A skeptic might at least consider that Yum! Brands (YUM) Taco Bell took the Mexican Pizza off its menu only so it could bring it back. That's a fairly brilliant public relations move and the chain made the decision to take the fan favorite off the menu during the height of the pandemic.
Covid gave the company an excuse to make menu changes under the guise of simplifying its offerings due to orders shifting from dine-in to delivery, pick-up, and drive-through. That makes sense when the company got rid of items that use a lot of ingredients that are not commonly on the menu, but it made little sense with Mexican Pizza, which uses common items with the exception of its signature sauce.
But, as many expected when it was taken away, Taco Bell announced Mexican Pizza' triumphant May return in an April press release.
"Our menu is full of fan-favorites, but the Mexican Pizza is at the top of that list," said Taco Bell CEO Mark King "From its flashy introduction to menus in 1985 as 'Pizzazz Pizza' to its inspiration behind the creation of infamous jingles, Mexican Pizza has a long history with the brand and I'm glad we could give fans what they crave and bring our classic Mexican Pizza back home where it belongs."
The problem is what Taco Bell tried to do worked too well and fans are now some mix of very angry, dismayed, outraged, and just flabbergasted.
TheStreet
Taco Bell Takes Away the Mexican Pizza
While Taco Bell may have removed Mexican Pizza from its menu the first time so it could triumphantly bring it back, that's not what it planned the second time around. The company had expected the return to be permanent, but demand greatly outpaced supply.
"Shortages of the Mexican Pizza were unexpected, and have occurred on a rolling basis," the company shared on its website.
That's news that some fans of the dish consider implausible.
Taco Bell did try to explain what happened on its website.
"Our fans’ love is all consuming, and they’re consuming all the Mexican Pizzas. Demand for the Mexican Pizza was seven times higher than when it was last on menus, and replenishing the beloved menu item is taking longer than we’d like," the company shared.
Some fans were simply not accepting of the chain's explanation.
Others both wanted the Mexican Pizza back but said that the restored version did not taste the same as the original.
TheStreet's Colette Bennett, a self-described fan of the Mexican Pizza agreed with fans who thought the new version was just a little bit different.
"That change is the shell, which is not the one we all know and love," she wrote. "This shell has less of the lip-smacking flavor of the original, and the texture has changed a bit as well. The taste was a bit more flour-heavy, and while the crunch was still there, it was not as pleasurable as the original."
Taco Bell did not answer her email asking for clarifications on whether any changes were made to the menu item in its short-lived return.
