re: Taco bell has lost its ever-loving mind

That’s it.

I’m making taco meat tomorrow for burritos.

quote:

---

I've never had an issue after eating Taco Bell.

---

Glad you have escaped food poisoning. There was an outbreak traced to a local Taco Bell in my area last year. You don't have to have a weak stomach to have a problem when salmonella is involved.

quote:

---

My daughter talked me into going to taco bell yesterday. I saw where they brought back the enchirito so I thought I would try it. She ordered two tacos and some cheese fry things, my son ordered two Doritos tacos and I ordered the enchirito. And we all got a small drink. Total order was $38 and change. 4 tacos 1 BS fries 3 drinks and a super small enchirito almost 40 bucks never again

---

You didn't die from some food-borne disease. Just be thankful for that.

Enchirito is a dollar on the app today.

This. You have to know how to wheel and deal on the app.

Per AI for this thread summary

Yeah, the thread is real, and the basic complaint is legitimate—even if the original poster’s exact $38 order is being questioned.

The poster says four tacos, nacho fries, an Enchirito, and three small drinks cost $38 and change. Other posters calculated that the listed items should have been closer to $30–$33, suggesting something was omitted or the location charged unusually high franchise prices. Either way, $30+ for Taco Bell feeding three people is still nuts. The thread also repeatedly makes the annoying-but-accurate point that you now need the app or a bundled box to get anything resembling the old Taco Bell value. Read the TigerDroppings thread

Why fast food became so expensive:

Labor got considerably more expensive. Fast food depends heavily on paid hourly employees. A sit-down restaurant can legally shift part of its labor cost onto customers through tips, while Taco Bell must incorporate virtually all labor into the menu price.

Food, packaging, utilities, rent, insurance, repairs and card fees all rose simultaneously. The National Restaurant Association estimates that the average restaurant’s total expenses increased approximately 36% between 2019 and 2026. Food and labor each consume about one-third of a restaurant’s sales, leaving a typical pretax margin around 5%. National Restaurant Association cost breakdown

Fast-food chains discovered customers would tolerate higher prices. Inflation provided the initial reason to raise prices, but chains continued testing increases until traffic finally began falling. Taco Bell still produced 7% same-store sales growth in 2025, so the company had little financial incentive to reverse course. Yum Brands 2025 annual report

The regular menu has effectively become the “convenience price.” Chains deliberately keep individual tacos, drinks and entrées expensive while putting the reasonable prices inside app offers and meal boxes. That allows them to charge impatient or occasional customers full price while offering discounts only to price-sensitive customers. It is essentially airline-style price discrimination applied to tacos.

Franchisees set many local prices. They have different rent, wage and operating expenses, while also paying royalties and advertising fees based on sales. Consequently, the same Taco Bell order can vary surprisingly widely between locations.

Cheap ingredients don’t necessarily mean a cheap restaurant bill. The tortilla, beans and small amount of meat may cost very little, but you’re paying for labor, the building, equipment, drive-through convenience, franchise expenses and overhead.


And your comparison with sit-down restaurants is correct. Since 2019, limited-service menu prices have increased roughly as much as—or slightly more than—many casual-dining prices. The gap has narrowed enough that a Chili’s lunch special or local Mexican combination plate may cost about the same as a premium fast-food meal. The latest BLS figures show fast-food prices are still rising 3.1% annually, while full-service prices are rising 3.7%. June 2026 BLS report

The one catch is the tip: a $13 sit-down meal becomes approximately $16 after tax and tip. But if Taco Bell is already $12–$14 per person, an additional couple of dollars gets you table service, free drink refills and usually a better meal. At that point, fast food is selling speed and convenience, not affordability.

My honest conclusion: Taco Bell remains inexpensive only when you order a carefully selected box or app promotion. Ordering individual specialty items and drinks from the main menu is now one of the worst values in fast food—which is exactly what happened to that guy in the thread.

quote:

---

My daughter talked me into going to taco bell yesterday. I saw where they brought back the enchirito so I thought I would try it. She ordered two tacos and some cheese fry things, my son ordered two Doritos tacos and I ordered the enchirito. And we all got a small drink. Total order was $38 and change. 4 tacos 1 BS fries 3 drinks and a super small enchirito almost 40 bucks never again

---

1 drink, 3 straw, eat inside.

quote:

---

4 tacos 1 BS fries

---

When did Taco Bell start serving fries? I'm out of the loop.