It’s official: Taco Bell is removing all of its potato dishes, among other offerings, in a major menu refresh scheduled for August 13.
This impending menu overhaul, which has been circulating in the form of panic rumors for the past week, was confirmed today in a new release on the Taco Bell website. According to the publication, these are the dishes that will be put to graze next month:
- Grilled Steak Taco Suave
- 7 layer burrito
- Nachos Supreme
- Fried meat burrito
- Spicy toast
- Triple-layer nachos
- Spicy Soft Potato Taco
- Potatoes with cheese and party
- Loaded grillers (including potato with cheese and beef nacho)
- Chips
- Mini Skillet
- Quesarito (this will be removed from the menu in restaurants, but will still be available via the web or an app)
There will be a few new items available, a $ 5 Nachos Grande box and a $ 1 beef burrito, but overall, this change represents a massive streamlining of menu and restaurant operations. In recent months, fast-food chains like McDonald’s, as well as other restaurants, have struggled to simplify their menus to cut costs during the pandemic. “[W]While change is tough, a simplified menu and process of innovation will make room for new fan favorites, continued progress in categories like plant-based diets, and even opportunities for the return of some classics for a limited time. ” Taco Bell wrote at launch.
Change it is hard, thanks! Especially for vegetarians and consumers with plant-based preferences, many of whom have accepted Taco Bell’s potato offerings as a rare alternative in a fast food world awash in meat (both real and fake). Taco Bell will still serve beans, but sometimes you just want the potato punch, cheese sauce, and carbohydrate sour cream with carbohydrate fat, you know?
The real solution, of course, is that more restaurants should probably incorporate a wider variety of non-meat options, especially considering the environmental and labor costs involved in the entire meat industry (and fast food in general).
But I am not here to tell you how to cry. Cry if necessary. Feel your pain. And the next time you go to Taco Bell at midnight, savor every bite of your Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, because it may be the last time you try them on your fastest form of fast food overnight.
However, there may still be a faint spud flavored reason not to despair. When contacted for comment, a Taco Bell representative told Eater: “At this time, some restaurants have discontinued breakfast service due to reduced restaurant hours. While we don’t want to get our hopes up, there is always a chance that potatoes will remain a key part of breakfast once business resumes. ” That’s a lot of coverage, but too late – consider my hopes raised.
