This morning, December 16th, Taco Bell put out an official press release to hype up the return of their flagship specialty item, the Nacho Fries. The item typically cycles through the fast food restaurant’s limited-time menu twice a year and this new release doesn’t show any major differences.
What is different, however, is the world around the Nacho Fries. The United States is a powder keg of civil unrest and political homerism that seems to be waiting for any spark to light the fuse. It makes economists like myself stop to wonder if the return of Taco Bell’s seasoned fries with a small cup of nacho cheese dipping sauce is a match, or even a flamethrower.
With complete tonal obliviousness, the press release does a decent job of hyping the allure of Nacho Fries, with Taco Bell CEO Mark King saying, “This time around, we’ve mastered the thirteen-spice mix that makes up the Nacho Fries’ delicious southwestern flavor, creating an explosive flavor that, when mixed with our classic hot melted queso cheese dip, promises to be better than ever before.”
The promise is a good one, unless you are stopping to consider what such a boast could mean for the start of 2021. The surge of confidence displayed by King is surely going to be contagious. I expect there could be rippling ramifications that lead to Trump claiming fraud of the current presidential election. It may even push him so far as to attempt to abstract the democracy of the state of Georgia, pressuring them to find votes that don’t exist. It’s all speculation at this point, but with thirteen spices at work, it all is feeling more and more likely.
“Along with the classic Nacho Fries Box being back on the menu for a limited time, we are thrilled to announce the brand new Nacho Fries Bellgrande,” King continued in the release. “This new featured item is an assortment of flavorful ground beef, fresh chopped tomatoes, creamy refried beans, and, of course, hot melted cheese, all layered generously over a bed of Nacho Fries. It’s the perfect choice for anyone thats a huge fan of nachos, and also a huge fan of fries.”
What a person that would be, to desire two food items so drastically aligned on opposite ends of the spectrum. Pleasing them is surely an innocent experiment, right? Is anything so simple? I believe there is voicing the voiceless and then there is calling groups to action. While the correlation is based on estimation and could play out a number of ways, I believe the ramifications of the Nacho Fries Bellgrande could be far more dire than anyone, especially Mark King, realizes.
I genuinely think within one month of the new menu item’s release to the public, we could see a full insurrection mounted on the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., rebels rushing the building in the hopes of stopping, maybe even overturning, the election results. Call me dramatic; I’ve been called dramatic before. I’ve also been right before.
On the note of the election results. There is some good news to come from today’s press release. In a throwaway line, King quickly mentions the return of a discontinued favorite. “We are also putting potato-based products back on the menu, so you psychos will stop calling our office.”
While overshadowed by the rest of the release, this news isn’t something to ignore. It shows the slightest glimmer or a push towards a new day, that highlights new ideas while attempting to bring back some of what was good in the past. I predict we will see a plethora of attempts at capturing that mentality as we head further along into 2021.
I’m speaking, of course, about the upcoming Taco Bell limited-time item, the Bacon Club Chalupa.