The national menu, which launches Aug. 18, will include 11
items, including Beefy Fritos Burrito, Beefy Mini Quesadilla, Spicy
Potato Soft Taco and a Caramel Apple Empanada. Marketing for the
menu will launch Aug. 21 and will be led by Interpublic's Deutsch, its lead creative agency.
Taco Bell has had an active year. On top of launching breakfast
in late March -- its biggest menu roll out ever -- the company
named its chief marketer, Brian Niccol, as CEO in May. Last month
it announced a roll out of its Cantina Power menu, which is
essentially a mashup of its gourmet-positioned Cantina menu and its
Power Protein menu, which it tested last year.
The chain brings the new value menu national as competitors like
McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's have been heavily promoting
value menus since early 2013. Wendy's last year overhauled its
value menu, naming it "Right Price, Right Size," which includes
items that range between 99 cents and $1.99. McDonald's has been
pushing its dollar menu since late 2012, and Burger King is on an
extended kick promoting its two-sandwiches-for-$5 deal.
Taco Bell's second-quarter same-store U.S. sales increased 2% from a year earlier. Parent
company Yum Brands CEO David
Novak said that despite the successful breakfast launch that
quarter, the results disappointed in part because the latest
Doritos Locos Taco -- Spicy Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos
-- didn't sell as well as expected.