New York Is Back, or at Least Taco Bell Thinks So
The fast-food giant’s Times Square restaurant is a bet on a return of tourism, but its focus on digital ordering is a hint that some pandemic behaviors will stick.
Taco Bell’s new Times Square location offers clues about the restaurant industry’s post-pandemic future.
Photographer: Taco Bell
Midtown Manhattan may still be empty, but one major restaurant chain is apparently not spooked by ghost towns. Taco Bell on Wednesday opened a location in the heart of Times Square, part of a wider effort by its corporate parent, Yum Brands Inc., to expand the fast-food chain’s presence in the New York area.
The eatery is in the brand’s Cantina format, meaning it serves alcohol and has a more upscale design than typical Taco Bell outposts. Its arrival provides insightful clues about what one of the nation’s biggest dining powerhouses expects consumer behavior will look like after the pandemic abates.