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When Masino came on board in early 2018, Taco Bell was about to unveil one of its most ambitious menu innovations to date: Nacho Fries. The chain debuted Nacho Fries on the Dollar Cravings menu Jan. 25, 2018, at about 7,000 restaurants. The fries were promoted as “the most-anticipated menu item release of the year” by the Irvine, Calif.-based company.
The wild enthusiasm for the $1 fries led to record-breaking numbers. In the first five weeks, restaurants sold more than 53 million orders. One out of every three orders included fries. It ousted Doritos Locos Tacos from its perch as the chain’s best-selling new product.
Seeing how popular the fries became, Masino took advantage of the limited-time special.
In an unprecedented move, Nacho Fries have had three tours of duty on the menu over the course of more than a year. Though it’s not a permanent menu item, Masino has given her culinary team the thumbs up to use Nacho Fries as an inspiration for other items. For example, in late February, Taco Bell debuted Steak Rattlesnake Fries, a plate of Nacho Fries topped with pieces of steak, slices of jalapeños and two sauces: nacho cheese sauce and creamy jalapeño sauce.
A much spicier version of this dish will debut at the end of the year: Reaper Ranch Fries.
One of the biggest operational accomplishments spearheaded by Masino was the nationwide launch of delivery through Grubhub. Taco Bell delivery has been a high-demand request by customers, but Masino didn’t pull the trigger on it until she knew Taco Bell could execute at the highest level.
With 7,000 restaurants and a reputation for speedy service, she said Taco Bell didn’t want to launch delivery until the right technology was in place to ensure fast and frictionless service.
“There’s no room for error,” she said. “That’s why this has taken so much time.”
Grubhub and Taco Bell worked together for months on the integration to ensure a seamless experience for both the consumer and restaurant operators, she said.
One of Masino’s mantras is that she believes that people are No. 1 and that the customer experience will never exceed the team member experience.
Under her leadership, the Taco Bell Foundation raised more than $10 million dollars for youth education in 2018 and has awarded over 650 Live Más scholarships to-date. She also increased the Live Más Scholarship awards, available to 16-24-year-old employees and the public, from $3 million to $4 million last year.
Masino is also making strides at finding a solution to the industry’s tight labor market by throwing 600 hiring parties. The parties, scheduled for the end of April, come after a successful test last year. The parties include free food, trivia games, Instagram photo ops and Taco Bell swag. Qualified job candidates will be interviewed — and possibly hired on the spot.
Plant-based foods are landing on menus of major fast-food chains with many brands adding “fake meats” by leading suppliers Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat.
This is not fad of the moment. It’s a movement. Last year, market research firm The NPD Group said 14% of U.S. consumers, which translates to over 43 million people, regularly use plant-based alternatives such as veggie burgers.
Masino and her team could have easily followed rivals by adding a plant-based “fake meat” option to the menu. Instead, her culinary team is bringing a Taco Bell twist to flexitarian trends by creating two new vegetarian items for the brand’s first menu dedicated to vegetarians. The meatless menu items, the Vegetarian Crunchwrap Supreme and the Vegetarian Quesarito, rolled out in April at nearly 200 Dallas restaurants.
Taco Bell’s other marketing play: remind consumers that the brand has been serving vegetarians for years. Taco Bell’s menu includes 38 vegetarian ingredients. Of those, 28 are also vegan. The brand said its menu has about 8 million potential vegetarian combinations.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Under her watch, the company has made good on opening more “urban” non-drive-thru locations across the U.S. The so-called “in-line” stores are part of a Taco Bell strategy to grow restaurants in urban settings that Taco Bell has ignored because building a drive-thru was often not plausible. But with more Millennials living in urban environments, the brand is seeing advantages of extending its reach into these markets. Many of the new concepts are Taco Bell Cantinas, which serve alcohol and unique food offerings.
Last year, Masino doubled the number of urban store openings last year, including three in New York City. To date, the company has opened 42 urban store locations. Of those, 24 are cantinas.
Overall, Masino’s first year looks good on the books. Taco Bell is outperforming the industry.
Same-store sales in the industry grew 1% during the first quarter of the year, according to TDn2K’s latest Black Box Intelligence data. Excluding February, where extremely bad weather hurt all restaurants, every month since June of 2018 showed positive gains between 0.5% and 2%, TDn2K reported this month.
Same-store sales at Taco Bell, a division of Yum Brands, were positive in all four quarters of 2018: up 1% in Q1 of 2018; up 2% in Q2; up 5% in Q3 and up 6% in the latest quarter, Q4. By comparison, the chain posted same-store sales gains of 3% and 2% during Niccol’s final two quarters as CEO.
