Skift Take
Taco Bell may be one of the largest quick-service restaurant chains in America, but it sees a ton of growth opportunities still to be had in highly populated urban areas. The Cantina concept is its key to success in those uniquely difficult markets.
Throughout its company history, Taco Bell has dominated with a development strategy that focused on sprawling suburban locations equipped with drive thrus wrapped around the side. That is beginning to change.
The gigantic American Mexican quick service chain has been testing a handful of small-format restaurant concepts, branded as Taco Bell Cantina and Urban In-Line restaurants, in various urban centers for the past three years. The Urban In-Line format is essentially a regular Taco Bell, modernized and shrunk to fit on a street corner. The Cantina format is similar but also features twists on the traditional menu, including alcoholic drinks and shared platters of food.
Both concepts are tailored for densely populated locations where the rent is overwhelming, the foot traffic is high, and there's no space to fit a traditional Taco Bell unit.
"We had a large percentage of the population particularly in urban markets where frankly we just couldn't serve Taco Bell," Mike Grams, Taco Bell's general manager of North America and global chief operating officer, explained. "We did drive thrus well, we were good at it, and we didn't focus a ton on the urban markets."
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