Cranbourne has one as well. The Docklands one is the most central one. I believe there is also one in Ballarat.
What I like about Carls Jr is they are a good happy medium between the takeaway burger chains and the more gourmet ones. Not ridiculously overpriced or fancy but at the same decent for what they are and better than your typical takeaway burger. I possibly even think they are better here than when I’ve had them overseas.
yes there is one here in ballarat
El Maco is back at Maccas for the next month. Available in beef and chicken. The shaker fries are back too, and they also have mozzarella sticks.
Spicy
why tinker with a classic?
So both Taco Bell’s are within not much more than a 5 minute drive from me… one of them on my street. Great. 
Well, they may not last long. They’ve tried to launch Taco Bell twice before in Australia.
In Sydney, there was a Taco Bell in the George Street entertainment precinct (twice but years apart) and they failed both times. Being alongside Maccas, KFC, Pizza Hut, Hungry Jacks, you’d think they would have done good business, but no.
I think Mexican food has become a bigger thing the last few years so they might do alright (even if it is more cheap and nasty stuff). The Chapel St location makes sense. The area is building itself back up with a lot of new things in the area (and parking!) plus it will do well in that spot on the weekends and late nights with bars and clubs in the area. I’m not so sure about the Glenferrie Rd location though as there are a lot of food places on that street already, including a Fonda Mexican and Guzman Y Gomez within striking distance. A KFC opened there recently too so it will have a lot of competition.
That might become the challenge though because the food at those places is better than Taco Bell which is a lot more processed.
There was also a similar Mexican restaurant pretty much right beside Village Cinema City. I seem to recall it was better than Taco Bell on the opposite corner.
The best Mexican food I have ever eaten was in Mexico.
I’m also surprised at the Glenferrie Road choice. It may be popular with the Swinburne students (judging by the KFC that opened up there not long ago) but there are already mex places there so that’s going to be a challenge.
I think Richmond could be a better choice.
Unlike the previous Taco Bells which were often co-located with KFC, I believe the new Taco Bells are going for a more upmarket, Guzman Y Gomez style vibe. Let’s not forget that 20 years ago when Taco Bell launched here for the first time, all fast food restaurants had a fairly bad reputation in terms of food quality. New entrants like Guzman, Zambrero, etc. have made people expect higher food quality and McDonalds and Oporto are probably the only two existing chains that have made a fairly large improvement to their image to compete with the new entrants.
The new Taco Bells opening up in Melbourne also seem to have this hyped ‘wowee this American chain which I have heard about so much online is finally coming down under!’ vibe - something which I don’t think accompanied the original Taco Bell launch circa 1999. It certainly says something about how culturally interlinked we are these days.
As long as they stay a few dollars below the competition (GyG, Zambrero, etc), as they’ve priced themselves in QLD so far, they’ll do well.
They’ve read the market great in that sense - they’re not as outrageously cheap and nasty as they are in the US, but they’ve priced themselves cheaper then their competition here without compromising too much on appearing downmarket or selling total garbage.
The quality should be better than the early 00s Taco Bell, which was paired with KFC in most cases.
I heard that they used the dirtiest parts of the dirty bird to stuff in their… burritos.
Yeah we seem to be in a time where these American chains opening here are generating a lot of hype. I don’t think it will fail at all.
Yeah some of these chains are better here than the US. For me Carls Jr is better in Aus than it was in the US. I had Carls Jr once on a break driving from Vegas to Grand Canyon, and it reminded me more like a hungry jacks type quality. In Aus though it’s def better. I’m sure Taco Bell has followed suit as we are more foodies here and people are generally willing to pay a bit more if they are going outside the standard Mcdonalds/hungryjacks/kfc etc for food so would expect better quality.
they are doing very well in queensland i believe. the one near me seems to be constantly busy and they are building another 2 not too far away as well. i’d be suprised if they went under this time
Blacktown is getting Sydney’s first Taco Bell this round. It is in the food court near the walk to the station where all the addicts and smokers congregate so I’m not sure how “upmarket” they plan to be.
It possibly also says something about how short the general public’s memories are, that Taco Bell being a thing in Australia for a few years around the turn of the millenium (which is still relatively recently in the overall grand scheme of history) isn’t really remembered…
Every shopping centre now has a “trash alley” for smokers.
I smoked for two decades. I am so glad I no longer need to stand in these areas / laneways / zones.
Mind you, every now and then I get the urge to have a puff and I have not smoked for two years.