Last week, Taco Bell’s press office told the Orange County Register that they have a new most-popular product:  Doritos Locos Tacos.  Launched to great fanfare at Taco Bell franchises nationwide on March 8th, the product caught fire – reports indicate that the company sold more than 100 million of them since their introduction.  I’m sure you’ve all seen the ads – the new tacos are a mash-up of the basic crunchy taco and Doritos, a combination aimed directly at the late night college crowd (though I’d hope their target demographic has broadened a bit beyond that…) And it should go without saying:  100 million tacos is an insanely high sales number.  The OC Register reported some bragging from Taco Bell’s press people, who noted that it took years for McDonald’s to sell 100 million burgers, though I don’t think that’s necessarily a fair comparison – after all, Taco Bell has almost six thousand franchises nationwide marketing their new product.  I haven’t been to a Taco Bell in years, but when I heard about the Doritos taco’s success, I enlisted some coworkers to conduct a taste test.  I stopped off at the Bell location in the Tysons Corner area late one morning in hopes of avoiding the lunch rush and picked up several standard crunch tacos and Doritos Locos Tacos.

First impression:  These things are bright.  You have to give the company credit – they’ve definitely captured the color of Nacho Cheese Doritos chips in their new taco shells.  Too, they come in a handy cardboard sleeve with Doritos branding.  While that sleeve might make up some of the price difference – $1.29 for Doritos Locos Tacos, compared to just $0.99 for your standard crunchy taco – my coworkers seemed to like it, as it helped keep the product’s mess to a minimum.  The tacos are stuffed with the same beef, lettuce, and cheese that comes in a standard crunchy taco; while Taco Bell also sells a Supreme version with diced tomatoes and sour cream, I stuck to the basic taco for this taste test.

Second impression:  the taste.  On biting into the taco, I wasn’t hugely impressed with the difference made by the Doritos shell.  The nacho cheese taste isn’t overwhelming at first, and I only really tasted it after chewing for a few moments.  That said, though, whoever developed the taco shell got one part of the formula correct – my fingers were immediately covered in Doritos dust.  I don’t think even Doritos from a bag of chips permeate my fingers that quickly, but it’s been a while since I’ve had some of those, either.  I was hoping for more Nacho Cheese flavor from the taco, but I may have been too discerning for the target demo – after all, I was eating these for lunch and without having had any beer.

The unexpected part for me was the texture.  When I first heard about Doritos tacos, I expected a large Doritos chip in the shape of a taco shell.  Instead, we got what appears to be a taco shell covered with Doritos seasoning, or made with corn chips dyed to match Doritos.  The shell crunched much more like a corn tortilla chip than Doritos.  It’s entirely possible that genuine Doritos shells wouldn’t hold the filling – that’s what my coworkers speculated, anyway – but I was expecting the taco shell to more closely resemble the chip.

My coworkers weren’t too keen on the product either – one complained that it was too salty, while another was quite put out on hearing that it had displaced her favorite, the Crunchwrap Supreme, as Taco Bell’s most popular product.  Another colleague of mine told me that his brother – a big Taco Bell fan – much prefers the value of the crunchy taco, and isn’t willing to pay 30% more for the Doritos version.  Yet despite our relatively negative opinion, the sales numbers cannot be denied.  Having sold more than 100 million Doritos Locos Tacos in less than 3 months, Taco Bell is clearly onto something.  I imagine their business partners at Doritos are high-fiving all the way to the bank, too.

Much like Adams-Morgan pizza, I think the Doritos Locos Tacos are a product best experienced late at night.  I can’t say I fully understand the hype, but the novelty brought me into the store, so the marketing team is clearly doing something right.

It’s definitely not haute cuisine, but it’s got the makings of a major trend.  Michelle Obama, call your office!

-HML (Michael)

[ad]