Latest news with #TacoBell
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Yum China unveils AI tool in a bid to boost efficiency
(Reuters) -Yum China Holdings said on Friday it has launched a new AI-enabled hands-free assistant tool at certain KFC stores in a bid to boost efficiency. The company, which operates Yum Brands' franchises including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, said the tool, named Q-Smart, is aimed at supporting restaurant managers in tasks such as staff scheduling, inventory management, and food quality inspection. The launch follows its former parent Yum's AI-driven initiatives, including the Byte by Yum! software it launched in February, aimed at reducing wait times at restaurants and improving delivery times. Yum China said the pilot phase will lead to a larger scale roll-out of Q-Smart in the future, following incorporation of user feedback. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Yum China unveils AI tool in a bid to boost efficiency
June 20 (Reuters) - Yum China Holdings ( opens new tab, said on Friday it has launched a new AI-enabled hands-free assistant tool at certain KFC stores in a bid to boost efficiency. The company, which operates Yum Brands' (YUM.N), opens new tab franchises including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, said the tool, named Q-Smart, is aimed at supporting restaurant managers in tasks such as staff scheduling, inventory management, and food quality inspection. The launch follows its former parent Yum's AI-driven initiatives, including the Byte by Yum! software it launched in February, aimed at reducing wait times at restaurants and improving delivery times. Yum China said the pilot phase will lead to a larger scale roll-out of Q-Smart in the future, following incorporation of user feedback.
Los Angeles Times
7 hours ago
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme is turning 20. So I finally tried one, and it's meh!
Twenty years ago this summer, something momentous happened in the annals of Southern California. I'm not talking about Antonio Villaraigosa becoming L.A.'s first Latino mayor in over a century. Or the Lakers rehiring Phil Jackson as their head coach to embark on one final championship run with Kobe Bryant. No, history will look at those achievements as mere blips compared with the debut of Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme. A flour tortilla wrapped around a ground beef tostada and stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, nacho cheese and sour cream, the item has become essential for American consumers who like their Mexican food cheap and gimmicky — which is to say, basically everyone (birria ramen, anybody?). The Times has offered multiple articles on how to make your own version at home. Celebrity chefs like Matty Matheson have shot videos praising Crunchwrap Supremes while hawking their own takes. Its June anniversary will soon get the star treatment in a national publication for a story in which I was interviewed because I'm literally the guy who wrote the book on Mexican food in the United States. But there was a slight problem that needed to be rectified before I sounded off on the legendary dish: I had to try a Crunchwrap Supreme for the first time. Hell, before a few weeks ago, I had only visited Taco Bell thrice in my life. During the 1980s and 1990s, Southern California underwent momentous shifts. The white middle class was fleeing the state as the defense industry and blue-collar factories collapsed; immigrants from across the globe came in to replace them, jolting the region's politics. Meanwhile, the ideal taco in the Angeleno psyche was transitioning from the hard-shell topped with a blizzard of yellow cheese eaten since the 1930s into the one we all love today: a tortilla — usually corn — stuffed with something and baptized with a sprinkle of salsa. (A quick etymological aside for the kids: Tacos made with non-deep-fried tortillas used to be called 'soft' tacos to differentiate them from hard-shell tacos, which were just called 'tacos.' Now, it's the reverse — progress!) So my childhood wasn't spent at Taco Bell, Tito's Tacos or even Del Taco, whose half-pound bean-and-cheese burrito remains the world's best fast-food item. My tacos were the ones at King Taco when visiting relatives in East L.A., or the Taqueria De Anda chain in Orange County back when it was still good. I had no reason to go to Taco Bell, even as it went worldwide. Nor did it entice me to visit with its half-racist TV ads like the Taco Bell Chihuahua dog or the ones that ended with the slogan 'Make a Run for the Border.' I didn't go to one until the early 2000s, and I can't remember what my cousins and I ordered except it was bland, limp and too salty: A bunch of regret dabbled with nada. I stopped in only twice more: when the Irvine-based company debuted its Doritos Loco taco in 2012, and when I forced the late Times food critic Jonathan Gold to go through a Taco Bell drive-thru for an episode of the hit Netflix show 'Ugly Delicious.' Both times, the experience was like my first. I ordered one at a location in Santa Ana near my wife's restaurant, where I unveiled the dish. While looking as sleek and tightly folded as a dumpling, it was far smaller than I had expected. The tortilla had no flavor; the tostada which supposedly offers textural counterpoint — the whole idea, according to its advocates, like Times newsletter jefe Karim Doumar — was soggy. And once again, Taco Bell's Achilles' heel was its ground beef, which was as pebbly as gravel. I squeezed some of Taco Bell's hot sauce to try and save my lunch, but it tasted like insulin dusted with black pepper. You're better off buying two of Del Taco's half-pound bean-and-cheese burritos for the same $6 price. I am no snob or purist — I think Jack in the Box's hard-shell tacos are magnificent. And I can see the Crunchwrap Supreme working with better ingredients. But the dish is hardly worth the hype. Besides, Mexicans have a far better dish that combines the soft with the crunchy to create something sublime. They're called chilaquiles — ask my fellow columnista Steve Lopez about them sometime. The Black faith community, along with people of faith from across Los Angeles County, marched in solidarity through the streets of downtown L.A. Wednesday for a peaceful interfaith prayer walk for family unity. Gustavo Arellano, California columnistKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
New York Times
12 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
The Fast-Food Gimmick That Became an Unlikely Muse for Chefs
In 2020, Fernando Strohmeyer was scrolling through Reddit in the back of Aunt Ginny's, a dive bar in Ridgewood, Queens, when a video of someone making a homemade Crunchwrap Supreme caught his eye. It didn't matter that he had never tasted the Taco Bell original. Recipes for the fast-food staple have spread online like open-source code. Soon, he was making one, too. From his small kitchen at Aunt Ginny's, Mr. Strohmeyer serves six-sided wraps that are browned on both sides and filled with the 14-hour pernil he learned to make from his Puerto Rican mother. His version — 'the Crispwrap Ultimate' — is considerably thicker than the source material, with a cross-section that looks more like your actual aunt's seven-layer dip. 'As long as you have that crunchy thing in the middle and you know how to fold it, you can put anything in there,' said Mr. Strohmeyer, 44. Introduced by Taco Bell as a special on June 22, 2005, the Crunchwrap Supreme wildly outperformed company expectations, becoming the fastest-selling menu item in the fast-food chain's history. Twenty years later, it is as much a novelty food as a playful framework for chefs. They reinterpret its nostalgic layers — ground beef, nacho cheese, a tostada shell, lettuce, tomato and sour cream enrobed by a 12-inch flour tortilla — with ingredients that are deeply personal. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Taco Bell adds new beverages to hop on viral fast-food trend
Everyone has their favorite handcrafted beverage order, whether coffee, tea, or soda-based. In the last few years, specialty beverages have become a not-so-secret gold mine in the food industry. Many companies are investing in this trend by developing their own creations to better compete with rivals, attract a bigger audience, and boost sales. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Taco Bell began noticing the huge pull specialty beverages had on younger generations, especially Gen Z, and started introducing specialty drinks in its restaurants to capitalize on this trend. Mountain Dew Baja Blast was the first drink to result from this initiative. It quickly became one of its most popular items, which led the fast-food chain to trademark it. Related: Taco Bell announces new menu items to battle McDonald's To capitalize on this viral trend, Taco Bell opened the first-ever Taco Bell Live Más Café in Chula Vista, California. This new concept features a variety of milkshake flavors, iced and hot coffee, fruity drinks, and fizzy sodas. Yum! Brands' (YUM) Taco Bell introduced Agua Refrescas in April 2024 as a limited-time test run exclusively available at one of its Southern California restaurants. Agua Refrescas were a new line of green tea-based beverages infused with fruit flavors, real fruit pieces, and 52 milligrams of caffeine. They were available in Strawberry Passionfruit, Peach Mango, and Dragonfruit Berry flavors. Related: Taco Bell reveals 30 new menu items launching in 2025 With this launch, Taco Bell embraced the beverage trend, testing new drinks and obtaining customers' feedback, which, if positive, could lead to a nationwide expansion. "We want to make our beverages just as iconic as our food," said Taco Bell Chief Marketing Officer Taylor Montgomery at the time of the release. "Our new Agua Refrescas are a perfect, vibrant pairing with everything our fans crave from Taco Bell and will help us on our journey to make Taco Bell a beverage destination." However, once the test run was over, the Agua Refresca beverages were not made available at any other locations - until now. Taco Bell has re-launched Refrescas, but this time, it's expanding them to all participating locations nationwide for a limited time and launching new additions to enhance the lineup. The fast-food chain has brought back the Agua Refresca line in the same flavors it had last year and a new Strawberry Lime Freeze with the same ingredients, but in a frozen version. More Food News: Hershey creates new guilt-free candy that's a dream comboMcDonald's menu adds new happy meal fans will loveChick-fil-A quietly launches unexpected new menu items But that's not all. Taco Bell is also introducing new Energy Refrescas, which feature the Rock Star Focus Energy drink, Lion's Mane, B vitamins, guarana, and taurine, for a total of 200 milligrams of caffeine. These new energy-packed drinks come in Tropical Punch and Pineapple Lime flavors. This latest release helps Taco Bell strengthen its foothold in the beverage market. By dabbling in energy drinks, it taps into the second most-popular dietary supplement consumed by teenagers and young adults in the U.S., behind multivitamins. With a successful fast-food business and the fan-favorite Mountain Dew Baja Blast already under its belt, Taco Bell could soon take the throne its rivals have occupied. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
