Taco Bell Makes a Belated Run for Breakfast : Marketing: The fast-food chain will serve low-priced, lightly seasoned items, such as sausage-and-potato burritos.
Starting Wednesday , a “Run for the Border” could start a few hours earlier.
After more than a year of testing, the Taco Bell fast-food chain said Monday that it would introduce breakfast items at about 200 of its restaurants in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
While the Irvine-based subsidiary of Pepsico Inc. is a latecomer to the fast-food breakfast trade, it plans to use its not-so-secret weapon to snatch customers from competitors: low price. All of the Taco Bell’s morning items, from a 39-cent sausage-and-potato burrito to a 99-cent knockoff of McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, will sell for less than $1.
“We want everyone in Los Angeles to know that as soon as the sun comes up, they can make a ‘run for the border,’ ” said Tim Ryan, Taco Bell’s senior vice president for marketing, borrowing the tag line from the chain’s current ad campaign. The restaurants will begin opening at 6 a.m. for breakfast.
If the program is successful, spokesman Elliot Bloom said it could be expanded to all of the chain’s other 3,300 restaurants in the United States and nine foreign nations.
Taco Bell’s breakfast menu has been tested for more than a year at several Taco Bell restaurants in Southern California, as well as in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Huntsville, Ala. While in keeping with the company’s tradition of Mexican-style food, the breakfast items are lightly seasoned so that they are not too spicy. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, salsa will be served on the side while in Huntsville, gravy has been popular, Bloom said.
While breakfast tacos were also tested and rejected, various types of burritos were selected for the morning business because they were considered easier to carry and eat.
But while convenience could factor in Taco Bell’s success, price will probably be crucial. By undercutting the competition on price, Taco Bell stays with its filling-but-cheap image. Taco Bell has dramatically cut the prices of most of its items over the past two years in a bid to boost the number of purchases. The strategy worked so well that soon other chains --including industry leader McDonald’s--were forced to cut prices as well.
The Taco Bell move into the breakfast trade was being looked upon as an important next step for the chain as it tries to compete head-to-head with national chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King, as well as regional rivals such as Del Taco and Carl’s Jr.
“I think it’s a natural extension to add to the (morning) part of their business,” said Janet Lowder, an independent restaurant industry analyst based in Rancho Palos Verdes. She said Taco Bell has been treading lightly about entering the breakfast market because people don’t think of Mexican food for their morning meal.
So far, other fast-food chains are not expressing any great concern.
Del Taco, based in Costa Mesa, has offered breakfast burritos for 20 years, said Executive Vice President Paul Hitzelberger. The entry of Taco Bell into breakfast market “is going to help us,” he said, because “they will increase the awareness of Mexican breakfasts.”
“It’s not a surprise they are introducing breakfast, because they have been testing it in the area for so long,” said Patty Parks, spokeswoman for Carl Karcher Enterprises in Anaheim, which operates the Carl’s Jr. chain.
But Parks said they will keep a close eye on Taco Bell because the breakfast trade, along with dinner, is considered one of the strongest potential growth areas for fast-food chains.
The Battle for Breakfast
Taco Bell has been enormously successful in the past year by slashing the prices of its menu items, increasing customer transactions by nearly 70% since 1988. Now the Irvine-based subsidiary of Pepsico Inc. is entering the breakfast market, which could pressure competitors to lower prices on their breakfast offerings. Here are selected breakfast items among major chains:
TACO BELL
Price Weight Cost per Ounce (dollars) (ounces) (dollars) Fiesta Breakfast Burrito .39 3 .13 Sausage Breakfast Burrito .59 4 .15 Bacon Breakfast Burrito .59 4 .15 Breakfast Muffin Sandwich .99 5 1/4 .19 Hash browns .39 NA NA Orange juice .39 6 .07
MCDONALD’S
Price Weight Cost per Ounce (dollars) (ounces) (dollars) Breakfast Burrito .99 4 .25 Egg McMuffin 1.39 4 1/2 .31 Hash browns .59 3 1/4 .18 Orange juice 1.14 6 .19
CARL’S JR.
Price Weight Cost per Ounce (dollars) (ounces) (dollars) Breakfast Burrito 1.89 5 1/4 .36 Sunrise sandwich 1.49 4 .37 French Toast Dips 1.49 4 .37 Hash Brown Nuggets .59 3 1/4 .18 Orange juice .85 12 .07
JACK IN THE BOX
Price Weight Cost per Ounce (dollars) (ounces) (dollars) Breakfast Jack 1.55 4 1/4 .36 Scrambled Egg Pocket 1.89 6 1/4 .30 Hash browns .60 2 .30 Orange juice .69 4 .17
Source: Companies listed
Researched by DALLAS M. JACKSON / Los Angeles Times
