Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

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Brian Lutz
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Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

Post by Brian Lutz »

http://www.king5.com/mobile/article/amp ... /477033799

It sounds like these will be primarily urban locations (where drive thrus are probably not practical anyway) and seem to be an attempt to keep up with some of the Chipotles and Qdobas of the world. Can't say how successful something like this might be, but it does sound like they will be providing an easy way to make all of your poor life choices in one easy stop.
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Re: Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

Post by rwsandiego »

Brian Lutz wrote:http://www.king5.com/mobile/article/amp ... /477033799

It sounds like these will be primarily urban locations (where drive thrus are probably not practical anyway) and seem to be an attempt to keep up with some of the Chipotles and Qdobas of the world. Can't say how successful something like this might be, but it does sound like they will be providing an easy way to make all of your poor life choices in one easy stop.
The processed food aisles of supermarkets have been providing that service for years. Why shouldn't Taco Bell get in on the fun?
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Re: Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

Post by Alpha8472 »

There has been one in San Francisco for a few years already. It does look more upscale like a Chipotle. The alcohol aspect is limited mostly to Freezes with alcohol.

The set up has an open kitchen where you can see the employees prepare the food in front of you behind a wall of glass. This is a turn off as you can see the truly messy and dirty food bins behind the glass. There are spills all over and old crusted food splattered all over.

It is very crowded and understaffed. The wait times are sometimes over 30 minutes. The food is mostly the same as a regular Taco Bell. The lure of alcohol is not that great as most Taco Bell customers are already drunk. I have been told by employees that most late night customers at Taco Bell are already drunk.
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Re: Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

Post by rwsandiego »

Alpha8472 wrote:There has been one in San Francisco for a few years already. It does look more upscale like a Chipotle. The alcohol aspect is limited mostly to Freezes with alcohol.

The set up has an open kitchen where you can see the employees prepare the food in front of you behind a wall of glass. This is a turn off as you can see the truly messy and dirty food bins behind the glass. There are spills all over and old crusted food splattered all over.

It is very crowded and understaffed. The wait times are sometimes over 30 minutes. The food is mostly the same as a regular Taco Bell. The lure of alcohol is not that great as most Taco Bell customers are already drunk. I have been told by employees that most late night customers at Taco Bell are already drunk.
Funny you should say that, as I was thinking "Taco Bell is where you eat after you get drunk."
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Re: Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

Post by Brian Lutz »

Last year a Taco Bell in the Totem Lake area of Kirkland was torn down and replaced by a new build store on the same spot, which has some aspects of an open kitchen design (the main assembly line is parallel to the dining area with large windows.) There really isn't much to see there since the workers backs are to the dining area. On top of that, the remodel probably reduced the amount of dine-in seating in half compared to the more conventional one it replaced, and even though the drive thru is still there in this location, it closes rather early for a Taco Bell, with even the drive thru closing at 10 for a while (it has since been moved to more normal hours with the drive thru closing at 2am.) The short hours seem to suggest this is a fairly low performing location, so I have no idea why they would spend all the money to rebuild it like this.
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Re: Taco Bell to open 300 new locations with alcohol, no drive thru

Post by jamcool »

rwsandiego wrote: September 21st, 2017, 9:06 am
Alpha8472 wrote:There has been one in San Francisco for a few years already. It does look more upscale like a Chipotle. The alcohol aspect is limited mostly to Freezes with alcohol.

The set up has an open kitchen where you can see the employees prepare the food in front of you behind a wall of glass. This is a turn off as you can see the truly messy and dirty food bins behind the glass. There are spills all over and old crusted food splattered all over.

It is very crowded and understaffed. The wait times are sometimes over 30 minutes. The food is mostly the same as a regular Taco Bell. The lure of alcohol is not that great as most Taco Bell customers are already drunk. I have been told by employees that most late night customers at Taco Bell are already drunk.
Funny you should say that, as I was thinking "Taco Bell is where you eat after you get drunk."
As are Jack in the Box and Denny's
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