Taco Bell recently announced the 2022 Signature Restaurant and Golden Bell Winners!

Five LVE restaurants received the Signature Restaurant honor! We congratulate the following Area Coaches, General Managers and their Teams that made it happen.

#342 Gila Bend, AZ: AC Josh Mabel & GM Ricardo Mendoza

#315 Tempe, AZ: AC Amy Williams & GM Debbie Dewitt

#340 Phoenix, AZ: AC Amgad Zaki & GM Farrah Ansari

#154 Cheraw, SC: AC Olivia Ruiz & GM Felicia Rorie

#305 Scottsdale, AZ: AC Debbie Morrison & GM Elsa Rodriguez

Signature Restaurants are the best global restaurants that deliver best-in-class service, people, unrivaled culture, and the fundamentals in place to serve delicious food from open to close! Being a Signature Restaurant means you have mastered the science and art of a premier Taco Bell.  In 2022, less than 800 U.S. restaurants received the Signature distinction.

The Signature Restaurant metrics include: <7% customer dissatisfcation, <= 3.30 OTD, CORE Ops & Food Safety at standard, and 6 certified managers.

Golden Bell status is awarded to the Top 100. The Golden Bell top GMs and ACs receive an invitiation to a recognition event. While LVE did not have a Golden Bell winner in 2022, we are proud of the accomplishments of our Signature Restaurants!

Just months after Dolly Parton told online news source Insider that she missed the Mexican Pizza, Taco Bell brought back the discontinued menu item and cast Parton in a musical celebrating its return. But the country-music icon has just one more request — she thinks the Mexican Pizza should be bigger.

Parton sat down with Insider in January to discuss her new line of Southern treats with Duncan Hines. She was asked how she felt about the return of the Mexican Pizza.

“It was great, and I still order them now,” she said. “They finally got them back, and now they can’t keep them in stock because people were missing them. I was just one of many, many people that had missed them.” Dolly went on to say, “I actually love ’em like they are, I’d just make them bigger so I could have more of it!”

Taco Bell heard Parton’s pleas, though, because the Big A** Mexican Pizza is being released to select fans this weekend.

Yum Brands on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, fueled by strong same-store sales growth at Taco Bell.

Overall, Yum saw solid U.S. demand as high-income consumers traded down to fast food and low-income diners bought value meals. However, weak sales in China once again weighed on KFC’s and Pizza Hut’s results, after the Chinese government relaxed its zero Covid policy and a wave of new outbreaks hit the country. The resurgence hurt recovery efforts for Yum and other restaurant companies.

KFC is rolling out a revamped version of its fan-favorite chicken wraps — but only for a limited time. The all-new Kentucky Fried Chicken Wraps will launch at participating restaurants nationwide starting Monday, Feb. 6.

The limited-time entree is a new take on the original Twister Wraps and were tested at select markets in Atlanta last year, ending an almost decade-long hiatus. Fried chicken fans have their choice of two new wraps: The Classic Chicken Wrap featuring “a hand-breaded Extra Crispy™ Tender, crunchy pickles and creamy mayo, wrapped up in a warm tortilla.” The Spicy Slaw Chicken Wrap featuring “an Extra Crispy™ Tender in a flavorful mix of KFC coleslaw, spicy sauce and crispy pickles.”

Customers can order two wraps for $5 plus tax in-store, online or via the KFC app. For nearly $8, fans can make it a combo complete with fries and a drink. KFC fans had long called for the return of the restaurant’s classic wraps. A Change.org petition demanding that the Twister Wrap come back to U.S. menus collected more than 2,000 signatures.

Previously known as the Cantina Crispy Melt Taco the Crispy Melt Taco features a white-corn shell, freshly fried daily, with a melted layer of the brand’s three-cheese blend and nacho cheese sauce and filled with seasoned beef, reduced-fat sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and real shredded cheddar cheese.

Fans can also choose to make it vegetarian by going with the Black Bean Crispy Melt Taco which swaps out the seasoned beef for black beans.

To celebrate its return, Rewards members can get a free Black Bean Crispy Melt Taco with any order of $10 or more on the Taco Bell app now through February 15, 2023.

You can find the Crispy Melt Taco at participating locations nationwide for a limited time.

Crispy chicken wings are back for a limited time, following a successful addition last year. Each order contains eight bone-in wings coated in a queso seasoning, and costs $6.99. Wings go on sale beginning January 26 through February 9 — a week longer than last year’s run.

New this year is a “wings filter” on the app that shows which locations have the wings. Also beginning next week for a limited time,  a $22 “Ultimate GameDay Box” goes on sale that features one Mexican Pizza, four crunchy tacos and eight wings.

Just before 2022 comes to a close, the Salsa Verde Grilled Chicken Burrito will make its debut on December 22. The burrito will be stuffed with grilled, marinated chicken, seasoned rice, sour cream, shredded cheese, and salsa verde sauce, rolled up in a flour tortilla. The burrito was tested earlier this year in Oklahoma City, Ok. It will join the Chipotle Ranch Grilled Chicken Burrito as a $2 option on the Cravings Value Menu.

Apply for a Live Más Scholarship Today!  The Taco Bell Foundation is committed to helping future leaders achieve their educational goals and move the world forward with scholarships up to $25,000.  Applications are open now at livemasscholarship.com!  Submit your application by January 11, 2023, 5:00 PM PST.  Step 1) Create a two-minute video showcasing your passion and explaining how you want to change the world. Step 2) Visit livemasscholarship.com for details on how to submit your application. Step 3) Check your email or livemasscholarship.com on or around April 27, 2023 for the results.

Yum Brands has sold its KFC restaurants in Russia to local franchisee Smart Service Ltd., which is responsible for rebranding the approximately 1,000 KFC restaurants into non-Yum entities. Once the transaction is finalized, it will mark the global restaurant company’s full exit from the country. Yum’s transfer of Pizza Hut ownership was completed in July, also to a local operator, Noi-M, who has since rebranded the locations to Pizza H. There are no Taco Bell restaurants in Russia.

Specialty condiment maker Truff has parlayed a small-scale test with Taco Bell into a nationwide co-branded partnership.

The Huntington Beach, California-based company, which makes gourmet hot sauce, spicy mayo, pasta sauce, and other products, is supplying the signature ingredient in Taco Bell’s new Loaded Truff Nacho Fries, a limited-time offer available in all locations across the U.S.

Loaded Truff Nacho Fries feature Truff Hotter Sauce atop a bed of seasoned fries, topped with grilled marinated steak, shredded cheddar cheese, fresh diced tomatoes, warm nacho cheese sauce, and reduced-fat sour cream. Customers can also add Truff to any menu item using the Taco Bell app, for an additional charge.