Taco Bell has enlisted Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson to help apologise for its ‘over-innovated’ breakfast menu – hey, their words, not ours.
Over the years, the taco chain has launched various breakfast items that were swiftly discontinued, including the Naked Egg Taco and the Waffle Taco, which boasted shells made out of fried egg and waffle, respectively.
The company now admits some of its products went a ‘little too far’, having realised that its customers just want the basics when it comes to the most important meal of the day.
To offer up an apology for its past mistakes, Taco Bell is releasing a new ad campaign starring Pete Davidson, which will apparently come with a promise that things won’t go quite as convoluted in the future.
Speaking to CNN, Sean Tresvant, Taco Bell’s chief brand officer, said: “We honestly over-innovated in breakfast. When you look at today’s consumer and the [fast food] breakfast business, it’s about familiarity and it’s about comfort.”
These days, Taco Bell prefers a simpler breakfast offering – with the current menu featuring breakfast-themed takes on its all-day meals, such as breakfast burritos, quesadillas and crunchwraps, containing eggs, cheese and meats.
Trevant said that, as a result, breakfast sales – which make up about six percent of its total sales – had surpassed its 2019 levels, adding: “Slow and steady wins the race and in breakfast, you have to be consistent.”
According to CNN, the two new 30-second Davidson ads will be released this month and run until 24 December.
Trevant said the SNL star is known to have probably taken it ‘a little bit too far sometimes’, just like how Taco Bell went a ‘little too far on breakfast’, and that the campaign was also a ‘great partnership’ as Davidson is a fan of the chain and appealed to its younger customer base.
Indeed, in one part of one of the commercials, Davidson walks into a Taco Bell and admits: “Sometimes, we go too far. I have, and that’s why Taco Bell has hired me to make an apology for them.”
The other, meanwhile, shows the comedian waking up from a dream thinking about the taco chain’s breakfast.
New research from GlobalData found that breakfast is enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity, as life is returning to its pre-pandemic format – meaning many workers are out and about as they return to the office.
Hannah Cleland, a food service analyst at GlobalData, said in a recent note: “With such a large portion of the population regularly making a commute, it is unsurprising that breakfast sales have remained steady.
“Consumer spending habits in response to the cost-of-living crisis have been nuanced, but it is clear that a small breakfast treat is still being incorporated into many people’s budgets.”
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