Taco Bell to open in NZ
Fast food chain Taco Bell will open its first New Zealand restaurant in West Auckland’s Lynnmall Brickworks food precinct today.
Taco Bell’s parent company in this region, Restaurant Brands, hinted at bringing the chain to New Zealand last year after it took over the Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores in Hawaii in 2016.
This Taco Bell will serve beer and frozen margaritas, along with its made-to-order tacos and burritos. Alcohol will not be served on the opening day.
Restaurant Brands Group chief executive Russel Creedy said the company was scouting locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for other restaurants.
Creedy said there would be at least 25 Taco Bells across the country by 2024.
‘‘We are simultaneously rolling out in NSW and ACT in
Australia, with a total estimated spend of
$65 million across both markets over the next five years,’’ Creedy said.
He said the second store would open near the upmarket KFC joint in central
Auckland. Its Taco Bell sales reached US$72m (NZ$108.2m) for the 2018-2019 financial year.
Restaurant Brands also had plans to build 30 more KFC stores in New Zealand and Australia, its best performing fast food chain in the region.
Taco Bell general manager Clark Wilson said the chain was ‘‘culture-centric’’ and trendy on social media.
‘‘Around the world it has attracted social media memes and casts of international celebrity mentions; Taco Bell is all about the social experience of food,’’ Wilson said.
Keeping that in mind, the company chose to make its first New Zealand restaurant appeal to millennials with a colourful ‘‘Instagram-worthy’’ theme. He said the company expected hundreds at the launch, which will be giving out freebies and limited edition shirts to the first 62 customers.
The restaurant has an open kitchen, free wi-fi, phone charging stations and kiosks to place orders.