Taco Bell has confirmed it's on its way to West Auckland

Thursday, 3 October 2019

It is finally official: Taco Bell is on its way.

The long-awaited Tex-Mex restaurant chain will open in New Lynn's Brickworks in West Auckland.

Taco Bell general manager Clark Wilson said the fast-food restaurant would open in early November.

The launch of Taco Bell into the New Zealand market has been long rumoured, however this is the first time parent company Restaurant Brands has confirmed the store.

Taco Bell is on its way to West Auckland.

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There are more than 7000 Taco Bell restaurants globally.

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It won't just be a traditional fast-food restaurant.

The company applied for a liquor licence for the New Lynn restaurant in August, covering 8am to 1am.

Taco Bell's imminent launch was part of an 'aggressively-paced' roll-out of 60 stores across Australia and New Zealand over the next five years, Restaurant Brands' chief executive Russell Creedy said in July.

Restaurant Brand's New Zealand operations had sales of $420 million in the most recent financial year, driven largely by a strong performance from the KFC brand, Creedy said in a statement to shareholders in July.

Taco Bell sales reached US$72m (NZ$108.2m) for the 2018-2019 financial year, reinforcing Restaurant Brand's confidence in the chain ahead of its Australasian launch, Creedy said.

There are currently more than 7000 Taco Bell restaurants across 30 countries, including the United States.

The choice of the New Lynn suburb was interesting, said Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group.

'New Lynn is an interesting area. There are really strong rail connections there and the mall has worked to create quite a contemporary environment.'

But it would be interesting to see how people took to the new fast-food option, he said.

Wilkinson said New Zealand already had a fairly saturated market in terms of dining brands.

'We have a lot of international brands but we also have a lot of home brands as well,' he said.

'For Restaurant Brands, this will be a continuation of their market. They are trying to get a foot in both camps. So, people interested in a varied diet looking for something lighter as well as their traditional favourites.'