Project: “Flavored Tacos”
Behind
the Scenes of the Doritos Locos Tacos ® Prototype
Recent
article published in FAST Company Dec 2013 http://ow.ly/sW9pc states a Todd
Mills lay claim to invention of Taco Bell® Doritos Locos Tacos®, a Doritos flavored taco shell is an
innovative idea also with record breaking sales for a new product launch.(Past
$1 billion in sales in 2 years.) Doritos Locos Tacos
is Number #9 on the Top 10 Food Crazes of 2013 via Mashable. See
list > http://ow.ly/sW9tq
I want to set the record straight,
the idea was pretty crazy in early 90’s. I was a R&D manager at Taco Bell® corporate early in my career. Having just launched the successful Double
Decker® Taco which combined the comforts of soft food with the crave-ability of
crunchy food, next up from the corporate heads was a project named “Flavored Tacos” At the time Taco Bell® was part of the Pepsico® group and Frito Lay® was a sister company. The top flavored chip of the 90’s as well as today is Doritos®. So naturally a Doritos® flavored taco shell was a slam dunk concept, so our team thought. Co-Branded product innovation was born in a concept. Until the reality came that seasonings are typically applied (topically) to chips in tumblers (rotating drums). Taco shells with the fragile nature cannot be tumbled due to excessive breakage.
The obvious next step was to mix the
Doritos® seasoning to the corn masa before frying. The results were not positive. The red shell looked like a Doritos® chip the
logical method to introduce flavor, however it produced an inferior tasting
product to the real Doritos®. Worst of
all not “crave-able.” In addition,
the taco shell frying oil would break down very quickly when frying heavily
seasoned corn masa and thus would have a large financial impact. The project could have ended there or
the R&D team could have launched the inferior product. But a product that was just okay, does not
make a memorable or iconic menu addition, a product that could stand the test
of time. Particularly it needed to stand up to Doritos® benchmark iconic
flavor.
Our team decided to overcome the
hurdles and continue the project and innovate a winner. So the next challenge, thinking outside the
box, was applying seasoning after frying the taco shell. We transformed the Doritos® seasoning into a
liquid blend with the intention of spraying on the shell. Getting this formula
from Frito Lays® was another story in its self. The first bench top trials were in Arkansas
at the tortilla and taco shell supplier.
Being from Southern California, my first time into a Walmart® was to
purchase a paint sprayer where we could test the initial bench trials of the
liquid seasoning. This soon led to
designing spray nozzles that were applied on the taco shell line. The idea must
have been shelved a while until this Todd Mills launched his Facebook page
campaign. Fast forward 20 Years
to 2012 add great packaging, world class branding, national distribution, full
media blast and the rest is history. 1 Billion dollars and counting.Sometimes in R&D perseverance, engineering and innovation are stretched beyond limits to achieve an iconic memorable product that stand the test of time.
#Winnovation
#MoodforFood #FOODInnovators #Persistence #Doritos #Co-Branding #TacoBell
#FritoLays #DoubleDeckerTaco #DoritosLocos #GinaGalvan
Top 10 Food
Crazes of 2013 via Mashable.com See
list > http://ow.ly/sW9tq Hybrid Foods, Super Foods and Novelty Foods make
up this eclectic list. Kale, Juicing,
Quinoa, Ramen Burger, S'Mores, Sriracha® and The "Cronut" along with a
Taco Shell flavored like Doritos® Chips
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