Taco Bell is Coming to China... Again!

By Bridget O'Donnell

Taco fans, Crunchwrap Supreme enthusiasts and "fourthmeal" aficionados, rejoice! Soon you'll no longer have to stuff your suitcases up with Taco Bell sauce packets during that annual trip home, because the Mexican fast food chain is set to come to China later this year.

Reuters reports that Taco Bell plans to open a new branch in Shanghai by the end of this year. It's all part of parent company Yum! Brands' ambitious goal to open 1,000 overseas Taco Bell restaurants by 2020.

This isn't the first time the Yum! Brands franchise has tried to enter the Chinese market, nor is it new to Asia. In 2003, Taco Bell opened a flagship restaurant in the heart of Shanghai's People's Square and named it "Taco Bell Grande." Shortly after that, another TBG branch popped up in Gubei, followed by two more locations in Shenzhen in 2005. Considerably more upscale than their North American counterparts, the four original China branches came complete with fancy sit-down service, an "exotic menu," Mexican decor, table waitresses and a booze list.

But Taco Bell v1.0 was shortlived, with China saying "Adios" to all four branches in 2008. A report by the Asia Times in 2004 suggested that the chain struggled in appealing to Chinese consumers' tastes:

Tacos and burritos are all but alien to Chinese palates, if only because most Chinese have never tried them. While variants of Taco Bell's ingredients such as salsa, re-fried beans and tortillas can be found in China, the fast-food chain may need to alter the original recipe in order to satisfy Chinese appetites. Cheese, for example, has never been very popular in China. Rice has been consumed for thousands of years, but Mexican rice, with its savory mix of herbs and spices, may not be appealing to Chinese consumers, who have been raised on white rice. Chinese red and green beans are also much different from Mexican re-fried beans, and the sugary way they are prepared makes Chinese beans more suitable for breakfast or as a dessert rather than a burrito.

Times are a-changin,' however, with a number of both high-end and mid-range Mexican restaurants opening up in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the years since. Perhaps the executives at Yum! Brands only saw it fit to give the chain a second chance.

Yum! Brands, which operates over 7,000 restaurants in China (including Tibet's first KFC), has struggled with the fried chicken chain and its sister brand, Pizza Hut, in recent years. Both chains have been plagued with food scandals and declining sales.

No word yet on whether Baja Blast® will be served in China's resurrected Taco Bell, but we sincerely hope the Doritos Locos Taco never crosses Chinese borders.

[Images via Sina, Precision Points, Spartan Shops]

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