It’s a little weird to me that Taco Bell would want to try to take on Chipotle, considering that one difference between the two brands is that Chipotle actually cooks stuff in their restaurants, instead of reheating and hydrating, but things can change. If I were in charge of Taco Bell, I’d probably aim to just be better than Del Taco. It’s ok just to be cheap and good enough sometimes:
For a chain that made its name peddling cheap eats in the wee hours of the morning, a higher-priced menu may not appeal to the restaurant’s primary customer. The Taco Bell frequenter is an 18- to 24-year-old, value-conscious male, says Jeff Bernstein, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York.
“It’s definitely targeted to a younger crowd,” he said.
Former franchisee Brumagin also is skeptical and says introducing somewhat fancier, higher-priced food could go the way of a healthy menu experiment in the mid-’90s that he called an “abysmal failure.”
Taco Bell is clearly taking cues from its higher-end rival.
“Chipotle is an opportunity because what it’s done has expanded the trial and usage of Mexican food,” Creed said at the investor meeting in New York Dec. 7. “It’s got people to believe they can pay $8 for a bowl or a burrito.”
Taco Bell can make food “every bit as good as Chipotle,” he said, and instead charge less than $5.
While Chipotle’s $7 or $8 burritos include ingredients such as naturally raised pork seasoned with thyme and juniper berries, Taco Bell’s menu now features the 99-cent Beefy Crunch Burrito that’s topped with Flamin’ Hot Fritos.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2012.
I think what the article fails to really address is not that Chipotle is “tricking” the consumer into buying an 8$ burrito it’s that Chipotle uses all natural and organic ingredients whereas the majority of Taco Bell’s food is processed and enriched with chemicals. The consumer knows exactly what they’re buying and I think that the basis of the argument is not the price tag but the investment in their own health that makes a better selling point. Even if Taco Bell introduced some fancier food but still utilized processed and chemically enriched ingredients I still don’t think it would be as popular as Chipotle.
I think anyone who lives in Tucson and eats at either of these two establishments should be the headliner for next years ‘Get Outta Town” issue.
Chipotle is amazing. Their “Food with Integrity” not only tastes fantastic, but makes the customer feel good about what they are eating. Love me my Chipotle!
@KDee – get outta town!