Taco Bell says its new value menu may go national in coming months. The fast-food chain had already said in January that it was testing a "$1 Cravings" menu that would replace its "Why Pay More" menu, which has tiered pricing. In a call with reporters Thursday, executives at the chain said they're confident they've hit on the right mix of products for a national rollout this year. But they declined to speci ...

Taco Bell isn't putting down the chalupa just yet but it wants to start shedding its reputation as a purveyor of junk food. The food chain announced that it's exploring ways to offer more "balanced choices," marking just the latest sign that the fast-food industry is trying to adapt to shifting tastes and upend the conventional wisdom that it only offers caloric indulgences. In a call with reporters, CEO Gr ...

Residents of Bethel, Alaska, know from cable TV ads what the major fast-food chains offer: chicken at KFC, burgers at McDonald's and tacos at Taco Bell. They just haven't been able to get any of it. The city of 6,200 people is about 40 miles inland from the Bering Sea in far western Alaska, and the closest fast food other than a Subway sandwich shop is in Anchorage, 400 miles and a $500 round-trip plane tic ...

Taco Bell, often a late-night indulgence with its inexpensive fare, is going more upscale. The chain said Wednesday it plans an early July rollout of a menu addition created by celebrity chef Lorena Garcia for its nearly 5,600 U.S. restaurants. New items feature such ingredients as black beans, cilantro rice, citrus- and herb-marinated chicken and cilantro dressing. The introduction of items that Taco Bell ...

Over the past 20 years, business has been buenísimo for the Americans who have started Mexican food chains in the U.S. Chipotle, started in the early '90s, boasts one of the highest-valued stocks in the chain restaurant industry. Qdoba, founded shortly after its rival, now has operations in 42 states. And Taco Bell, which has been in the game since the 1950s, saw its sales skyrocket from $2.5 billion per ye ...

Leah Smith, a 22-year-old Oklahoma woman, filed a lawsuit against Taco Bell on February 17, alleging that the fast-food chain was responsible for the serious case of salmonella infection she suffered in November, Food Safety News reports. The suit alleges that Smith ate at Taco Bell on November 3, 2011, and fell ill two days later. Her illness, which was gastrointestinal in nature, got progressively worse a ...

Depending on your orientation towards novelty in fast food, March 8th will either be a secular pseudo-holiday or the latest step on the well-trodden path to apocalypse. Why? On Thursday, March 8th, 2012, Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell will finally bring its long-gestating Doritos Locos Tacos -- which subs out a normal hard corn taco shell for a folded circle of Doritos -- to restaurants across the nation ...

Taco Bell had a rough year. Many of its competitors in the quick service market were feasting like crows on the still-ravenous, cash-strapped corpse of the American consumer, and many of its compatriots at Yum! Brands were riding high on profits from their successful entry into the Chinese market -- but Taco Bell was left out in the rain. A big part of the company's problem had to do with a lawsuit regardin ...

Years ago, Taco Bell told us it was "thinking outside the bun" by furnishing the fast food eating public with alternatives to burgers: taco, burritos, chalupas and gorditas -- all served on some variation of a tortilla. However a couple of months ago, the company rethought its ideas of using bread -- just not in bun form -- when it introduced chicken flatbread sandwiches. And now that Taco Bell has embraced ...