Long live Taco Bell!!
Fine dining for a midnight college snack
My go-to snack whenever I’m hungry at night and don’t want to cook is Taco Bell. I don’t want McDonalds, or any other fast foot chain- one chicken quesadilla always hits the spot.
I don’t know why. But I’ve forgotten how much I love Taco Bell until a couple of weeks ago, when I wanted a quesadilla but was too lazy to cook. F*ck it, I’ll just go to Taco Bell, I thought when I hopped into my car to the drive-thru on a Friday evening.
As usual, it was lined up with cars waiting for their $5 box of tacos (or whatever the hell Taco Bell sells in their boxes. I literally just get the quesadilla and nacho fries each time).
Every time I go to Taco Bell late at night, it’s always lined up with people getting out of work or students wanting a late-night snack, like a Baja Berry Blast or a chapula with a side of nachos.
Forty-five minutes later, after two cars passed the line, paying $5.07 for my quesadilla, the drive-thru employee forgetting that I paid, and then finally getting my meal, I thought of a great idea- why not write about Taco Bell?
A (very short) history of Taco Bell
Taco Bell is like the hip franchise of all American franchises. You have cheap food (McDonalds), Christian chicken (Chick-fil-A, but they have fast service), and pizza (Domino’s, Pizza Hut, etc).
But Taco Bell is more millennial and modern. And I wasn’t sure why exactly it was perfect for this newsletter until I was at the drive-thru and looked around me. College students. Fast service. Cheap food. But not just cheap food. Hip food! Cool food. Food like Mexican pizza and nacho fries and Doritos Locos tacos. And best of all, this food tastes good. It has the hallmarks of why this newer generation would prefer Taco Bell over McDonalds' hamburgers.
The franchise also markets towards millennials, and now they’re thinking of new products that Gen Zers would prefer. Colorful drinks like the Blue Raspberry Freeze and the Mountain Dew Baja Berry Blast (aka slushies, but who doesn’t like slushies?)
Gen Zers are now the biggest demographic in the world, according to the linked Wall Street Journal article. With commercials of teens eating burritos and cool wall art instead of those rock-hard seats they had in the 90s, it’s becoming more of a trendy place to get a study snack at 1 am.
Speaking of the 90s, Taco Bell actually used to be more family-friendly in the 90s (I didn’t know that they had chihuahua commercials!) They had ads for the kids’ fiesta meal for 99 cents, and 59 cent tacos for large families.
And apparently Taco Bell had kick ass food in the 70s and 80s. Instead of a tiny little taco, the fast food place offered “Enchirito” (an enchilada and a burrito combined) and the “Chilito” (the chili cheese burrito. What is it called now?)
From the 80s, Taco Bell has grown from a family place to a millennial-like establishment where we can buy happiness for $5 and add nacho fries with it. Millennials are also known for being loyal consumers, and Gen Zers are the same way. Except now we’re more health conscious (more chicken, less beef), and are more bolder when it comes to our food choices. It could be that we’ve now grown up to a whole new world of diverse flavors since America is more ethnically diverse, and we’re used to exploring new meals we’ve never tried before.
Food is still food (aka, Taco Bell will always sell the quesadilla)
No matter how many generations change from now, one thing will always be the same. As long as we’re a busy consumer culture, we will always crave carbs in the form of a $5 taco box.
I don’t see many people eat inside of Taco Bell, but it still represents home to me. Home in a tasty steak quesadilla with spicy sauce packets. Not just any sauce packets. Hot sauce packets, not the mild ones.
It’s also fast consumerism. The menu has variety so Gen Zers and millennials can feel gratified whenever they order a big ass burrito, and the big cup of Mountain Dew is still there. And it probably never go away.