind Bridgerton the Musical, never happened because of the shortage.
But on Monday, Taco Bell announced that the Mexican pizza would be back permanently starting September 15.
Here’s NRN senior editor Joanna Fantozzi with more on the story.
Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode.
Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on Castos, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
