So you have just ordered at Taco Bell and you have your way too big cup in your hand, and if you are like me you have narrowed your soda choices to a possible three but perusing while you wait for your order never hurt anyone. You go down the fountain soda line and see all of the usual Pepsi suspects and come across Baja Blast. Has anyone ever wondered what the heck Mountain Dew Baja Blast is? Well if you know anything about it then you know that you can only get it at Taco Bell. How did all that come about?
A few years back Taco Bell, which actually invented the pre-fried taco shell which is also an interesting story, was looking for ways to increase their sales on one thing specifically, fountain drinks. As you probably know, fountain drinks typically hold a huge margin (difference in selling price and cost) for restaurants. In some cases the fountain drinks are provided at no cost to the restaurant (typically fast food) in exchange for a place in their marketing or to be the exclusive carrier. I believe this is the case, or was the case, for McDonald’s too which is why they can sell any size for $1 and at one point, before sweet tea, had exclusively advertised and sold Coca-Cola. That is really not the point here but fountain drinks being the “cash cow” is.
Taco Bell does not compete as a Mexican restaurant and anyone that knows Mexican food will tell you that Taco Bell is not Mexican. What is though is fast food and fast food relies on margins created from their fountain drinks. Now when you go through the drive thru at another fast food place, you probably get a drink but maybe not a Taco Bell. The reason being is tacos are too messy so people that buy tacos are on their way home, where they have beverages, so they do not spend the extra cash. So, Taco Bell came up with two very interesting product developments because of that. The first is Mountain Dew Baja Blast. The thinking here being that Mountain Dew was, and still is, insanely popular and if you don’t want a drink the server could say “Are you sure? This is the only place you can get it”. They also did one other thing (in reality they probably did many other things but this is the easiest to see from a consumer standpoint) and that is come out with the Crunchwrap Supreme with plans to unveil a whole new line of portable products from Taco Bell. You may remember their slogan “Good to go”.
Taco Bell understood it’s enemy and that enemy is the car. People did not want to eat in their car but if they had a product that was not messy and “good to go” that would stimulate car eating and thusly beverage sales. They later came out with a spicy chicken crunch wrap and I believe have tried other portable products well. Another interesting thing of note is how clean a Taco Bell actually is when you go in there so perhaps the attempted spurring of fountain soda sales changed their focus to keep the restaurant clean providing a more inviting atmosphere. This I can’t be sure of but all this still stands as an interesting story of product innovation to drive existing product sales. Taco Bell is actually a very interesting history if you ever get a chance to read it. So next time you go and get your favorite Taco Bell treat, remember there is a lot more that goes into it than the beef and cheese that make it up. Stop by the fountain drinks, find the Mountain Dew Baja Blast, smile to yourself and then tell the story of its existence to whoever you are with. Enjoy!