Taco Bell’s boldmarketing pays off with big sales
Maureen Morrison
(c) 2014 Crain Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
IS TACO BELL’S BREAKFAST giving McDonald’s a wake-up call?
The Yum chain’s launch in late March went directly after McDonald’s with marketing that aggressively framed the Golden Arches as hopelessly outdated, and trumpeted Taco Bell as the next generation of fast-food breakfast. Its cheeky TV ads used real-life Ronald McDonalds proclaiming their love for Taco Bell’s morning fare.
The first clue to whether this audacious play is paying off came during Yum’s second-quarter earnings. Yum Brands CEO David Novak said breakfast comprised around 7% of sales in the quarter and that the company expects it will add anywhere from $70,000 to $120,000 in annual sales per restaurant.
Projecting sales using those numbers, Taco Bell could stand to reap an estimated $375 million to $641.5 million in first-year sales from breakfast.
“McDonald’s does more breakfast sales in the U.S. than Taco Bell does total sales globally,” said Darren Tristano, exec VP at Technomic. Even so, “McDonald’s has to pay attention,” he said.
