Can Taco Bell Take On McDonald's?

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Apr 17, 2014

McDonald’s (MCD, Financial), the leading brand of food chain with its innumerable outlets running successfully across the globe, serves the palate of a variety of people through the various specialties in their menu. The quick service restaurant giant has been the ruling king of breakfast for years. But there could be a twist in the tale as close foe Yum! Brands (YUM, Financial) owned Taco Bell intends to invade this space.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, giving a refreshing start, and this “breakfast” has now intensified the rivalry between the two leading brands of food chain, taking it to the next level.

Arch Rivalry & Stiff Competition

McDonald’s is facing fierce competition from fellow competitor Taco Bell that after the launch of its new breakfast series is attracting daily hoggers. In this calculative world where a good number of people depend on the leading food chains for their breakfast because of less time and economical value meals, it helps in earning big bucks to these companies.

Taco Bell after releasing the new taco waffle to their breakfast menu is trying to defeat the king of breakfast, McDonald’s. The latter used to earn a fifth of revenue from its breakfast series. But the launch of the taco waffle has turned out to be a big threat to the company.

The other leading food chain brands like Burger King (BKW, Financial) too is trying to enter the domain of McDonald’s by introducing chicken and waffle sandwiches. Even coffee major Starbucks (SBUX, Financial) launched its new series of breakfast sandwiches, while Dunkin Donuts (DNKN, Financial) unveiled its Egg Benedict sandwiches and is trying to attract customers by offering meals for as low as a dollar. All this has become the main concern for the Big Mac maker as this has been its prime territory.

Taco Bell’s Open Attack

Taco Bell has declared an open war with McDonald’s through its advertisement where a guy is eating an egg muffin with the “old Mc Donald” rhyme buzzing in the background, but after he tries the taco waffle he gets transformed into a boy of this era and gets a smartphone and a mullet. The mentioning of the egg muffin denotes that they are clearly competing with McDonald’s, and not any other food chain brand.

McDonald’s too retorted to the advertisement by addressing it as an imitation and declaring it on a social site that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” In addition to this, McDonald’s has started offering free coffee to its customers to fight the growing rivalry with Taco Bell.

Carry On Taco

The breakfast zone was dominated by McDonald’s and entry into that dominion may not be an easy a task for Taco Bell. It will take time as the set meal of McDonald’s is low on pocket and appetizing for their taste buds too. McDonald’s gets sizable business from the breakfast sector and it too will not let its rule go down so easily. Maybe the company will set up a new menu in the breakfast zone. However, with time and more alluring menus and value offers Taco Bell might attract customers towards itself.