Burger King, a chain that loves testing out oddball new menu items and outrageous promotions, is now serving $1 crispy tacos at locations nationwide. The tacos are made with seasoned ground beef, iceberg lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and “savory taco sauce” — basically a complete replica of Taco Bell’s signature dish, as well as the most polarizing item on the Jack in the Box menu. To launch this new limited-time-only dish, Burger King filmed a commercial on the streets of Austin where late night revelers — who are most certainly actors — try the crispy tacos and give them the seal of approval.
This is just the latest in a long line of stunts from the brand, which like many national fast-food chains, has struggled to hold onto customers in recent years. Over the last year, Burger King has served doughnut hole burgers, upside down Whoppers, and beef-and-chicken meat monsters stuffed inside green buns. The chain also feuded with McDonald’s on Twitter, and attempted to use meme-able depression to sell alternative Happy Meals, while failing to address the mental health issues that fast-food workers face on a regular basis. And while Burger King had a big hit a few months ago with the launch of the meatless Impossible Whopper, even that product rollout was marred by the fact that one Brooklyn location of the chain was selling beef burgers in Impossible wrappers.
Burger King’s somewhat surprising decision to venture into Tex-Mex territory may very well have been inspired by the wild popularity of crunchy beef tacos at both Taco Bell and Jack in the Box. Even though the latter is still considered primarily a burger and sandwich purveyor, Jack in the Box sells approximately 1,000 orders of tacos a minute, and the demand is so strong that the company is also experimenting with tiny versions of its most popular item, too. It stands to reason that if Jack in the Box, a burger chain, can quietly make a killing selling cheap tacos, perhaps Burger King can also achieve the same feat.
Considering that Burger King briefly rolled out a similar beef taco nine years ago, this menu item might also have a certain nostalgia factor for some customers. And if the tacos are a big hit, perhaps Burger King will consider bringing more bringing back more oddball junk foods from years past. (Hopefully, the Whopperito will stay locked safely in the vault.)
The dollar tacos are landing on menus nationwide starting this week for an unspecified limited time.
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