Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 12, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Note: I got to visit the Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, California, this week, hence all of this impressive knowledge.
"It is true. I am back."
First introduced last September, the Volcano Taco appeared on Taco Bell's menu for only three months. Whether it was the red crunchy taco shell (just the normal one with artificial dyes) or the spicy orange goop (which goes by "Lava Sauce") or the limited-time-only appeal, people were into it. Really into it. When it disappeared from menus, Facebook groups formed with folks acting like it was the fast-food apocalypse—even worse than when the Crazy Gordita Crunch left us.
Thankfully, all the members of "I Refuse to Go to Taco Bell Until They Bring Back the Volcano Taco" can stop freaking out. It's back as a permanent item, joined by the Volcano Double Beef Burrito. Both have the pretty standard taco and burrito skeleton (ground beef, shredded lettuce and cheese, sour cream) multiplied by the Lava Sauce.
Fast-food never seems to get that spicy, but this is a noble attempt. The Lava Sauce will get your attention without making you wear a sweatband. Of course, the elite fire eaters could probably drink a mug's worth and be fine. But please don't, that's pretty gross. After the jump, more than you ever need to know about Taco Bell's Volcano menu.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, April 14, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The fast food drive-thru rap is so last year. Leave it to the musical comedy duo Rhett and Link to usher in the trend of 2009: the drive-thru folk song! ...Maybe? Here they place their order at Taco Bell in the form of a one and a half-minute song that the Taco Bell employee miraculously understands (my favorite item: "two taco salads for the ladies"). If you don't mind that the video has a Baja Blast tie-in, it's pretty entertaining. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, January 13, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Illinois couple Paul and Caragh Brooks were married Friday evening at Taco Bell. Wedding favors included Taco Bell hot-sauce packets that read "Will you marry me?"
Said Paul Brooks: "We're a little bit of an offbeat couple, so we figured that we wanted to have an offbeat ceremony, and Taco Bell is the closest thing we have to a church, so ... this is where we like to hang out; this is where we wanted to do it." Video, after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, September 8, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Photographs from Fast Food Critic.
Tired of the bland corn-colored crunchy shells at Taco Bell? They now have red ones in honor of the 89-cent Volcano Taco, part of the "Why Pay More!" value menu. The red shell is stuffed with grated cheddar, green lettuce, cheesy "lava" sauce, and ground beef, what Fast Food Critic is calling "possibly the spiciest sauce on their menu." He thinks the "volcano" cheese sauce is even more fiery than Taco Bell's "fire sauce." Unfortunately the red taco shell tasted like a regular shell, but could introduce the possibility of a red soft tortilla.
We first told you about 50 Cent suing Taco Bell, but there's even more exciting news in the Mexican fast food and rapper world: Taco Bell's rap name generator. Type in your name, select a "dish" (like crunchy tacos or bean burrito), confirm "homeboy" or "flygirl" status, and quantify the size of your appetite. My stage name: "Sista Biggy E Crunch."
Rapper 50 Cent doesn't like tacos enough to change his name to 79, 89, or 99 Cent. As part of Taco Bell's "Why Pay More?" campaign—where menu items stay under a buck—the fast food chain jokingly implied this in ads, but without his permission first. 50 Cent is now suing for $4 million.
Posted by Robyn Lee, June 30, 2008 at 12:00 PM
To promote Taco Bell's latest frozen blended drink, the Frutista Freeze, Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere organized a performance at the grand opening of a Taco Bell in Flushing, New York, where informed customers simultaneously "froze" their actions, slurps and bites suspended in time. Customers who weren't in on the act then stared and walked carefully around their nonmoving neighbors. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Raphael, June 2, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Turns out that Taco Bell, back in January, had used focus groups operated by Q & A Research to shape the idea for a rip-off of the fast food drive-thru meme. I got in touch with Matt Whitlock, who participated in one of the focus groups—most interesting is that the producers actually took the feedback to heart and reshot the commercial:
The next clip was actually with actors and it was more along the lines of what is played on TV right now, and people said the same thing, but we gave our input. We said it would be better if it looked like it was a YouTube video, like bad quality, amateur film, because the one they showed us was all professionally shot. I brought up the McDonald's rap that I saw on YouTube, and the lady laughed because the next clip she showed was that exact commercial. I actually told them they should have found the original people and paid them to do the Taco Bell rap-commercial!
Previously: Taco Bell Commercial Co-opts Drive Thru Rap Video Meme
Posted by Raphael, May 27, 2008 at 12:15 PM
It was only a matter of time before some big corporation caught wind of the drive-thru rap video phenomenon, previously covered here on Serious Eats back in April. Drive-thru rap videos on YouTube date back to 2006 but only recently have hit the mainstream. The basic premise: People drive up to the drive thru, usually with a friend providing beat-box, and rap with intentionally difficult-to-parse orders to confuse the employees on the other end of the intercom—the whole affair videotaped and uploaded to YouTube for all to see.
Now, Taco Bell (or an ad agency working for them) has co-opted the meme, keeping the appearance of a homemade video but adding pretty glossed up close-ups of the food—and sanitizing it of its humor, spontaneity, and originality. Some might say homage, I say rip-off.
Interestingly, but unsurprisingly, the Taco Bell commercial has created a feedback loop of sorts: The drive-thru rap video meme has reached a whole new, national audience, and new videos have appeared on YouTube likely drawing inspiration from the rip-off itself.
After the jump, the commercial, as well as some of the original inspirations.
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Posted by Raphael, April 20, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Hiding a Taco Bell Bacon Club Chalupa in your handbag is certainly one way to get the guys. Commercial after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, March 13, 2008 at 12:00 PM
In the '80s, Taco Bell pushed burritos and tostadas using old women with a penchant for gardening, Red Lobster enticed customers with the promise of a grand shrimp-filled adventure, and Ponderosa used a disco beat to illustrate that they were "really cooking for you."
Let the mouth-watering fun begin, after the jump.
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