Unveils Flagship Restaurant in Las Vegas, New
Logo, and the Taco Bell Experience of the Future
Taco Bell makes its debut on the Las Vegas Strip today, becoming
the brand’s 7,000th restaurant and first flagship destination.
This Smart News Release features multimedia.
View the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161114005361/en/
Las Vegas becomes the fourth Taco Bell
Cantina restaurant to open, following Wicker Park Chicago, SOMA San
Francisco and Austin, and the first of its kind to offer 24-hour
service. (Photo: Business Wire)
Alongside its opening, Taco Bell revealed its first logo refresh
in over 25 years, which follows the recent unveiling of new
restaurant design concepts. These latest developments represent the
brand’s evolution and growth plan to become a $15 billion brand by
2022 while adding 2,000 new restaurants globally and 100,000 new
jobs in the U.S.
“If you’re going to throw a party to celebrate the growth and
evolution of your brand, there’s no better place to hold it than
Las Vegas,” said Marisa Thalberg, Chief Marketing Officer at Taco
Bell Corp. “This flagship restaurant is our ultimate expression of
the Taco Bell brand and lifestyle."
A Flagship Experience
Las Vegas becomes the fourth Taco Bell Cantina restaurant to
open, following Wicker Park Chicago, SOMA San Francisco and Austin,
and the first of its kind to offer 24-hour service. The flagship
restaurant is centrally-located on the Las Vegas Strip on Harmon
Corner, directly across from CityCenter and the Cosmopolitan
hotel.
The restaurant will offer a dining atmosphere fit for the
lifestyle of the Vegas Strip, inclusive of experiences unique to
Taco Bell Cantinas:
- Retail: The Taco Bell retail
experience is the latest example of how the brand looks to create
new cultural ground. For the first time, customers can now purchase
exclusive Taco Bell merchandise and memorabilia in the restaurant.
Selections include limited edition Las Vegas branded retail and
newly designed brand merchandise, ranging from hats, shirts and
bags to bikinis, rings and sweatshirts. Select branded merchandise
will also be available online in Taco Bell’s Taco Shop.
- Freeze Wall: Eight Freeze drink
taps line the back wall. Equipped with eight base flavors
(Margarita, Cola, Pina Colada, Lemonade, Orange, Baja Blast, Cherry
and Blue Raspberry), customers can add alcohol (Tequila, Rum,
Vodka, Whiskey and Spiced Rum) and additional flavors for
customized concoctions. Both Freezes and Twisted Freezes (those
including alcohol) will be served in 16 or 32 oz. souvenir
cups.
- Technology: The flagship
restaurant will feature digital menu boards and digital ques to
monitor customers’ order process, in addition to portable ordering
tablets to reduce wait times. The 16 screens lining the interior
wall will feature entertainment, live-stream video, sports and
social media conversation.
- Transparency: An open kitchen
design and food served in open-faced baskets give customers a look
inside Taco Bell’s quality ingredients.
- Shareables: Cantina restaurants
feature a tapas-style menu of shareable appetizers – including
nachos, quesadillas and chicken fingers, in addition to the full
craveable and affordable Taco Bell Menu.
- Vegas Touches: Dedicated space
for DJ entertainment, Wall of Taps, outdoor misters and heaters,
community style seating, VIP lounges and unique custom artwork will
also be featured. The two story building is faced with a wall of
glass, an upstairs mezzanine and lounge overlooking the action and
an outdoor patio, right in the middle of it all on Harmon Corner
and the Vegas Strip.
Brand Evolution – 25 Years in the Making
While Taco Bell restaurants have seen continuous evolution, the
logo has remained unchanged. In fact, the previous logo made its
debut back in 1995.
In what the brand terms an “evolution, not revolution,” the new
logo mirrors the new restaurant strategy: one size doesn’t fit all.
In this modern take, color makes a splash and allows customization
through patterns and textures, giving usage flexibility while
maintaining its iconic framework.
Digital rollout of the logo refresh takes place today, while
physical assets like restaurant design, packaging and impacted
retail partners will roll out more gradually, depending on
development and refresh timelines.
The refreshed logo was created in partnership with the leading
creative consultancy Lippincott and Taco Bell’s internal design
group, TBD.
Brand Growth
In 2015, Taco Bell opened over 275 new restaurants, remodeled
about 600 more, and is currently on pace to exceed both numbers in
2016. Of the 2,000 restaurants planned to be built by 2022, 200
will be urban locations – a typically underrepresented geographic
area for the brand.
“Building new restaurants is a key component to the overall
growth and evolution of Taco Bell,” said Brian Niccol, Chief
Executive Officer at Taco Bell Corp. “Great design, great food and
great economics are at the heart of our growth.”
Urban concept restaurants have five things in common that
differentiate them from standard Taco Bell restaurants: décor,
local artwork, open kitchen layouts, open plating and shareable
menus. In 2015, Taco Bell also opened up the first of its two
Cantina restaurants in San Francisco and Chicago. Cantina
restaurants may also serve alcoholic beverages, which can include
beer, wine, sangria and twisted Freezes.
Future Urban and Cantina locations are currently in development
in Cincinnati, Berkeley, Fayetteville, San Antonio and Cleveland,
while numerous cities across the U.S. are under consideration for
future locations.
About Taco Bell Corp.
Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM),
is the nation's leading Mexican-inspired quick service restaurant
(QSR) brand. From breakfast to late night, Taco Bell serves
made-to-order and customizable tacos and burritos, among other
craveable choices, and is the first QSR restaurant to offer
American Vegetarian Association (AVA)-certified menu items. Taco
Bell and its more than 350 franchise organizations proudly serve
over 42 million customers each week through 7,000 restaurants
across the nation, as well as through
its mobile, desktop and delivery ordering
services. Overseas, Taco Bell has over 250 restaurants, with plans
to add 2,000 more restaurants internationally within the next
decade. The brand encourages its fans to “Live Mas” and connects
with them through sports, gaming and new music
via its Feed The Beat® music program. Taco Bell also
provides education opportunities and serves the community through
its nonprofit organization, the Taco Bell®
Foundation™, and connects fans with their passions through
programs such as the Live Mas Scholarship program. In
2016, Taco Bell was named as one of Fast Company’s Top 10
Most Innovative Companies in the World.
Like: Facebook.com/tacobell —
Follow: @TacoBell (Twitter), tacobell (Instagram)
and tacobell (Snapchat) — Subscribe: YouTube.com/tacobell —
Explore: ta.co
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161114005361/en/
Taco Bell Corp.Matt Prince,
949-863-4367Matt.Prince@yum.comorEdelmanEmily Erskine,
323-202-1021Emily.Erskine@edelman.com
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