Taco Bell Unveils Its Latest Creation: The Quesalupa
Taco Bell finally unveiled its newest menu item on Super Bowl Sunday: the Quesalupa — part chalupa and part quesadilla, with a fried flour tortilla shell stuffed with pepper jack cheese. It will be offered in all domestic restaurants on Monday.
Taco Bell debuted a 30-second commercial for its latest mystery product during Super Bowl 50. According to AdWeek, Taco Bell first reported it would add a new item in a humorously redacted press release, calling it one of Taco Bell’s “biggest product launches to date.” The fast food giant believes in the Quesalupa so much that it even allowed people to pre-order the item and have it delivered to them before the big game started, as The Motley Fool reported.
“In a bold move to promote its online ordering platform at the expense of taking some of the surprise out of its Super Bowl ad, Taco Bell allowed customers to pre-order a mystery item sight unseen. Folks agreeing to pay $2.99 for the new menu addition were able to pick it up on Saturday afternoon, and that’s when it was revealed that the new item is a Quesalupa.”
The ad, titled “Bigger Than Futbol,” aired in the game’s first quarter and was posted to YouTube not long ago. It notably references other trends, such as man buns, Tinder, hover boards, and drones, and features celebrity guests like Neymar, James Harden, and Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, and even George Takei of Star Trek fame pops up. Predictably, all he has to do is let loose an infectious laugh and take a bite to make the commercial even better. The commercial ends with the the slogan, “The Quesalupa. It’s going to be bigger than everything.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_0T6OSh1DI
Ads have shown the Quesalupa with a class “melted cheese pull.” Aside from the fried cheese-stuffed shell, the Quesalupa will feature the standard Taco Bell formula for fillings: seasoned ground beef, cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and sour cream, with alternate choices of chicken or steak. The Toledo Blade detailed how Taco Bell tested out the Quesalupa in 36 Ohio-area locations.
“Quesalupa is everything I love about Taco Bell – amplified,” Chief Executive Brian Niccol told 500 corporate employees during a preview party at Taco Bell’s headquarters on Friday, as quoted by The Orange County Register. Executives at the party also said that the Quesalupa began as a pencil sketch based on the Salvadorian pupusas four years ago. Soon after, the company began experimenting with their signature flatbread chalupa shells before finally ending up with a chalupa-quesadilla combination.
“When the crispy beef taco with a nacho cheese flavored shell debuted in 2012, the chain sold 100 million in 10 weeks. It soon became the largest and most successful product launch in Taco Bell’s history, the company said at the time. On Friday, Taco Bell officials said they’re going all-in. Even though the Quesalupa is a limited-time offer, the chain has 74 million shells ready to roll in the next few weeks.”
The initial reactions to Taco Bell’s new item has been positive. Many fans of the Quesalupa took to social media to express their approval.
Today we got to try the #Quesalupa from @tacobell and it was glorious. ? pic.twitter.com/sIU8jEmpbt
— idobi Radio (@idobiradio) February 6, 2016
Okay I can officially confirm that the new Taco Bell item is called the Quesalupa and it RULES you guys. @tacobell pic.twitter.com/zxe2h1HkUA
— little hurt ? (@LittleHurt) February 6, 2016
I KNEW IT! The #Quesalupa lives! The secret's out @tacobell, and it's DELICIOUS! Get it with Spicy Ranch sauce BTW. pic.twitter.com/83D3fo0cWA
— BrutallStatic (@BrutallStatic) February 6, 2016
[Photo by Duane Prokop/Getty Images for Taco Bell]
