Watch out, Starbucks: Taco Bell just introduced its own ‘secret menu' feature

Fast Company

3 days ago

The concept of 'menu hacking,' or modifying an existing fast-food menu item with a few ingredient tweaks, has been around for years. But with the rise of food-based content creators on TikTok, #menuhack has become its own genre of content, spawning trends from a McDonald's ice cream dipped in coffee to a Starbucks Frappuccino inspired by the Barbie movie. Amid this flurry of custom orders, few menus have been hacked more than Taco Bell's.
Now, Taco Bell is formalizing menu hacking with a new feature called 'Fan Style.' The tool, which is currently available via Taco Bell's app for the brand's Rewards members, lets fans design their own custom orders, name them, and earn extra Rewards points when other fans order them. Later this year, Taco Bell plans to select some of the most popular Fan Styles to appear on its national menu.
Taco Bell isn't the first fast-food giant to land on the bright idea of turning menu-hacking culture into an actual product offering. In 2022, McDonald's launched its own limited-time Menu Hacks menu. In 2023, Chipotle launched a fajita quesadilla inspired by a TikTok trend. And early this month, Starbucks turned its iconic 'secret menu' into an actual rotating menu inspired by online drink creations.
As digital ordering becomes increasingly popular and social media powers a constant food trend cycle, fast-food hacks are no longer reserved for fans in the know. Now, they're an integrated part of the ordering experience.
Taco Bell menu hacks take off
According to Dane Mathews, Taco Bell's chief digital and technology officer, the company's digital sales—including via the app, kiosks, and third-party delivery—have grown 37% year over year. Now, 42% of Taco Bell's total sales come through digital channels. Alongside the move away from in-person ordering has come a spike in customizations: Today, 66% of all Taco Bell app orders contain at least one customized product.
Over the past few months, Taco Bell fans on TikTok have found countless ways to remix the brand's relatively limited ingredient profile into custom creations, whether that be to score a better deal, make the chain's classic offerings a bit healthier, or to boost the flavor profile of a plain bean-and-cheese burrito. While Mathews says that having a personal go-to order has been a 'status symbol of true Taco Bell fandom for decades,' it's certainly becoming a more mainstream concept.
'Fan Style elevates menu hacks out of the comment sections and gives the biggest fans an opportunity to earn points, ad placements, and even a spot on the national menu,' he adds.
How to use Taco Bell 'Fan Style' Feature
To create a Fan Style order, users can navigate to the Fan Style section of the app and build an item as they see fit, adding and subtracting ingredients until it matches their preferences. Then, they'll need to save the custom order to their profile by clicking the 'share' button and giving it a personalized name.
'Imagine 'Dan Made This Style': a Cheesy Gordita Crunch that removes the Spicy Ranch and adds Creamy Jalapeño Sauce and jalapeños for extra spice,' a Taco Bell press release suggests.
From there, users can share their menu hack order on social media, which will allow them to receive Rewards points anytime someone else orders their Fan Style—turning the feature into what's essentially a free marketing blitz for Taco Bell.
Unfortunately, the app itself doesn't currently display others' Fan Styles, so fans have to find them on social media or through Taco Bell's out-of-home ad campaign in order to actually try someone else's creation. Sometime later this year (the company didn't provide specifics), Taco Bell will select a few Fan Styles to appear on the national menu for a limited time.
When it comes to potential logistical challenges associated with giving fans free rein to hack the menu, Mathews says that isn't a major concern, considering that employees have become pretty familiar with assembling customizations in recent years.
'Whether it be swapping protein choices, adding craveable sauces [like the all-new Sweet Chipotle BBQ], or hacking a rendition to emulate a retired favorite item—our team members have always helped bring these customizations to life,' he says.
Like with Starbucks's new secret menu feature, Fan Style gives Taco Bell a simple way to tap into viral trends without actually creating those trends in-house; essentially outsourcing the ideation process to the creators who already do it best. As fast-food giants catch on to fans' desire for individualized orders, it's safe to say that the 'secret menu' is not so secret anymore.