Breakfast is notoriously difficult to master in the quick-service industry. It relies heavily on habit and coffee, and McDonald’s has been the undisputed leader for decades. However, McDonald’s market share has decreased recently. “When you look at our breakfast performance overall, it’s an important part of our overall sales mix, and it’s been a pillar for us for many, many years.
However, we’ve just started to lose a little bit of market share at that daypart,” CEO Steve Easterbrook said during the company’s Q2 call in July. Taco Bell is likely one of those responsible for this erosion. McDonald’s market share was 17.4% five years ago and 14.4% last year, per Euromonitor. Coincidentally, Taco Bell began serving breakfast almost five years ago.
On March 27, 2014, Taco Bell launched its breakfast menu nationwide, supported by the brand’s largest marketing campaign ever. The marketing effort was initially profitable. During Yum! Brands’ quarterly report following the launch, then-CEO David Novak stated that Taco Bell is “one of the few companies in the history of the QSR industry to launch breakfast successfully and profitably in the first year,” with a 6% daypart mix and nearly 21% margins.
Taco Bell continues to thrive in the breakfast market despite the decline of major competitors Wendy’s and Subway. Melissa Friebe, senior vice president of brand marketing and consumer insights, declined to disclose the sales mix for Taco Bell’s breakfast today, but reported that morning sales are steady.
She said, “We continue to see a significant opportunity for growth in the fast food breakfast category. One of our challenges has been to ensure that Mexican-inspired food made sense, and we’re really proud that we’ve been able to do so. Our products are still authentic to Taco Bell, but are also familiar to breakfast consumers.” “That helped us launch in a distinctive manner and has helped us sustain the breakfast daypart,” Robert Byrne, senior manager of consumer insights at Technomic, explained that Taco Bell’s success in the morning is directly attributable to its uniqueness.
- They approached it from a completely different perspective, and they’ve done a fantastic job innovating and keeping it interesting and delicious,” he said.
- While other QSRs (including McDonald’s, Burger King, and Sonic) offer breakfast burritos, Taco Bell offers the Grande Scrambler, Breakfast Crunchwrap, and the occasional Naked Egg Taco (which uses a fried egg as the shell).
In the past five years, the company’s gimmicky Waffle Tacos and Chicken Biscuit Tacos have generated a great deal of conversation. Friebe stated, “We found a way to incorporate (breakfast items) into our system.” “Consumers expect us to put our own spin on things, and we knew they would enjoy what we came up with,” says Friebe, adding that the Taco Bell team is confident it has found the sweet spot in terms of product quality and price.
However, value was not originally part of Taco Bell’s morning strategy. “The value menu was an opportunity we didn’t immediately pursue because we wanted to see how breakfast would perform in general before evolving it,” Friebe explained. “But everything we do at Taco Bell is inherently about value, and when we launched, we knew we wanted to emphasize those aspects of the brand.” Taco Bell’s value may be a strength, but unlike McDonald’s McCafé, it does not offer coffee.
There is both hot and iced coffee on the morning menu, but Friebe acknowledges that Taco Bell is better known for its food than its beverages. Despite the fact that coffee drives occasion and creates habit, Taco Bell has nonetheless achieved success. According to Friebe, this is due to the fact that the brand’s innovations have resonated so strongly with its consumers, who are among the top 10 most loyal in the competitive QSR category.
- Our consumers wanted routine, comfort, and familiarity in the morning,” she said.
- However, our creative products have performed exceptionally well, which has been a pleasant surprise.” In addition to taco and burrito innovation, Friebe refuses to reveal what the company will do next to satisfy its early bird customers.
She stated, “We don’t get comfortable here; we’re always looking for ways to inject even more creativity into the space.” “We are committed to being relevant and useful to our consumers, and breakfast is a clear opportunity for us to do so. Breakfast will remain a staple at Taco Bell.”
Why did Taco Bell discontinue breakfast?
When does Taco Bell stop serving breakfast? – According to Taco Bell’s website, breakfast is typically served from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Arlington, Virginia’s Taco Bell confirmed that these were also its breakfast hours. Another establishment in Albuquerque, New Mexico stated that it, too, stops serving breakfast at 11 a.m., but does not open until 8 a.m.
- A Taco Bell in Denton, Texas stated that it will soon begin opening at 9 a.m., two hours later than its typical opening time; however, another Taco Bell in Dallas stated that it opened at 7 a.m., as usual.
- Some locations, such as one in Sacramento, California, open their drive-throughs an hour before their dining rooms.
Call your local Taco Bell to find out what time it opens if you want to grab breakfast on the run during your morning commute. Using the company’s ” Find Your Taco Bell ” tool, you can also determine a specific location’s hours. Even though opening hours vary, breakfast items such as the Toasted Breakfast Burrito and the Breakfast Stacker are available until 11 a.m.
in every location. As Thrillist explains, Taco Bell eliminated its breakfast menu temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is possible that the restaurant’s menu and operating hours will change in the future. New products: Taco Bell is testing a breakfast item that resembles a McDonald’s Cheez-It: What time does McDonald’s end breakfast service? We inquired with corporate.
Chick-fil-breakfast A’s offerings: When does Chick-fil-A cease breakfast service? Detailed explanation of business hours, Sunday closure, and other topics. Simply inquisitive? : We’re here to answer your everyday life questions
In the early 1930s, newspapers and magazines began publishing articles encouraging children (and fathers) to serve their mothers breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day. These articles have continued ever since, as anyone who has recently visited a food, parenting, or lifestyle website can attest.
When did breakfast burritos gain widespread popularity?
The general consensus, however, is that it first appeared in New Mexico in the 1970s. In a state where American, Mexican, and Latin American cultures intertwined, eating eggs and bacon in a tortilla was already common. Someone decided to add it to a menu for the very first time in the 1970s.
