Has Taco Bell Jumped the Shark with the Doritos Locos Taco?

This hasn't been a great year for Taco Bell. First, there was that little lawsuit claiming that the ground beef wasn't quite ground beef. No matter how much damage control they tried, they couldn't make it go away. Sales weren't very high in 2011, and Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed told Nation's Restaurant News that 2011 was a "terrible year." How to fix it? A crazy new product that combines even more kinds of junk food together into one neat little package: The Doritos Locos Taco.

This taco, which replaces the traditional taco shell with a giant nacho cheese Dorito, is supposed to change everything. Creed called it "a breakthrough product designed to reinvent the taco." We're a bit confused about why anyone would want to buy a taco rubbed with artificially-flavored nacho cheese powder, but, frankly, a lot of things about Taco Bell confuse us. For instance, their other "breakout product" for 2012? Their new line of breakfasts.

Huffington Post points out that Taco Bell promised a 33 percent sodium reduction in all of their products by the end of 2011 — the average taco at the chain has about 1/4 of your RDA of sodium. How will this affect that? Well, Doritos (and their strange powdery coating) are pretty darn salty. Guess we'll have to buy another soda to wash it down.

Frankly, we're more concerned about the mechanics. Our dominant memory of Nacho Cheese Doritos is trying to get the orange gunk off of our hands - and wrapping our paws around a taco coating this stuff would be asking for a stain-filled clothing nightmare.

The product debuted in the California market earlier this year. Here's the California advertisement.

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By Anthony Todd in Food on December 9, 2011 10:00 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Lauren

i LOVE the water beef. i used to a steak quesadillas girl. but nope- now all i eat is beef tacos. when hot? they're amazing. well, when i get them in the burbs anyway. delish.

BlueFairlane

Taco Bell has always maintained a desert motiff. There is no shark.

ChicagoD

No. This is not where Taco Bell jumped the shark. It's been so long that the shark was jumped, got married, had kids, and is now rotting at the bottom of the ocean.

Navin_Johnson

Just go full on ghetto fabulous and make a taco shell out of Flaming Hot Cheetos. This could also serve as a breakfast item.

Lee Roberson

You know, their crunchy beef burrito had flaming hot fritos corn chips in it, so this is just an evolution of that idea.

It tasted amazing.

Ben Meyerson

How dare you question the greatest of American fast food restaurants.

Taco Bell's persistent innovation across their menu is a model that should be envied at restaurants around the world.

The Crunchwrap Supreme. The Cheesy Gordita Crunch. The Cinnamon Twist.

Taco Bell is the Alinea of fast food, and the Doritos Loco Taco may well be its masterpiece.

Anthony Todd

You may be right. If so, we'll be eating our words (but not the Doritos Loco Taco) in 2012.

sat3911

This just confirms that they have been collecting resumes for the R&D department from the drive through/munchies crowd at 2:30am.

Why don't they just wind down most of the stores and move the remaining ones to California and Colorado. Attach one to each Medical Marijuanna dispensary. Open the store every day at 4:30pm (give'em 5min to get hungry and 5 min to get there)...