Taco Bell’s instant-legend menu item, Mexican Pizza, was a huge success when it was first introduced, and it’s removal from the menu caused a customer backlash of mammoth proportions. So this past December, when its rebirth was announced, fans’ mouths were already watering…
The new – resurrected – Taco Bell Mexican Pizza. Sold out in less than 2 weeks.
And when it finally did re-appear on the menu last month, folks flocked to the Bell for their fix. So popular was the re-launch that Mexican Pizza quickly sold out (temporarily) at Bell locations across the U.S.
The Bell earlier reported that one customer ordered a staggering 180 Mexican Pizzas. Hope he/she has a big Freezer! And one location in California reportedly sold 1,000 in a single day.
Overall, demand was 7 times higher than when the menu item was last seen, two years ago – when it was dumped during a ‘streamlining’ of the TB menu during the initial panic of the COVID crisis.
The chain’s response
“Because of the incredible love for the Mexican Pizza, we have begun selling out across the country,” the Bell said in a statement posted on its website. “Our restaurant teams trained weeks for what we knew would be a big return, we just didn’t realize how big, and replenishing the beloved menu item is taking longer than we’d like.”
“Mexican Pizza fans from around the [U.S.] came together. To celebrate. To reminisce. And to eat!” the chain explained. “You just happened to eat them all. We knew you loved the Mexican Pizza. We just didn’t know how many of you loved the Mexican Pizza. Now, we need a lot more Mexican Pizzas, and that’s exactly what we’ll get.”
There’s no firm prediction of when Mexican Pizza will be available again. Based on the resto’s obvious desire to keep its customers satisfied, that will undoubtedly be ASAP. The best guess is ‘sometime this fall’.
What’s going on?
The Bell has set up a FAQ page on its site, where you’ll be able to track the latest Mexican Pizza developments.
Alas, the Bell’s main website automatically redirects non-U.S. visitors to their own country’s TB site, so off-shore curiosity seekers will have trouble getting to the FAQs.
Anyway, we do know that, when it does return (again), the Mexican Pizza will be a permanent menu item.
Some perspective
This may be the largest customer response to the release of a new menu item since Popeye’s released its Chicken Sandwich in direct competition with the iconic Chick-Fil-A breast-on-a-bun.
Popeye’s fans lined up hours before opening time, around the block to get a ‘first edition’. The reviews were through the roof. And some folks started talking about a conspiracy to keep up the hype when the chain quickly announced a sell-out. That idle chatter died down pretty quickly, though. I mean, why wouldn’t Popeye’s want to sell a gazillion of the sammys if the demand was there and they had ingredients available?
Same with Taco Bell and their Mexican Pizza. I think they just miscalculated the demand. Albeit drastically! But the dramatic sell-out does make a great hook to hang a load of free publicity on. Just saying…
~ Maggie J.