Taco Bell
Taco Bell's Double Stacked Tacos are returning for $1.
- Taco Bell announced on Tuesday that it plans to roll out 21 $1 offerings in 2020, as part of the chain's Cravings Value Menu.
- The dollar menu has disappeared from chains such as McDonald's, as many chains turn to bundled deals instead of $1 menu items.
- Taco Bell's senior vice president of brand marketing and consumer insights, Melissa Friebe, told Business Insider that $1 menu items remain key to the chain's value strategy - especially as the breakfast wars heat up in 2020.
- "We continue to have the dollar menu on breakfast," Friebe said. "Our competitors are having a hard time just having that for the rest of the menu, let alone for breakfast."
- Sign up for Business Insider's retail newsletter, The Drive-Thru.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
As the dollar menu dies off at most chains, Taco Bell is doubling down on $1 menu items.
Taco Bell announced on Tuesday that it plans to roll out 21 $1 offerings in 2020, as part of the chain's Cravings Value Menu. The rollout begins with the return of $1 Double Stacked Tacos, beginning on December 26.
The news comes after a broad decline of the dollar menu across fast-food chains. McDonald's killed its iconic Dollar Menu in 2013; in 2017, McDonald's executives admitted that the company was still working to come up with a new value strategy.
The economics of selling a menu item for just a dollar did not make sense for many companies, as franchisees complained of low profit margins. Instead, McDonald's, Wendy's, and other chains - including Taco Bell - gravitated towards bundled deals.
Taco Bell itself seemed to abandon its dedication to the dollar menu in favor of more bundled deals last year, swapping out its Dollar Cravings Menu for its new, unified Cravings Value Menu last December. However, Melissa Friebe, Taco Bell's senior vice president of brand marketing and consumer insights, says that the chain is committed to keeping the $1 menu items around.
"Customers are looking for a real clear idea of what they're getting," Friebe said. "And, more and more, this idea of being clear, consistent, transparent. People's lives are so busy, they just want to know that they've got something reliable for them. But what's great about Taco Bell is you also have the variety, the unexpectedness, the creativity."
Friebe says that the addition of $1 breakfast menu items is one of the biggest changes to Taco Bell's Cravings Menu since it launched in 2014. With Wendy's entering the breakfast battle in 2020 and McDonald's planning to add chicken to the breakfast menu across the US, Taco Bell is planning to win over morning customers with massive deals.
"We continue to have the dollar menu on breakfast," Friebe said. "Our competitors are having a hard time just having that for the rest of the menu, let alone for breakfast."
- Read more about the 2020 breakfast battle:
Wendy's breakfast rollout will be a brutal billion-dollar battle 'not for the faint of heart'