Really? I guess it depends on what you like and how you like it. But a new poll by the Harris organization finds that Taco Bell is America’s favourite Mexican Restaurant. I still want to find out how the poll was conducted and who was considered ‘the competition’ in this popularity contest…
Okay. I’ll admit that Taco Bell has upgraded its food and service lately, and diversified
its menu. If my order actually looked like the examples in these pictures,
I’d be more confident that Harris got its poll right!
I always think of Taco Bell as cheap, filling and ‘Tex Mex’, as opposed to Mexican, per se. But it always depends on how a pollster draws up the categories and which cubby hole a resto chain falls into. I think there should have been separate categories for ‘Tex-Mex’ and ‘Mexican’; perhaps separate categories for predominantly-sit-down and mainly-take-out restos. I just can’t see The Bell – as iconic as it is – out ranking other more authentic Mexican joints. And I’ve been to a whole lot of different ones.
What they did…
Earlier this year, the Harris Poll quizzed a carefully-selected sample of 77,000 U.S. customers about their preferences among some 3,000 restaurant brands separated into some 300 categories. Even with massive computers, it took some time to correlate and compare the numbers.
Size matters?
I think it does. At least in as much as Taco Bell earlier this year officially became the fourth largest U.S. fast food chain in sales, behind McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway, each in their own specific category.
Other, classier joints like Chilis have far fewer locations and have not been around nearly as long – and, so, must take a hit in popularity polls simply because far fewer people have tried them.
How do you define ‘best’?
In any poll, two factors determine the result. The first is how you word the poll questions. The second is how you interpret the responses.
In the case of the Harris Poll, Taco Bell was named ‘Best Mexican Restaurant of 2018’. But how was the question framed? Did pollsters ask customers exiting ‘Mexican’ restaurants what they preferred? Or, did they ask a random sample of folks who admitted they dine out what they preferred? Or what? We don’t know. I visited he Harris Polls website and neither the rationale for the poll not its detailed results was available. But I’ll give the Harris people the benefit of the doubt on this one – at least for the accuracy of their figures.
It’s the wording of the question that I wonder about.
My take…
I guess it’s just me. But I was surprised that Taco Bell was rated ‘Best’ by Harris. Either that, or I’ve become a snob. I don’t credit that possibility, though. If anything, my expectations have moderated considerably over the past decade. I think the official start of my voluntary slide from indulgence into practicality came the year that Beef prices shot up double and – for some cuts – triple what they had been. Then there was the year of the (C)$8 Cauliflower, emblematic of the steep rise in Produce prices to come.
I’ve become more of an advocate for reasonably-priced fresh foods since then, and a champion (just lately) of non-meat protein alternatives. Because I believe staunchly that Veggie protein is the way we’ll have to go in future if everyone on Earth is to have a foll belly and stay healthy. On the other and, I believe that ‘real’ Meats, Poultry and Fish will still be around, though they’ll be purchased only as treats or for special occasions; novelty foods. And the huge Meat industries we have today will cease to be huge. Today’s herders will have to adapt. How they do it and how long they hold out against the inevitable, we’ll just have to wait see…
~ Maggie J.