Taco Bell opens first NZ restaurant serving custom tacos and frozen margaritas

Monday, 11 November 2019

Taco Bell's first New Zealand store opening in Auckland, with plans for a further 25 stores.

Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell will open its first New Zealand restaurant in West Auckland's LynnMall Brickworks food precinct on Tuesday.

Taco Bell's parent company, Restaurant Brands, first hinted at bringing the chain to New Zealand last year, after it took over the Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores in Hawaii in 2016.

This Taco Bell will also be serving beer and frozen margaritas, along with its made-to-order tacos and burritos. Alcohol will not be served on the opening day.

Restaurant Brands Group chief executive Russel Creedy said the company was scouting locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for its second restaurant.

**READ MORE:

Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell will open its first New Zealand restaurant in West Auckland's Lynnmall Brickworks food precinct on Tuesday.

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

* Taco Bell's arrival reflects the rise in demand for convenience food: Retail NZ

* Taco Bell NZ: Expectations grow as Restaurant Brands buys 82 fast food stores in Hawaii**

Burritos sell from $7.99, double tacos from $8.50 (or $12 for a combo), burrito bowls from $8.99, and sharing bowls from $9.99.

Creedy said there would be at least 25 Taco Bells across the country by 2024 which could add about 1000 new jobs.

'We are simultaneously rolling out in NSW and ACT in Australia, with a total estimated spend of $65 million across both markets over the next five years,' Creedy said.

Restaurant Brands Group chief executive Russel Creedy says the company was scouting locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for its second restaurant.

Creedy said the second store would open near the upmarket KFC in Auckland's CBD.

Taco Bell sales reached US$72m (NZ$108.2m) for the 2018-2019 financial year. The company also had plans to build 30 more KFC stores in NZ and Australia, its best performing fast food chain in the region.

Taco Bell general manager Clark Wilson said the chain was 'culture-centric' and trendy on social media.

'Around the world it has attracted social media memes and casts of international celebrity mentions, Taco Bell is all about the social experience of food,' Wilson said.

Keeping that in mind, the company chose to make its first NZ restaurant appeal to millennials with a colourful 'Instagram-worthy' theme.

He said the company expected hundreds at the launch, which will be giving out freebies and limited edition shirts to the first 62 customers.

The restaurant has an open kitchen, free wifi, phone charging stations and kiosks to place orders.

Taco Bell Asia Pacific managing director Ankush Tuli said 70 per cent of the ingredients, including the beef and chicken, were from New Zealand.

Tuli said the Asia Pacific region was spearheading Taco Bell's growth and the market was a big focus for the company.

While the chain was mostly a drive-through style restaurant in the United States, the international model for the franchise was to have a sit down restaurant.

Taco Bell is in 30 countries.

Burritos sell from $7.99, double tacos from $8.50 (or $12 for a combo), burrito bowls from $8.99, and sharing bowls from $9.99. Taco Bell sells full strength beer for $7.99 a bottle, and frozen margaritas for $8.99.