The Best Idea Yet - 🌮 Doritos Locos Tacos: The Cheesy Mashup That Saved Taco Bell | 21

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Taco Bell was struggling and needed an idea so bold… so over-the-top… so WEIRD… that it would capture America’s taste buds and Instagram feeds. So when it unveiled the Doritos Locos Tacos (or ""DLT"") in 2012, jaws dropped…then immediately started chomping. The hard-shell taco coated with cheesy Dorito dusting became the biggest fast food hit of the decade, selling over a billion tacos. Even tastier for Taco Bell: the red-hot fan hype turned the DLT into the first viral fast food hit of the social media age. But creating the DLT wasn’t a simple matter of sprinkling on some cheese dust. It took two years, 40 (!) prototypes, and some of the smartest minds in food science working in a secret lab to crack the deliciously elusive code. Discover the mom-and-pop restaurant that inspired Taco Bell's founder, how being more like Bridget Jones can up your idea hit rate, and why the Doritos Locos Taco is the best idea yet.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterFollow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the best idea yet early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. I'm proud. I'm proud that I took you to your first Michelin-starred restaurant. I think you took me to my first two Michelin-starred restaurants. Yeah, you've got three stars and they're all thanks to me. We go to Spruce in San Francisco, Michelin starred. And what did you order? I looked at the menu and the cheeseburger

was in my comfort zone. You don't want to leave that comfort zone. Well, Jack, I started researching it more. And at Spruce, Quinn's, Momofuku, these Michelin star icons, it takes chefs months to come up with each of those dishes. Impressive. Thomas Keller, the most celebrated chef in America. Mm-hmm.

Seven months to make one of his turnip dishes. That's obscene. But the dish that took the longest to design may actually be the cheapest and lowest end of all of them. Now you're talking my language, Nick, because this episode is about a product that costs about $1.50, and yet it was treated with more attention to detail than that Thomas Keller restaurant you just mentioned that I probably can't pronounce.

Jagged is arguably a more impressive culinary feat, because today besties, we're talking about one of the most successful, messiest, and fastest of fast food innovations of the 21st century. It's a taste sensation. To quote the classic Simpsons line, it's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited. Because today we're filling our faces with the spicy success story of Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos.

The Doritos Locos Taco is like no other. Please take the time to learn about your new treat. Taco Bell has sold over one billion of these wild Doritos flavored hard tacos since they launched them in 2012. Thank God the napkins are free. For true Taco Bell fans, there are two eras, the before DLT era and the after DLT era.

But this is really a story about taking a risk to reinvigorate a beloved product and then building buzz around that risk that you took. Because the Doritos Locos taco fueled a turnaround in Taco Bell's sagging fortunes. It also changed the way fast food chains use social media to put the sizzle in their marketing campaigns. Think Popeye's chicken sandwich,

Dunkin' Donuts Charlie drink, Starbucks unicorn orange mocha frappuccino. The Doritos Locos taco was the original viral fast food hit. At first Taco Bell's top brass passed on the idea more than once and they even ignored the pleas of their most passionate customers to just give us a Doritos flavored taco already. And when Taco Bell finally decided to give Project Doritos Locos tacos the green light they couldn't make it work at first.

Turning this flavor fantasy into a reality stumped the finest minds in fast food science. It took Taco Bell two years and 40 different recipes to get the recipe right. And when they finally launched it, the DLT was such a hit that Taco Bell needed 15,000 extra staff just to keep up with the demand. that Taco Bell needed 15,000 extra staff just to keep up with the demand. So in today's episode, we're gonna hear how the DLT single-handedly turned Taco Bell's fortunes 180 degrees around.

And how the Doritos Locos Taco is an iconic moment in the history of social media marketing. Along the way, we'll meet the immigrant mom and pop restaurant that introduced the hard shell taco to the United States and the guy who took that recipe to launch a Mexican fast food chain, American style. We'll also sneak through the heavily guarded doors of Taco Bell's top secret research lab. We'll explore how smart brand collaborations are like financial trick shots. And we'll introduce a business strategy from Bridget Jones's diary.

So Jack, grab some extra creamy jalapeno sauce, a more of a Taco Bell medium sauce guy. Here's why Doritos Locos Tacos is the best idea yet. From Wonder and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martell, and I'm Jack Kraviche Kramer, and this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. They change the game in one move. Here's how they book all the rooms. exists. With over 17,000 products listed, everything from cars to cosmetics, it's never been easier to

shop local and support Ontario manufacturers of all sizes. When you choose Ontario Made, you're supporting your neighbors, strengthening our economy and celebrating the incredible products Ontario sells with pride. Discover what's made right here. Visit supportontariomade.ca. You just realized your business needed to hire someone like yesterday. With Indeed, there's no need to stress. You can find amazing candidates fast using sponsored jobs. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster.

And just how fast is Indeed? In the minute I've been talking to you, 23 hires were made on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $100 sponsored job credit to get your job's more visibility

at indeed.com slash wonder ECA. Just go to indeed.com slash wonder ECA. Just go to indeed.com slash wonder ECA right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash wonder ECA terms and conditions apply hiring indeed is all you need. It's lunchtime on a hot sunny SoCal day in San Bernardino, California. And the only place with more sizzle than the scalding sidewalks is Glen Bell's griddle. He's flipping patties for the lunchtime crowd at his burger joint. Business is going okay, but nothing like the mom and pop Mexican restaurant across the

street. Every day, Glen watches the line snaking out the door and around the block. While Glenn doles out lunch to his regulars, the place opposite attracts people from miles around. They're all happy to swelter in line to get their hands on the restaurant's signature dish, crunchy tacos filled with seasoned beef, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Okay, first of all, Jack, I'm salivating. Second of all, the scene is taking place around 1950, and that Mexican restaurant is called the Mithila Cafe. You can Google Maps it right now because it's still there today. But back then, it was the only restaurant in the country where you could get a tortilla folded and fried, or as we know it today, a hard taco.

Well, Glen Bell is watching all this with fascination. After a stint as a cook in the Marines, he decided to put his training to use and opened his first restaurant in 1948. It's around the same time that he became buddies with the McDonald's brothers. Yes, the McDonald's brothers. The first burger restaurant isn't far away from Glen's

in downtown San Bernardino. In fact, Nick, the McDonald's brothers inspired Glenn to start selling hamburgers. But their success is now making him think it's time for a change. You see, it's a few years before McDonald's is going Gretzky with hockey stick sales growth, but McDonald's is doing well enough that every wannabe fast food baron is trying to zuck their idea and open their own franchiseable burger joint. So with all that competition between the buns, what Glenn needs is a hero product beyond

burgers, shakes, and fries. And he thinks the answer might lie in the Meatla Cafe, specifically in their tacos. So on lunchtime, he gets in line as a customer to try out one of those Meatla Cafe tacos for himself. And he is blown away. Not just by their taste, but by their business potential. He's seeing this thin, fried tortilla shell lined with simple ingredients. It can be made quickly and it can be made efficiently.

Check. Efficiency and quickness. Those are the operational right and left biceps of the fast food industry. And to top it all off, no one else is selling these tacos. If he can replicate and popularize them, this might just become his own signature dish. So one evening, near closing time, Glenn goes over to the Meatly Cafe. He peppers its owners, Salvador and Lucia Rodriguez, with questions about their tacos. He's especially interested in how to make those tacos.

Okay, now any other situation, probably not even opening the door. Like, he's not even getting in, he can't talk to management, they're not going to chat about their secret recipes with this guy. Actually, Lucia graciously shares the recipe with him, not knowing he would take the idea and run with it. She tells him it's an old family recipe called tacos dorados. She's even kind enough to show Glenn how to fry the tortillas to crispy perfection. So remember the next time you enjoy a crispy taco from Taco Bell, you've really got Lucia Rodriguez to thank. She really didn't get enough credit.

As for Glenn, he's got the recipe. He's got a full stomach and and he's here in those dollar signs. He goes back to his burger place, and he spends the next few days trying to recreate the meat-la taco. And once he's got the process just right, he mixes together his own sauce of tomato puree, chopped onions, garlic, cayenne pepper,

vinegar, and Mexican spices. It tastes pretty good to him. So he decides to try it out on his own customers. He adds a new item to his menu, vinegar, and Mexican spices. It tastes pretty good to him. So he decides to try it out on his own customers. He adds a new item to his menu, tacos for 19 cents. The next day, a businessman in a pinstripe suit is standing at Glenn's counter. He's squinting at the menu in the bright afternoon sun, and he says, I'll try one of those tacos.

It's not just that this guy flunked grade school Spanish, because like most Americans in the 1950s, he's never tried Mexican food, because Mexican cuisine just isn't well known beyond the pockets of immigrant communities. So Glenn sets about making one of these mysterious tacos for his adventurous customer. He grabs one of his pre-fried tortillas,

spoons in the meat, lettuce, and cheese, and tops it with some sauce. And then he watches as the bewildered man, the first customer of one of his tacos, examines it and then carefully bites into it. As the guy chews, bits of cheese, meat, and sauce fall out of his taco, staining the cuffs of his shirt. But the guy doesn't seem to care.

He's enjoying this take-o sewed to hang much. He pushes the rest of it in his mouth and then says to a mouthful of ground beefy goodness, I'll take another. Soon, people are lining up for Glen Bell's tacos and he knows he's got a hit on his hands. And that's when Glen Bell makes a big move. Glen actually pivots his entire business. He even changes the name and opens up a brand new

take, I mean, taco stand. There's always money in the take-o stand. And Jack, he calls it Taco Bell. No, actually, Taco Tia. Taco Tia? Doesn't that mean Aunt Taco? Well, I'm not sure he whipped out of the source on this one, Jack. He actually tries several names, but really nothing quite rings true. That is until Glenn Bell finally hits upon the name that seems obvious from the start. His name. He opens up his first Taco Bell in Downey, California in 1962. As a kid, Glenn used to be teased about his family name. Other kids used to call him Ding Dong Bell.

Well, those kids wouldn't be laughing if they saw what Ding Dong Bell is now. I think that's billionaire Ding Dong Bell, Jack. This first Taco Bell is an instant hit. People don't just love the tacos. They love Glenn's spin on other Mexican classics like tostadas and burritos. And they love telling their friends how adventurous they've been. But it is not just the unique menu that makes this new restaurant special. Glenn actually studied McDonald's success because Mickey D's had grown from one store in 1940 to more than 500 by 1962. And their secret? Standardization. From the fries to the milkshakes, every McDonald's restaurant has nearly identical menus, processes, and ingredients. In fact, 90% of the McDonald's menu items

share 90% of the same ingredients. Glenn realizes that tacos are perfect for this too. Every element, the meat, the sauce, the cheese, and the fresh vegetables can be prepared beforehand and at scale. Then all his team needs to do is scoop up each ingredient into each taco order. It's the perfect combination of fresh preparation and mass-produced efficiency. The right and left biceps of fast food. If you're going to turn the cooking process into an assembly line, then the taco is your Ford Model T. In just three years, Taco Bell reaches 100 franchises.

That sounds fast. Well, could you sprinkle on a little more context, please? It actually took McDonald's 19 years to reach the same number of franchises. So Jack, that is insane growth. One might say loco growth. And that growth continues. From 1965 to 1978, Taco Bell grows to over 850 locations

all over North America. And eventually, Taco Bell catches the eye of a soft drink conglomerate. Jack, do the words taco kid mean anything to you? Is that like the karate kid? It should be, but it's actually a rival to Taco Bell, a rival that Pizza Hut launches in the late 70s. Taco Kid, huh?

Well, it looks like the same thing that happened to McDonald's is happening to Taco Bell now. But no one out tacos the bell. You're right, Nick. It quickly fails. But as we've said before, if you can't beat them, buy them. So in 1978, Pizza Hut's corporate owners, a little company you may have heard of called PepsiCo, makes Glenn an offer that he can't refuse.

That's right, Pepsi makes an acquisition offer for Glenn's taco stand. And Glenn, who frankly seems to have just been in it for the money this whole time, he happily accepts this acquisition offer and cashes out. He sells Taco Bell to PepsiCo for a $125 million payday, which is over $600 million today adjusted for inflation. It turns out there really was money in the taco stand. As for the Miele Cafe, where Lucia Rodriguez showed Glenn Bell exactly how to make those hard shell tacos in the very first place, well, they kept doing what they were doing.

That restaurant, it's still there to this day and still run by the same family, even though they never got that big financial exit that Glenn did. So Pepsi takes the Taco Bell ball and runs with it. By 1985, they have over 2,000 locations. They expand their marketing to include crossovers, like with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie. That Batman tie-in is also where they launched the Cinnamon Twists, which is their answer to the French fry.

Not traditional Mexican cuisine, but they're taking some artistic liberties here. In the 1990s, Pepsi, they spin off Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC into a brand new publicly traded, highly caloric fast food stock called Yum Brands. But then they do something unprecedented with this new entity. They start creating these combo stores. Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC all under one roof. Kentucky Hut, which pioneered the combo retail concept that you see sometimes in fast food. By the 2000s, Taco Bell is serving 40 million meals every week. They've got 7,200 restaurants nationwide. They're bringing in five billion bucks a year. Jack, this is the top. We could end the story right there.

And honestly, it'd be pretty good. This is where the taco empire goes soggy, actually, and starts falling apart. You know, businesses are a lot like us. Sometimes they go through a midlife crisis, and that's exactly what happens to Taco Bell when it hits middle age. They're doing okay, but some of their market share is being siphoned off by upstarts Chipotle and Kadoba.

Fast casual is eating away market share from fast food because modern consumers are prioritizing quality over speed, and they're willing to pay a little bit more for it. Touting fresh ingredients, these new fast casual Mexican joints are hitting Taco Bell where it hurts at a vulnerable time. In 2000, Taco Bell recalls $50 million worth of taco shells because they contain an unlicensed type of genetically modified cornstarch. And then in 2006, an E. coli outbreak

sickened 71 people across multiple states. So here's what Taco Bell does. They try fighting back with fun marketing ploys to distract you from the issues. It comes off as a little desperate. Remember when Taco Bell said they'd give a free taco to every person in the country? If a piece of the Russian Mir space station

struck a 40 by 40 foot floating target that the company had put in the ocean? How is that even a real sentence, Jack? Russia missed and Americans didn't get free tacos. Or Jack, what about in 2007 with their Taco Bell steal a base, steal a taco campaign? I actually like this one. Every person in America would get a free taco

if a player stole a base during the World Series. But even that, Jack, is not enough to combat the bad PR from those unsaved tacos. Because Taco Bell has gone stale. And with the company's 50th anniversary approaching, Taco Bell's CEO, Greg Creed, needs something fresh and he needs something big. He needs a taco hero. CEO Greg.

This guy, he's an Australian born corporate lifer. We checked out his LinkedIn. He's worked his way up through the ranks of Unilever and then PepsiCo, probably an MBA and a consulting gig internship along the way. He's made his name rescuing brands from death spirals with boomerang trajectory turnarounds. And he's determined to do the same before Taco Bell becomes a Dingo's dinner. Greg is looking at Taco Bell's 50th anniversary coming up. It's the perfect opportunity to pull off another trademark turnaround that he's

so good at but he doesn't want to emphasize the big 5-0 midlife birthday. He's worried that's gonna put off Millennials because you know no one wants an old taco. Instead he wants to celebrate Taco Bell's 50th anniversary by doing something big with their signature product the dish that started it all the crunchy Taco, so here's what Greg does He sends a Taco Bell birthday wish list to his product development team He says hey we got until March 2012 less than three years to turn the humble hardshell taco 2012, less than three years, to turn the humble hard shell taco into the must-have dish of the decade.

He just kicked off the Manhattan Project of fast food. So Greg's people scramble. They're on the case. Taco shells fly. Hot sauce splatters. How can you reinvent perfection, they're thinking? A product that's already been popular for 50 years. What could they possibly come up with to take it to the next level?

The research and development team is gonna be working over the holidays to engineer an unprecedented dish to satisfy Greg and to save the company. At 24, I lost my narrative, or rather it was stolen from me. And the Monica Lewinsky that my friends and family knew was usurped by false narratives, callous jokes, and politics. I would define reclaiming as to take back what

was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. So I think listeners can expect me to be chatting with folks, both recognizable and unrecognizable names, about the way that people have navigated roads to triumph. My hope is that people will finish an episode of Reclaiming and feel like they filled their tank up. They connected with the people that I'm talking to and leave with maybe some nuggets that help them feel a little more hopeful.

Follow Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Reclaiming early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, host of Wondery's Business Movers. In our latest series, media mogul Ted Turner launches a 24-hour channel dedicated solely to breaking news. But CNN doesn't just shake up the television industry. It transforms journalism, politics, and culture in America forever. Listen to Business Movers, making the news on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. It's hour six of an all-day blue sky ideation session at Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine,

California. There have been role plays and breakout rooms, and the walls are covered with colorful post-it notes. The future of Taco Bell is riding on these ideas, especially with Chipotle on their tail and all those unfortunate food scandals. As the day goes on, the ideas get more desperate. How about a burrito with different fillings on each end? Or Jack, wait, wait, wait, we have plant-based meats.

What about meat-based plants? Wait, that's a great idea. Now, finally the session ends and the dejected brain trust files out of the room, leaving behind one man surrounded by a mosaic sea of notes and the smell of Sharpie. This man is Steve Gomez, Taco Bell's food innovation expert. If this is the fast food Manhattan project, then he's the J. Robert Oppenheimer of Taco Bell. Actually, a more modern comparison would be Johnny Ive, the guy who helped turn Steve Jobs'

iPhone idea into a thing of beauty. It's Steve Gomez's job to make the improbable. Some might say crazy fever dreams of his CEO into a tangible, edible reality. But while Johnny Hive makes sure his products look and feel good, Steve Gomez has to make sure they pass an even tougher test. They've also got to taste good.

So he's sifting through all the ideas that were written on those post-it notes after a day of brainstorming. He's gotta find the one idea that will turn Taco Bell's fortunes around. And it can't just be a good idea. It's gotta be exceptional. It's gotta get people losing their minds and reimagining what Taco Bell is. Some of the ideas are too complex, others are too boring, some are just ridiculous.

Remember, they must fit Taco Bell's limiting criteria of mass munchy production. Now, some of his co-workers, they just totally ignore the brief from the CEO, Greg Creed. He was clear, it needs to be big, it needs to be bombastic, and it needs to focus on Taco Bell's signature product, the Crunchy Taco. So Steve keeps sifting until he comes across one Post-It Note that absolutely floors him. It's an idea so simple, yet so sensational, he is sure this is the one. Whoever came up with this must be the da Vinci of fast food.

Because on that Post-It Note is a sketch of a taco with a line pointing toward the shell. And at the other end of that line are three words in bold Sharpie made from Doritos a taco shell made from Doritos Steve has spent his entire career turning scrawled notes and concept sketches into successful products But in all that time and ideas never struck him like this one He knows in the depths of his soul that this Post-it note is the answer.

So Steve's excited and he calls up his boss, Greg Creed. And as soon as Steve says the words, tacos but the shell is one big Dorito, oh, Greg is sold. This is exactly what he's been after, a bold reimagining of the classic crispy taco. Greg can see that this plant has other advantages too, like co-branding. Doritos are one of the biggest snack brands in the world. And from 1978 to 1997, both Taco Bell and Doritos were owned by PepsiCo. Until PepsiCo spun off its restaurant business into what became Yum Brand.

The relations are still good between Yum and Pepsi, so getting Doritos on board with a plant should be easy. All Greg has to do is get on the phone with Frito-Lay's CEO Al Carey and say, how'd you like to combine your Doritos with our tacos? Al is more than up for it. Oh, he's into it. Let's dust on some context here. Doritos snack business is going through some troubled times actually. Sales started to drop after they removed trans fats from Doritos in 2002,

a move that made them healthier, but which some people claimed harmed the taste. We should point out though that turning Doritos into tacos actually isn't a new idea. Apparently some Taco Bell interns way back in 1995 had pitched the idea for Dorito Tacos in a company ideas competition, but their manager passed on it. And you know what won that competition instead? Renaming appetizers as mexitizers. Doesn't quite land. You can't win them all. At one point, there was even a Facebook page called Taco Shells from Doritos Movement, where followers churned out some crude but funny Photoshop's of their dream,

which was cheesy taco shells. But management ignored those please from fans as well. So the Doritos Loco Taco idea, it wasn't even new. The secret ingredient to innovation is the one that no one thinks about. It's timing. Timing is the variable that you cannot control. If you don't have the right timing,

then you may not have the best idea yet. So based on this Facebook page, it's clear there's a passionate core of people who really want this collab to happen. But just to be sure, Taco Bell floats the idea to a focus group of 200 customers, and they go bananas for it.

Finally, management gets it. They have to make this idea happen. So now Steve and his team just need to figure out how to make a folded taco out of Doritos. And Jack, I'm checking the calendar over here. They've got two years to figure out this engineering challenge before the 50th anniversary launch deadline.

I mean, how hard could it be? Deep within Taco Bell's top-secret food innovation facility, location redacted, technicians are hard at work. It's the skunkworks of the fast food industry. On a typical day, you might see experts carrying out Diablo sauce splatter analysis, or stress testing burritos until they burst. Drip radiuses, crunch to chew ratios, it's all data that's being analyzed here.

At this innovation lab, they train and employ professional tasters. It's run by 12 chef scientists and it measures cheese by the centimeter. But Jack, today all the efforts are focused on the priority one project, the newly named Doritos Locos Tacos. Taco Bell's food innovation expert Steve Gomez, he peers through the glass panel into a whitewashed room and in the center of that room there's a pedestal and on that pedestal sits a single taco. Two technicians decked out like the hazmat team from E.T. stand nearby. One of them is gripping a paint gun loaded with a bright orange Doritos seasoning.

The lights dim, a warning bell sounds, and a voice from a loudspeaker starts a countdown. Three, two, one. A puff of nacho cheese dust shoots from the nozzle of the gun and envelops the taco. As the orange cloud dissipates one of the technicians crouches down to examine the result. After what seems like an eternity he slowly shakes his head and gives the thumbs down. The cheesy dusting has once again failed to coat the entire taco. Steve Gomez lets out a sigh.

I mean, I feel disappointed, Jack. It sounds like the simplest idea ever. A taco that looks, crunches, and tastes like a Dorito. But turns out, you can't just coat a taco in Dorito flavoring and call it a day. How does Steve Gomez and his team know this? Well, because they've tried it. A lot. His team literally went to Home Depot and bought a paint spray gun and then filled it with Doritos flavor dust and fired that dust at taco shells, hoping that would be it. But they couldn't get the coating to spread evenly. And then when they bit into the tacos, well, it tasted like Doritos and a taco combined, but in all the wrong

ways. We actually have some feedback from the initial product testing reviews from that lab. It was described as a displeasing amalgamation of the two flavor profiles. I mean, honestly, Jack, saying the word amalgamation, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth right off of that. So it turns out the equation is a lot harder than just Doritos plus tacos equal profit. The problem Steve and his team are facing is surprisingly complex. Each problem that they solve throws up a new problem that no one even expected. And that clock that's in every room of the Innovation Lab is ticking toward that 50th anniversary launch. The first problem, getting the Doritos flavor on the taco.

With the Doritos chips, you just throw them in a tumbler with the flavoring mixing around. But if you try that with a more delicate taco shell, you end up with a tumbler full of broken tacos. Okay, so Jack, what if we try slowing down that tumbler? Well, if you do that, then the taste isn't evenly spread across the tacos. You end up with some parts with just a little dusting and other spots that are hot spots with far too much flavor. So Steve and his team had to make an entirely new type of tumbler, one that wouldn't break

the tacos but also would spread out the flavor evenly. It needed to be just enough that the tacos not only tasted like Doritos, but you needed to end up with that authentic Dorito dust residue on your fingers. Getting your fingers covered in greasy cheese debris, that is a feature, not a flaw. And it is something the Taco Bell psychologists, yes, the company had psychologists on staff, knew people would expect from a Doritos taco. Though there can be too much of a good thing. In early tests, the industrial tumblers they use throw so much nacho cheese dust in the

air it poses a health risk to the workers on the production line. Oh, but Jack, that's not the only challenge. Because the corn masa, or dough, that affects the taste too. As tacos and Doritos are made with different types of masa, just putting the Doritos flavoring onto the taco does not work. This isn't just about crunchy tacos, at the end of the day, it's about chemistry. But Nick, they also can't just make the tacos out of the Doritos masa. The Doritos tortilla would be too brittle to hold a taco. So they need a formula that can be crispy like a chip, bend like a taco without cracking,

and that still tastes like a Dorito. Okay, but Jack, even that isn't the end of the challenge, is it man? They need to work out how they can ship these more fragile Doritos taco shells to the restaurants without having them break. So this Doritos Loco taco shell needs structural integrity and durability. Add it all up and what seemed like a straightforward concept ended up needing the best minds in food technology working around the clock for three straight years. It shows how even the simplest of ideas can demand unexpected layers of expertise and resources to bring them to market. Steve Gomez and the Taco Bell R&D department

made and tested over 40 different prototypes. But after a couple of years working through all these problems, testing every single alternative, and literally tens of thousands of shells crushed, Steve and his team have finally cracked the formula for Doritos Locos Taco, specifically the nacho cheese flavor. They've got an even coating of cheesy goodness. The tacos, they don't

crack until they're meant to in your mouth. And they look like tacos, but they taste like Doritos. Taco Bell invites a handful of superfans to secret locations across the country to try out this beta version of the Doritos Locos Taco. And Taco Bell doesn't realize it yet, but that was actually a super smart move. A super strategic move. It's a move that will actually change marketing forever. Now it's time to put the hard shell to a test with a soft launch. So in September 2011, Taco Bell puts the Doritos Locos Taco on the menu in a few select

stores just to see how people react. Because there's a lot riding on this. It's been almost two years in the making. This is Taco Bell's moon landing. And the launch date, the 50th anniversary of Taco Bell, is just months away. The iPhone was only four years old. Peekaboo had just been rebranded to Snapchat and TikTok doesn't even exist yet.

So what's about to happen takes Greg Creed and his team completely by surprise. I'm about to try the new Doritos shell taco from Taco Bell. I guess everyone's posting a video about this. About to eat my first Doritos Moclos taco. I can't wait. The new generation of Instagram influencers, actually the first generation of Instagram

influencers and Twitter trendsetters, they embrace the DLT. YouTubers start making reaction videos of their first time tasting this creation. One guy even drives 900 miles from New York to Toledo, Ohio, just to try the new taco. Even before its official nationwide launch, the Doritos Locos Taco is already known and it's all thanks to social media. All that buzz is completely organic.

It's driven by unpaid fans who simply wanted to try and share their Dorito taco shell experience. This is earned media at scale, man. Advertising is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for. All of this takes Taco Bell totally by surprise. Their social media team can't believe it. Yeah, they're realizing that this DLT, it's going to be huge. In fact, they have to quickly scale up their production capacity. This is a good problem to have.

So Steve Gomez and his team of food scientists crack open a keg of Baja Blast Mountain Dew to celebrate this thing. We got a hit on our hands. But now the heat is on for a different department at Taco Bell's headquarters, the social media team. Will they be able to keep Instagram and Twitter sizzling with enthusiasm for the DLT all the way through launch day? Because if they don't,

the flame of engagement could die out in days and the Doritos, Locos, Tacos 15 minutes of fame could be over before you even digest it. What's up guys it's your girl Kiki and my podcast is back with a new season and let me tell you it's too good and I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest. Every episode I bring on a friend and have a real conversation. And I don't mean just friends, I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox, the list goes on. And now I have my own YouTube channel.

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Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. For Steve Gomez, this is the big moment. It's literally crunch time. Because today, March 8th, 2012, is the nationwide launch of the Doritos Locos Taco. Doors open and the first trays hit the counter. Taco Bell servers work with precision and speed, assembling DLTs by the thousand. Beef on the bottom, then shredded cheese, then shredded lettuce on top of that. Keeping it all together is a five and a half inch diameter,

gigantic Dorito, folded in half into a hard taco shell. Customers hurry away from the counters and hold aloft their DLTs in their cheese dust covered fingers. Within minutes, Instagram is flooded with pictures of people in rapture as they take their first crunchy bite. Actually Jack, it's hashtag crunchy bite, I believe. Steve lets out a huge sigh of relief.

He can see how the day is going. The launch of this Doritos Locos taco, it isn't just a fast food debut. From a business perspective, this is a social media smorgasbord, the likes of which had never been seen. Taco Bell sells over 1 million Doritos Locos Tacos per day. Demand is so high, they actually have to hire 15,000 extra staff just to keep up with DLT

insanity. Now look, at the heart of this success is a brilliant product years in the making. But it's fueled by Taco Bell's social media strategy. Because their marketing team knows what they're doing. Instead of trying to control the narrative by flooding Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with paid ads, they let their customers do the talking. This gives them one of the most valuable commodities you can dream of when marketing a product. Trusted recommendations. It's what the entire influencer

economy is based on today. Brands spending big bucks to get influencers to influence. And this is what was so new. Taco Bell didn't have to pay a single person. They let their customers tell the story and convince their followers to get in on the DLT action. Taco Bell even uses customer generated content in TV ads and post positive review tweets on billboards in Times Square. Taco Bell, they didn't just let social media run with the idea. They cultivated it without killing the buzz and they created the blueprint for all future social media promotions.

Instead of inserting a corporate brand into the conversation, they offered new opportunities for customers to continue the conversation. That balance was Chef's Kiss. By the end of 2013, the DLT broke a billion dollars in sales. Amazing for an item that hit the menus less than two years prior. Nacho cheese was the Doritos flavor that saved Taco Bell. That same year, they launched Cool Ranch and Fiery flavors. Hardcore DLT fans loved them, but for everyone else, Nacho Cheese was the original and the best. So those other flavors were pulled from the menu in 2019. They just

didn't please like the Nacho Cheese. That didn't stop the R&D team of Taco Bell from experimenting because in 2020, they did a limited run of a Flamin' Hot DLT. Wow. And then in 2022, we got a limited edition Flamin' Hot Cool Ranch DLT. They're just putting everything in there. They also pulled a hilarious Dorito to taco switcheroo. Nick, they made a Doritos tortilla chip that tastes like a Taco Bell taco. I feel like this was directed by Christopher Nolan at this point. So here's a shout out to the Taco Bell Innovation Lab.

It's really Taco Bell's competitive advantage. It made its mark with the fast food equivalent of the Apollo space program, the DLT. And that lab is still going strong today. They've got more than 70 scientists and technicians who test and refine thousands of ideas to come up with around 10 new products each year for Taco Bell. And if you wanna know where it is, you can find out, but then they'll have to kill you with Cheeto dust.

For an example of how serious these people are, by the way, look at the Crunchwrap Supreme. They spent 13 years working on it before they were satisfied and launched it in the stores. 13 years! The three-starred chefs and launched it in the stores. 13 years! The three-starred chefs at Noma spend like three months on a dish. Taco Bell spent over a decade. Who knows what they'll cook up next?

Chicken burrito gum? Quesadilla slurpees? At the Taco Bell Innovation Lab, no idea is a bad idea. But whatever they do, it's unlikely that that or anything else is going to match the launch of the original nacho cheese Dorito Loco taco because that DLT set the standard for building buzz around launches and it completely flipped Taco Bell's financial fortunes. Now, Taco Bell is a solid third place in the fast food market in America with $15 billion of annual revenue. They're behind just McDonald's, 53 billion in revenue revenue, and Chick-fil-A, $22 billion in

revenue. Glenn Bell, the guy who started Taco Bell, he always admired the McDonald's brothers. Well, today he's standing on the fast food podium with them, 60 years later. All right, Nick. So now that we feasted on a whole bunch of Doritos tacos, it's time to lick our fingers clean from all that dust. What's your takeaway on the Doritos Locos taco? My takeaway is that brand collaborations

are financial trick shots. The DLT, its massive success, a billion dollars of sales in just two years, it shows how powerful it can be when two big brands team up to create something new and appealing, but it's gotta be the right pairing. This co-branding not only brought in Doritos fans who weren't regular Taco Bell customers,

but it also gave core Taco Bell customers a fresh, innovative new obsession. And the DLT, it's the perfect example of how joining forces can expand reach, attract new customers, lead to impressive sales. The key though, is finding the right ingredients for collaboration. You can't have duplicative audiences where you already all know each other, but you can have audiences that are so different that they're not attracted to the collaboration

in the first place. It's got to be just the right amount of overlap. Each party in a 50-50 collab does have to work, but both parties enjoy 100% of the benefit. And if you've struck the right balance on customer bases, then both sides get exposed in a positive way to the other's customer base. Exactly. Dorito fans, they became Taco Bell fans. Taco Bell fans, they became Dorito fanatics. Brand collaborations are financial trick shots. So, Jag, what's your takeaway on the Doritos Locos Tacos?

Apply the Bridget Jones principle to all your ideas. If you've never seen Bridget Jones' diary, you know she's got a diary. The key here is to write down every idea you have, no matter how wacky or impossible it might seem, because you never know when that idea's moment is gonna come. Remember that one simple post it next, a taco made from Doritos?

We don't know who wrote that idea down. It could have been an intern, but if it wasn't written down, then the Doritos Locos Taco never would have happened. Whether it's an old school paper diary or the latest note-taking app, make sure you write down your ideas. Be like Bridget Jones. Before we go, it's time for our absolute favorite part of the show, the best facts yet. The hero stats, the facts, and the surprises we discovered in our research, but we just

couldn't squeeze into the story. Let them rip, Jack. 2012 was the year of the DLT, but there's some fast food innovations released that same year that didn't have quite the same staying power. Like bacon flavored milkshakes, pizza crusts stuffed with hot dogs. And get this, Kit Kat Pops. In case you're wondering, those are pizza dough balls stuffed with Kit Kat bars inside. Here's another one. Like Taco Bell, Doritos parent company Frida Lay also had a research center staffed with scientists, technicians, and testing equipment, including a $40,000 mechanical steel

mouth. And guess what its job is? What does it do Jack? To tell the company if the chips have the right crunch. I'm a human being. I would have done that for way less than $40,000. Jack, did they program that thing not to double dip the chip?

Dip the chip once and be done with it. End it. Oh, wait, wait, wait, one sec, Jack. Yeah, we're running late. I'm taking you out to a prefix meal. I got to culture you over here, man. Not interested. Just give me that cool ranch.

Doritos Locos Tacos, they retired. That, my friends, is why Doritos Locos Tacos is the best idea yet. Coming up on the next episode of the Best Idea Yet, you can only come in if you have your membership card. We're piling our cards high with toilet paper and trail mix and grabbing a rotisserie chicken on the way because we're telling the story behind Costco's Kirkland brand. Follow the best idea yet on the Wondery app, Amazon music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to every episode of the best idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. The best idea yet is a production of Wondery hosted by me, Nick Martel and me, Jack Kraviche Kramer. Hey, if you have a product you're obsessed with, but you wish you knew the backstory, drop us a comment. We'll look into it for you. Oh, and don't forget to rate and review the podcast.

Five stars. That helps grow the show. Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gaultier. Peter Arcuni is our additional senior producer. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer. Our associate producer and researcher is H. Conley. This episode was written and produced by Adam Skuse. We use many sources in our research, including Deep Inside Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco

by Austin Carr and Fast Company, and Taco Bell's Innovation Kitchen by Antonia Hitchens in The New Yorker. Sound Design and Mixing by Kelly Kramaric. Fact Checking by Erika Janek. Music Supervision by Scott the Lazquez and Jolina Garcia for Freesan Sync. Our theme song is Got That Feelin' Again by Black Alack. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Ravici Kramer. Executive producers for Wondery are Dave Easton, Jenny Lauer Beckman, Erin O'Flaherty, and

Marshall Lewy. Music Laundry Music