As the year wraps up to a close, Yum! Brands (YUM) -)-owned Taco Bell has decided to roll out several new menu items and promotions all at once.
One such item is the Rolled Chicken Tacos, or shredded white chicken meat inside a fried corn tortilla and served with a side of ranch dip — the dish had been on and off the menu since 2014 but will now be available nationwide from Nov. 16 and throughout the holiday period.
Related: Taco Bell Is Making A Beloved Menu Item Plant-Based
On the same day, the chain also rolled out a new version of its highly-popular Nacho Fries — this time, the Grilled Cheese Nacho Fries will come topped with a “grilled, bubbly blend of mozzarella, monterey pepper jack and cheddar cheeses garnished with marinated and grilled steak, Taco Bell’s signature Nacho Cheese and Chipotle sauces.”
Image source: Taco Bell
The Taco Pass is back but it’s not for tacos this time
“It’s where crispy, golden fries meet the indulgent embrace of grilled cheese, representing a harmonious fusion of two beloved platforms that consistently deliver on delicious,” the chain says in a press release for the new item.
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The new version of Nacho Fries is also tied into the release of a popular promotion — the Nacho Fries Lovers’ Pass allows holders to pay $10 between now and Dec. 4 and then get one order of the Nacho Fries ($2.19 when purchased normally) once a day for 30 consecutive days.
This is exactly the same format as the Taco Lovers’ Pass that Taco Bell rolled out at different points in 2022 and 2023. Billed as a “taco subscription,” it proved highly popular because one could pick between the Crunchy Taco, Crunchy Taco Supreme, Soft Taco, Soft Taco Supreme, Spicy Potato Soft Taco, Doritos Locos Tacos and the Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme every day of the promotion.
A brief history of the Nacho Fries (here’s why they’re so popular)
The latest promotion is more limited because it applies only to the regular version of the Nacho Fries but will function exactly the same as the taco promotion. To sign up, one needs to download the Taco Bell app, sign up for the pass and then order the fries at a location of their choosing once a day.
This menu item may have been chosen for the promotion because the Nacho Fries are one of the chain’s most popular and most widely-sold items. When Taco Bell first added them to menus in 2018, customers bought 53 million orders in just a little less than two months.
This means they were, at one point, in every third Taco Bell order in the country.
Petitions demanding the fries make it onto Taco Bell’s permanent menu keep popping up but, so far, the chain chooses to capitalize on the excitement and marketing opportunities of their return — over the last five years, Nacho Fries have disappeared and reappeared on Taco Bell’s menu at least a dozen times.
Fans also like to speculate on why Nacho Fries are not a permanent menu item — some believe they take up too much freezer space compared to other items while others are convinced that it's just a marketing ploy to drive up fan excitement.
