Usually, when a fast-food chain brings back a beloved limited-time offer (LTO) or rolls out a new one, it tells customers that the menu change is coming. Sometimes that's direct and at others it's just hinted, but it's pretty rare to walk into a chain and see something new that wasn't at least teased on social media.
McDonald's (MCD), for example, has its US menu spotter website where it shares details of items before they get released nationwide. At the very least, most chains will offer hints, clues, or outright tell customers what's coming on their social media pages.
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Yum Brands (YUM) Taco Bell, however, does not always offer advance warning. That could because of past experiences where some LTOs, and even returning "permanent" menu items like its Mexican Pizza sold out quickly leading to disappointed customers.
Fast food LTOs aren't sneaker drops. You can't resell your Grimace Shake or McRib on eBay so there's no real value to running out. In the case of its latest special offer, Taco Bell didn't say anything, the items simply began popping up on menus. That may be surprising but it's good news for people who remember these popular items from the last time the chain offered them.
Image source: Taco Bell
Taco Bell Brings Back Crispy Chicken Tacos
Taco Bell changes its menu a lot because a new sauce, or some other small change allows it to offer something new. It can vary its menu without overly complicating operations in its kitchen and that's part of the company's secret sauce to keep customers interested.
Now, the chain has brought back two versions of its Crispy Chicken Tacos, Creamy Chipotle and Avocado Ranch to menus nationwide for a limited time.
"The Creamy Chipotle Crispy Chicken Taco features a strip of crispy-fried white meat chicken marinated with jalapeno buttermilk and coated with a tortilla chip crust served with lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, Creamy Chipotle sauce folded in a flour tortilla, while the Avocado Ranch is the same only with Avocado Ranch instead of Creamy Chipotle sauce," Brand Eating reported.
In many ways, the Crispy Chicken Taco -- which uses fried rather than grilled chicken as its protein -- was the chain's answer to the fast-food fried chicken sandwich craze. It's not exactly a sandwich, it's served on a soft flour tortilla, but it's evocative of the popular trend.
The menu item has also previously been marketed under the Cantina Crispy Chicken Tacos name (since they first appeared at the chain's higher-end Cantina locations.
Fried Chicken Remains a Fast-Food Challenge
McDonald's and Restaurant Brands International's (QSR) Burger King have both struggled with finding a chicken sandwich to equal the craze caused by Popeye's (another RBI chain). McDonald's has settled on its "McCrispy" as its permanent chicken sandwich and Burger King has retired the Ch'King and replaced it with the Royal Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
McDonald's has called McCrispy its "first permanent chicken burger since 2007," in an effort to make the product seem special.
"Back in March 2022 McCrispy was sales tested as ‘Crispy McFillet’ to a clucky few in restaurants across the Midlands and Ireland & proved to be one of McDonald’s MOST successful trials to date," the company touted in a press release. "The majority of taste-testers thought McDonald’s was the best restaurant against its competitors for chicken at the end of the test period."
Burger King has not made any similar claims for its Royal Crispy Chicken Sandwich, but it's confident enough in that platform that it has added an Italian version.
