Taco Bell will be trying something new to better serve customers in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
The popular fast-food company recently announced the opening of its first new digital-driven restaurant concept, Taco Bell Defy, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, making good on its previous announcement in August 2021, per The Verge.
Taco Bell's concept restaurant is located near 94th and Zane avenues north, which is south of Minnesota Highway 610, per MPR News.
Taco Bell Defy Details
Border Foods, a family-run franchisee of Taco Bell, mentioned in its announcement that the fast-food company's concept restaurant is a two-story restaurant that doesn't have a dining room usually found in such establishments.
Instead, Taco bell Defy will cater to orders made online, whether at the fast-food company's app, one of its third-party delivery partners or through a traditional drive-thru order.
The first floor, which is designed to let vehicles pass through, features a vertical lift from which customers can take their orders. Customers who want to order through the traditional drive-thru method will have to speak to one of the staff members before proceeding to take their order.
A picture featuring the interior of Taco Bell Defy's drive-thru lane.
Additionally, the first floor is divided into four lanes to accommodate customers, with three of them being dedicated to customers picking up online orders, or delivery drivers. The fourth is exclusively for the restaurant's traditional drive-thru lane.
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Meanwhile, the restaurant's second floor is where the action is. This floor holds the kitchen in which customers' foods are being cooked, prepared, and served through its end of the vertical lift.
A picture showing Taco bell Defy's vertical lift
Customers who give their order online to Taco Bell's concept restaurant will receive a QR code for them to check-in and receive their order. They won't have to wait as long as they normally do in Taco bell's traditional restaurant setup; Taco Bell's goal for the concept restaurant is to deliver orders to customers in two minutes or less.
The same is true with third-party delivery drivers such as those working with Door Dash, GrubHub, or Uber Eats.
Taco Bell's Expectations and Reasons Behind Defy's Establishment
Lee Engler, the founder of Border Foods, said that the restaurant is more expensive to build and requires more employees compared to a traditional Taco Bell restaurant. However, they predict that Taco Bell Defy will bring thrice as much business or more than a traditional establishment.
He also mentioned that its dining room business never came back to what it was despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, adding that the majority of its business "is now either in a digital format through mobile apps, or the drive-thru or third-party aggregators like DoorDash."
Engler's sentiments are also reflected in the statement of PD Instore's CEO and Vertical Works co-founder Mike Strommen, who said that the Border Foods team was facing challenges with streamlining a customer's order from kitchen to hand-off.
"... Vertical Works team presented a solution to not only address [Border Foods' challenges], but also deliver a more impactful customer experience overall," Strommen said.
Meanwhile, Taco Bell President and Global COO, Mike Grams, mentioned that the Defy establishment is "an incredible innovation" of its brand and one that meets its customers in a unique way.
"For decades we've been committed to providing a fast, safe, and friendly drive-thru experience; now with our bold goal of creating a two minute or less drive-thru experience for customers on this concept, Taco Bell Defy is the future," Grams said.
Engler mentioned that Border Foods is currently planning to open a similar online-only restaurant in the Twin Cities in 2023.
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