Why Taco Bell is turning its health menu into a muscle menu

By Roberto A. Ferdman July 11 at 11:45 AM Follow @robferdman

Like it or not, the paleo diet fad has now gone mainstream.

Yesterday, Taco Bell announced that it will be beefing up its menu—quite
literally—by launching a new menu centered around meat and protein. The
new menu, which, as the Mexican fast food chain explained in a
statement, is "the next evolution of its Cantina Bell menu," will be
called the Cantina Power Menu, and will feature food items with double
portions of meat and more than 20 grams of protein. Essentially, it's
Taco Bell's bet that Americans are increasingly interested in protein
content, and decreasingly interested in so-called diet foods.

“We heard customers requesting a higher protein solution with the
flavors Cantina delivers, so here is Cantina Power,” company president
Brian Niccol said in a statement. "People are not looking for diet food.
They want food that gives them energy," he said.

Taco Bell launched its original Cantina menu back in 2012 to appease
consumers looking for brighter and fresher ingredients. The menu
initially included items with ingredients like fresh guacamole and fire
roasted corn salsa, and was promoted with artfully shot ads sporting the
aesthetic of Food Network cooking shows.

But it appears that Taco Bell has either come to the conclusion that its
customers go elsewhere for that sort of fare, or simply learned that
America's love for protein-packed foods trumps all else.

Most likely, it's the latter.

Taco Bell isn't getting rid of the "fresh" ingredients—it's merely
topping them with more meat and using that as the prevailing marketing
pitch.

Taco Bell 's bet comes at a particularly promising moment for protein.
Demand for protein-rich foods is growing quickly around the globe, but
especially fast in the United States. Protein supplement sales, for
instance, have grown by more than 40 percent since 2008, and are
expected to grow by another 40-plus percent by 2018, according to
estimates by market research firm Euromonitor.

And interest in foods with higher protein content is especially
pronounced among America's youth, which just so happens to be Taco
Bell's prime audience.

Taco Bell isn't the first fast food company to double down on America's
growing muscle obsession. Other chains, including Panera Bread Co.,
which sports its own power menu, have made similar bets. And large food
manufacturers, like Kraft, have tried their hand at the trend, too.
Kraft, for its part, began selling a product called P3, which combines
nuts, meat, and cheese, earlier this year.

But Taco Bell does seem pretty serious about it. So serious, that it
isn't stopping at extra meat and added protein—it's even extended its
menu to include Greek yogurt. "There are lots of yogurt parfaits out
there, so we asked ourselves what would get people excited about yogurt
at Taco Bell, and the answer is Greek yogurt," Niccol said.

"Travis McGee" > wrote in message
...
> Why Taco Bell is turning its health menu into a muscle menu
>
> By Roberto A. Ferdman July 11 at 11:45 AM Follow @robferdman
>
> Like it or not, the paleo diet fad has now gone mainstream.
>
> Yesterday, Taco Bell announced that it will be beefing up its menu—quite
> literally—by launching a new menu centered around meat and protein. The
> new menu, which, as the Mexican fast food chain explained in a statement,
> is "the next evolution of its Cantina Bell menu," will be called the
> Cantina Power Menu, and will feature food items with double portions of
> meat and more than 20 grams of protein. Essentially, it's Taco Bell's bet
> that Americans are increasingly interested in protein content, and
> decreasingly interested in so-called diet foods.
>
> “We heard customers requesting a higher protein solution with the flavors
> Cantina delivers, so here is Cantina Power,” company president Brian
> Niccol said in a statement. "People are not looking for diet food. They
> want food that gives them energy," he said.
>
> Taco Bell launched its original Cantina menu back in 2012 to appease
> consumers looking for brighter and fresher ingredients. The menu initially
> included items with ingredients like fresh guacamole and fire roasted corn
> salsa, and was promoted with artfully shot ads sporting the aesthetic of
> Food Network cooking shows.
>
> But it appears that Taco Bell has either come to the conclusion that its
> customers go elsewhere for that sort of fare, or simply learned that
> America's love for protein-packed foods trumps all else.
>
> Most likely, it's the latter.
>
> Taco Bell isn't getting rid of the "fresh" ingredients—it's merely topping
> them with more meat and using that as the prevailing marketing pitch.
>
> Taco Bell 's bet comes at a particularly promising moment for protein.
> Demand for protein-rich foods is growing quickly around the globe, but
> especially fast in the United States. Protein supplement sales, for
> instance, have grown by more than 40 percent since 2008, and are expected
> to grow by another 40-plus percent by 2018, according to estimates by
> market research firm Euromonitor.
>
> And interest in foods with higher protein content is especially pronounced
> among America's youth, which just so happens to be Taco Bell's prime
> audience.
>
> Taco Bell isn't the first fast food company to double down on America's
> growing muscle obsession. Other chains, including Panera Bread Co., which
> sports its own power menu, have made similar bets. And large food
> manufacturers, like Kraft, have tried their hand at the trend, too. Kraft,
> for its part, began selling a product called P3, which combines nuts,
> meat, and cheese, earlier this year.
>
> But Taco Bell does seem pretty serious about it. So serious, that it isn't
> stopping at extra meat and added protein—it's even extended its menu to
> include Greek yogurt. "There are lots of yogurt parfaits out there, so we
> asked ourselves what would get people excited about yogurt at Taco Bell,
> and the answer is Greek yogurt," Niccol said.

I think the appeal of Taco Bell is the price. And that's cheap. But if
they want to start adding protein, they can take the danged oats out of
their taco beef!