Taco Bell launches mobile ordering app, tests catering service

Taco Bell launched its new mobile ordering app Tuesday via a live video stream with company President Brian Niccol. You can now customize, place and pay for your order on a your smartphone and then pick it p at the drive-through or in store.

“Consumers tell us they have new expectations, and when it comes to retail experiences, technology has fundamentally changed how people interact with brands,” Niccol said in a statement. “The last major breakthrough we made was adding the drive-thru decades ago.”

Anyone who has tried a Doritos Locos Taco might have to disagree with that last comment.

The new app works with your iPhone or Android phone and lets you customize your order with multiple add-ons. For example, if you want to add jalapenos to your chicken taco, you can do that.

Once you place your order, you choose a location near you to pick it up. To guarantee your order is hot, a GPS locator tells the kitchen if you’re close, and when to start cooking.

Once you arrive, you can use the drive-through or pick up your order in-store, at a separate line. There’s also a rotate-to-order feature that allows you to access your most frequent past orders when you turn your phone sideways. A “My Bell” section saves and populates all your favorite orders.

Chipotle has a similar mobile ordering app, which it launched earlier this year.

Niccol also revealed that the company is looking into offering a catering service.

“We know customers would like to experience Taco Bell on their own terms,” Niccol said. “And that’s why just yesterday, we began testing catering.”

Two-hundred Doritos Locos Tacos at your Bar Mitzvah? Crunchwrap Supremes at your engagement party? Want to see how many crunchy tacos your grandpa can eat in five minutes at his 80th birthday party? It could happen.

Sour cream is essential. Follow me on Twitter @Jenn_Harris_