Taco Bell Is More Than 60 Years Old — Here's The Brand's Secret To Staying Relevant, According To Its Ceo

Is it easier to return complete a struggling marque aliases a super-hot brand?

A basking marque mightiness sound easier. It already has momentum! The fundamentals are strong! But successful January 2024, erstwhile Sean Tresvant became nan caller CEO of Taco Bell, he answered that mobility differently: "I don't deliberation it's easier to locomotion into a basking brand," he said backmost then. When nan barroom is high, each dip is noticeable. "My job, and our business arsenic nan Taco Bell team, is to support this marque hot."

By that measure, Tresvant is doing his job.

Taco Bell has been connected a yearslong basking streak immoderate connected nan Franchise 500 and successful nan market, and that continued successful 2024: Same-store income grew 4%, world systems grew 6%, and integer income grew 30%. (That accusation was done Q3.) And it launched complete 40 caller insubstantial items, including nosy collaborations (like pinch Cheez-It crackers) and promotions (like a insubstantial of discontinued but beloved items from decades past). All that maturation helped Taco Bell notch its 5th consecutive No. 1 spot connected nan Franchise 500 — making it only nan 2nd marque to execute that feat successful our 46-year history. (The different was Subway.)

Related: Why Taco Bell's New Boss Says He's 'Not nan Dictionary Definition of a CEO'

So what's nan secret? Tresvant says it for illustration this: Taco Bell doesn't want to beryllium conscionable different successful quick-service edifice brand; it wants to beryllium a "capital-B Brand" — building deep, personal, decadeslong relationships pinch its consumers, and transcending nan products it sells.

Here, Tresvant explains really Taco Bell thinks ample and acts bigger.

You're now 1 twelvemonth into being CEO. With each you've learned truthful far, what's your connection to personification stepping into a caller activity position?

Learn nan role. Learn to make judge you're being nan CEO and not nan business you were successful previously. For me, it was going from nan main marque serviceman to nan CEO. So overmuch to my chagrin, I wasn't successful title of trading anymore, and I had to study that. I had to admit that. And I had to fto my functional experts beryllium great. I had to beryllium nan personification who created nan civilization and created nan "big-swing" business to fto them do their business and do it well.

On nan flip broadside of that is learning nan different functions, making judge I'm adding worth — whether it's development, whether it's finance, whether it's moving successful nan world aliases nan U.S. business — and expanding successful those areas, asking nan correct questions.

That reminds maine of a reside I had pinch John Mackey, a cofounder and nan erstwhile longtime CEO of Whole Foods. He said that he attributes his agelong occurrence to his willingness to perpetually ask, "What does nan business petition from me?" The reply to that is going to change, but usually that reply meant moving distant from a constituent that he knew really to do well.

It's doing what nan institution needs of you and being tin to listen. There's a batch of constituents. There's a batch of ideas. So it's very important to comprehend to nan different functions, nan squad arsenic individuals, nan squad arsenic a team, and knowing wherever group are coming from — and past being tin to make a smart, aligned decision.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Taco Bell

When you were main marque officer, you brought a batch of insubstantial items back, for illustration nan Mexican Pizza. You moreover group up a strategy for customers to ballot connected which insubstantial items to bring back. This year, you've gone further. For example, there's nan Decades Menu — a lineup of nutrient that Taco Bell utilized to work betwixt nan '60s and '00s. Why truthful overmuch nostalgia?

For Taco Bell, nostalgia plays. A group of america — it was astir apt early first 4th — were sitting astir saying, "You know, beyond being tin to ballot connected insubstantial items to bring 1 back, what would that beryllium connected steroids?" We had a mini inspiration from a celebrated vocalist who was doing an "Eras" circuit astatine nan time. And I deliberation it came up: What would beryllium our "eras"?

Originally, we were conscionable going to personification immoderate really cool merch and a collectible cup from each decade — because group not only emotion nan food, they emotion nan merch arsenic well. But nan squad took it a measurement further and said, "What would header nan Decades menu?" So that's wherever you get nan Gordita. The Caramel Apple Empanada. The Meximelt. When we harvester classical Taco Bell insubstantial items pinch awesome merch, we've seen unthinkable results.

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The merch constituent is really interesting. It's 1 constituent to discarded nutrient — everyone needs food. But wearing merch requires a very individual narration pinch nan brand. How tin a marque build that benignant of relationship?

For immoderate business, you gotta deed group successful nan caput — correct price, correct strategy, bully food. But erstwhile you deed group successful nan heart, that's erstwhile nan merch sells.

I emotion food, but I'm not gonna deterioration my favourite steak location T-shirt, right? But I wore a Taco Bell coach's overgarment nan different day, and personification asked to bargain it disconnected me. When group are truthful passionate astir your marque that they're going to deterioration a hoodie, a jacket, point that says, I americium pinch squad Taco Bell, you've done overmuch than discarded price-pointed worthy menus. That's erstwhile you cognize you've deed personification successful nan heart.

I springiness our marque a batch of credit, because it's not conscionable astir america being a awesome nutrient marque successful nan quick-service edifice category. I've ever said I want to beryllium a awesome "big-B" Brand. And erstwhile you're a awesome Brand, you don't personification nan instrumentality of QSR, you don't personification nan instrumentality of food. You tin conscionable do things that are cool and different.

What is nan value to you betwixt being a awesome QSR marque versus a big-B Brand?

All Brands petition to personification awesome businesses. How's our sales? Are we winning successful development? How's nan profit connection look? But there's a batch of awesome businesses that don't past because they don't personification a awesome Brand. They're very transactional. We personification a batch of transactions astatine Taco Bell, but we too personification a batch of affectional relevance pinch our consumers. To me, a awesome Brand is 1 that group personification that affectional relationship to.

And erstwhile you spell a awesome Brand, that's erstwhile group position astir you, that's erstwhile group make TikToks astir you, that's erstwhile group show a friend, and that's erstwhile group want to effort your caller limited-time relationship correct successful nan drive-thru. There's a value betwixt I'm conscionable gonna spell get nan nutrient 'cause I'm quiet and I'm gonna spell show nan world that I'm connected to Taco Bell.

Let's spell backmost to nan thought of nostalgia. You personification been truthful smart astir engaging people's semipermanent emotion of this brand. But if a marque leans excessively dense connected nostalgia, it becomes a nostalgic marque — a marque that was relevant. How do you prosecute nostalgia but not beryllium trapped by it?

All awesome brands tin measurement nan scales connected erstwhile it's owed to spell backmost to nan past and observe an era, and really you support pushing forward. We want to beryllium a modern marque that is applicable to consumers, immoderate successful insubstantial and experience. We're pushing guardant pinch — we telephone 'em CEPs: Category Entry Points, whether it's desserts, beverages.

There's a batch of group who emotion nan caller insubstantial items — not conscionable nan Crunchwraps, which are foundational, but nan Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme — a Crunchwrap pinch a 16-times-sized Cheez-It incorrect of it. But erstwhile we tin too bring backmost a Meximelt, past you tin harvester nan awesome early of nan marque pinch nan astonishment and delight of nan past of nan brand.

And there's a batch of group — my kids included — who've ne'er tried a Meximelt. So erstwhile you deliberation astir Gen Z, who perchance has heard astir a Meximelt from their parents, now they get to beryllium information of nan acquisition of: This is different. It's not nan insubstantial today. It's nan insubstantial from nan past, and it's conscionable arsenic bully arsenic it was 30 years agone arsenic nan insubstantial is today.

Taco Bell does a awesome business of picking nan correct partners to collaborate pinch crossed nan culture, whether it's Cheez-It coming aliases Doritos astir a decade ago. How do you cognize which 1 is right?

The 1 relationship we for illustration to usage erstwhile we're looking astatine a collaboration — whether it's pinch a person, a nutrient item, a condiment — is authenticity. It's not a relationship we return lightly. If it's a person, we ever say, "What's their Taco Bell story?"

We don't want to conscionable collab pinch a personification who is basking successful nan civilization aliases conscionable net personification to rep nan brand. We're going to partner pinch a personification who authentically loves Taco Bell. So earlier we moreover spell guardant pinch immoderate peculiar personification — Davante Adams, LeBron James, Doja Cat — judge it aliases not, they beryllium down for 20, 30 minutes, and they talk astir what Taco Bell meant to them expanding up, what thoroughfare their Taco Bell was located on, what their favourite insubstantial items are. Then you cognize that they really emotion and are authentic to nan brand.

Related: You Can't Have a Thriving Business Without Happy Customers. Here's How to Keep Them successful Your Corner.

You can't beryllium down and talk to a 16-times-normal-size Cheez-It, though. So really do you premier which different brands to collaborate with?

We ever talk astir nan thought of mathematics and magic. For Cheez-It, nan mathematics is that it's Gen Z's No. 1 cracker. There's penetration into each of this, which says that our benignant of cult is "Gen Z and sensation rebels," and their cult is benignant of "Gen Z sensation rebels." It's very akin to Doritos: It's 1 of Gen Z's favourite chips. That's nan mathematics of it, making judge it's nan correct constituent for our consumers.

Then nan magic is: How do we recreation together and show a really compelling communicative pinch nan 16-times Cheez-It and our iconic Crunchwrap? And past you put those 2 things together, and operations and trading return it forward. But it ever starts pinch a mini spot of mathematics and magic.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Taco Bell

As you settled into nan CEO domiciled this year, you spent a less days moving astatine a Taco Bell location. What did you study from that?

Somebody told maine once, "You can't necktie an elephant if you've ne'er seen an elephant." You tin return that aforesaid accuracy into, "You can't really group a imagination for a ample edifice institution if you ne'er worked successful nan kitchen." I'd ne'er had edifice experience, truthful I decided to spell get some.

I worked 3 shifts successful nan Taco Bell connected Pico successful Los Angeles. And it was an unthinkable experience. I worked a lunch, a dinner, and a late-night shift. I was connected nan line, which is wherever you spread nan food. I was sweeping up nan parking lot. I was washing dishes. And it was each for nan acquisition — not to constituent retired each correction nan squad was making. It was to listen, to hear, to learn: How could I thief them?

The champion information of nan acquisition was, aft each shift, I would beryllium down pinch nan RGM [restaurant wide manager], who runs nan store, and pinch nan area coach, and we'd talk astir nan clip and everything that happened. What were their observations today? Then I'd spell into what I learned. And it's helping agelong term. Not everything will beryllium next-day solves — but really we deliberation astir nan brand, really we deliberation astir nan calendar, really we deliberation astir really nan marque comes to life 365? That decidedly helps maine and helps nan team. And actually, I told my squad that everybody is going to activity a displacement each 4th successful a store, conscionable to get personification to nan squad member, conscionable to get personification to nan consumer.

When we said past year, you said you thrust your adjunct crazy because you often opportunity yes erstwhile personification wants to drawback java and crook your ear. As you've gotten busier, really do you support that connection of relationship unfastened pinch your squad and franchisees?

I deliberation I still thrust her crazy, because it's difficult for maine to opportunity no. But we're doing a batch of worldly internally — shoutout to nan Taco Bell psyche communications team. We're sending retired quarterly emails. When I worked astatine nan store, we sent retired a companywide relationship astir nan experience, why I did it, nan outcomes.

You've heard nan look "ivory building brands," which conscionable beryllium successful corporate. If you're not talking to nan field, if you're not talking to RGMs, if you're not talking astir franchisees, do you really understand what's going connected successful nan brand? So we're doing a batch overmuch to talk to everyone astir nan authorities of nan business, really they're feeling, and really we tin thief them get amended — not only agelong term, but each and each day.

So what does that each adhd up to, successful practice?

I'll put my reply successful position of strategy, people, and culture. The strategy: We're doing bully — arsenic a marque and arsenic a business. The people: I can't opportunity tin astir their passion, their energy. I personification this saying, "Chase greatness successful each and each day." I consciousness for illustration nan group recreation in, and nary matter what usability they're in, we're each chasing greatness together. So we've sewage a awesome strategy. Our group are world-class. But mostly importantly, it's nan culture. And nan civilization is: We're having a batch of fun. You can't activity astatine Taco Bell and not personification a batch of fun.

Related: 'A Lot More Innovation successful Store' — Taco Bell's CMO Says 2025 Will Bring Another Live Más Live and a Return to nan Super Bowl. Here's nan Details.