Taco Bell news and trends

Taco Bell Goes All-in on AI Drive-Thrus as McDonald’s Steps Back
artificial intelligence // August 07, 2024

By year’s end, hundreds of Taco Bell drive-thrus could be taking orders without a human on the other end of the speaker. Yum Brands’ ambitious deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) at its flagship Mexican-style fast food chain signals a potential sea change in how America...

Yum Brands’ Acquisitions Build a Digital Foundation for AI Advancements
Earnings // August 06, 2024

As Yum Brands aims to be a “leading global digital restaurant company,” per CEO David Gibbs, the quick-service restaurant (QSR) giant is tapping its tech acquisitions to create a unified eCommerce ecosystem on which to layer artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to drive sales and productivity....

Taco Bell Adding AI Voice Ordering to Hundreds of Drive-Thrus
Voice Activation // July 31, 2024

Taco Bell will add AI voice technology to hundreds of its drive-thrus by year’s end. It’s part of parent Yum! Brands’ plans to integrate voice artificial intelligence (AI) to its stores around the world, the company announced Wednesday (July 31). “The rollout of Voice AI...

Restaurants Tinkering With Subscriptions Turn From Freebies to Discounts
Subscriptions // July 19, 2024

As the restaurant industry aims to figure out how to use subscriptions to drive loyalty, some are finding that offering free menu items is not particularly cost effective, instead shifting to discounting models. In the United Kingdom, coffee chain Pret a Manger has reportedly drawn...

Interviews & Exclusives
Taco Bell Digital Chief Says Subscriptions Inflation-Proof Customer Spend

July 12, 2024
As Taco Bell continues its paid subscription push — its “passes” — the quick-service restaurant (QSR) giant is seeing that, by offering a wider range of options tailored to different customers’ tastes, it can more broadly and effectively drive engagement amid inflation. The restaurant’s passes offer consumers one daily free order of a given menu […]

Taco Bell COO Sheds Light on Drive-Thrus Becoming Drive Unders

June 08, 2022
With the dramatic shifts in restaurant customer behavior seen in the past couple of years, major brands are rethinking their store formats to target the needs and expectations of the...

Taco Bell Speaks Out About Aggregators and Retaining Control of Customer Relationships

December 01, 2021
Third-party delivery aggregators are emerging as one of the business success stories of the pandemic, and major players have continued to maintain gains. Their expedited rise in importance has also...

Taco Bell President: ‘Restaurants Of The Future’ Will Tap Targeted Experiences

April 09, 2021
The events of the last 13 months have presented the restaurant industry with unprecedented challenges, forcing them to reconsider everything from digital technologies to supply chain logistics to restaurant operations...

Quick Reads
Taco Bell Adding AI Voice Ordering to Hundreds of Drive-Thrus

July 31, 2024
Taco Bell will add AI voice technology to hundreds of its drive-thrus by year’s end. It’s part of parent Yum! Brands’ plans to integrate voice artificial intelligence (AI) to its stores around the world, the company announced Wednesday (July 31). “The rollout of Voice AI technology in Taco Bell, currently in more than 100 Taco […]

Yum Brands Doubles Tech Spending, Expands Use of Generative AI

April 01, 2024
Fast food company Yum Brands aims to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) across the operations of its restaurants. The parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit Burger...

Taco Bell Sees Record Digital Sales as Parent Yum Brands Invests in Tech

February 07, 2024
Taco Bell parent Yum Brands is continuing its investment in digital technology. During a quarterly earnings call Wednesday (Feb. 7), CEO David Gibbs noted that digital sales were up 22%,...

Couples Say ‘I Do’ to Costly Weddings Even as Marriage Rates Dip

July 09, 2023
Marriage rates are on the decline. Spending on weddings? A different story. As the Financial Times noted in a Saturday (July 8) opinion piece, while the popularity of weddings has dropped,...