Taco Bell begins testing its dedicated vegetarian menu in the Dallas market on Thursday, with a targeted a national rollout of late 2019 or early 2020.
Credit: Taco Bell
Taco Bell kicked off the New Year promising a vegetarian menu on the horizon. This week, that promise inches closer to reality as the quick-service giant begins testing its first-ever dedicated vegetarian menu in the Dallas market beginning Thursday.
Notably, Dallas is a top 10 market for Mexican cuisine and a top 30 market for vegetarian/vegan cuisine.
Taco Bell’s new (so-called) in-store American Vegetarian Association-certified vegetarian menu features three menu items: the Vegetarian Crunchwrap Supreme, Vegetarian Quesarito and the 7-Layer Burrito. Suggested retail prices are $3.70, $3.22 and $3.05, respectively.
The company says that while these three items are being tested on the new in-store vegetarian menu board, they are not the only vegetarian items offered at Taco Bell. In fact, Taco Bell sells 350 million vegetarian items a year, and about 9% of all items ordered at the chain are either vegetarian or made vegetarian through a substitution or removal—an increase from 7% in 2017.
This trajectory is consistent with macrotrends influencing the entire restaurant industry. According to Nielsen, 39% of American consumers are trying to add more plant-based foods into their diets, while the number of consumers identifying as vegan jumped by a staggering 600% in the past three years.
This trend appears to have significant staying power, too. GlobalData research indicates that the shift toward plant-based foods is driven by younger consumers.
“The trend of plant-forward eating is here to stay and is reaching ubiquity in the fast food space, so we’re constantly innovating to find ways to incorporate more plant-forward options. This new menu will make it even easier for customers to opt for meatless items,” said Missy Schaaphok, RDN, Taco Bell’s manager of global nutrition and sustainability.
The meatless market is reaching ubiquity not only because of consumer demand but also in large part to the evolution of heavily-backed, plant-based innovators like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat (which recently filed for an IPO). Taco Bell’s vegetarian menu test, for example, comes on the heels of Burger King’s announcement of an Impossible Whopper test in the St. Louis market. Other limited-service chains, including White Castle, Fatburger, Carl’s Jr, Red Robin and Taco Bell competitors Qdoba and Del Taco, have also adopted plant-based meat options.
These products are experiencing staggering growth and interest across every corner of the U.S. Sales of plant-based protein products between broadline foodservice distributors and foodservice operators were up 20% between 2017 and 2018, according to The NPD Group. The pace of growth is expected to continue at nearly 7% through 2022.
Taco Bell is mum on whether or not it will also experiment with any of these burgeoning plant-based products, simply stating that the company is “constantly innovating” to provide more items that reflect consumers’ lifestyles.
“Our focus now is making our current vegetarian options more widely visible via our menu boards and making sure we can be that place that everyone can find something that speaks to them,” Schaaphok said.
Regardless of what the competition is doing, Taco Bell continues to fire on all cylinders. The chain gobbled up more market share in 2018, finishing the year with $9.8 billion in sales and moving ahead of Burger King to No. 4 in Technomic’s Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
As more consumers embrace meatless menu offerings, Taco Bell continues to be well positioned, having been the first QSR certified by the American Vegetarian Association in 2015. Its AVA-certified beef burrito—which was around long before the vegetarian menu was even an idea—is its second highest-selling item on the menu. The company even offers a “Make it Meatless” feature on its website and app, which replaces meat for refried beans on almost any order.
Depending on results from the Dallas test, Taco Bell is targeting a national rollout of these additions for late 2019 or early 2020.
Beverage changes also on the menu
Taco Bell is making other subtle moves with its beverage menu nationwide, having recently launched two new zero-sugar beverages: Pepsi Zero Sugar and Mountain Dew Baja Blast Zero Sugar. The brand has also committed that at least 50% of its medium fountain beverages will be 100 calories or less and contain less than 20 grams of sugar by 2022.
These initiatives come as consumers increasingly reject sugary sodas. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, soda’s share of the U.S. beverage market fell from 22.1% in 2012 to 19.7% in 2017. Bottled water surpassed carbonated soft drinks in 2016 as largest beverage category by volume in the country. There are a number of factors driving this trend, soda taxes and health implications among them. Just last month, for example, the American Heart Association released new research stating that frequently drinking beverages sweetened with sugar increases mortality risk from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Not only are consumers’ beverage tastes changing, but these beverages are also high-margin items for restaurant operators, so Taco Bell has a big stake in keeping this part of the menu relevant. This is exactly why the company is expanding its portfolio, Schaaphok said.
“The brand is excited to start the New Year with zero- to low-calorie beverage options for fans,” she said. “Customers have been craving new ways to enjoy classic beverages, so Taco Bell has committed to offering more bold, flavorful options to satisfy that demand.”