Taco Bell has made plans to create a new way for you to get your Mexican pizza. It's a drive-thru-only restaurant, but unlike any you've ever seen before.
This one spans two stories, is inspired by retro-futurism, and delivers food to cars via high-tech vertical tubes. And you don't even have to interact with another human being in any way to get your taco fix.
Yes, really.
The food might not be authentic Mexican food, exactly, but many of us know what it's like to hit up the Taco Bell drive-thru late at night for a midnight snack.
Taco Bell's newest restaurant appears to be catered specifically to those late-night drive-thru-ers.
The suburban city near Minneapolis is getting a Taco Bell unlike any that's ever been seen before. Among its features: no interior seating, four drive-thru lanes, two stories, fancy ordering options, and even fancier food delivery options.
More and more fast food restaurants have two drive-thru lanes, but Taco Bell Defy ups the ante with four. The restaurant is a large, blocky structure, decked out in Taco Bell's new-ish color scheme of purple and white.
Each drive-thru lane has a status window showing whether it's open or not. Customers are free to order the traditional way, by rolling up to the speaker and telling the attendant what they'd like.
For those who want to take their time looking through Taco Bell's menu offerings, there's an interior area where they can step inside and peruse the menu on touchscreens. Having the heated interior kiosk is a good idea, as those Minnesota winters can be fierce.
Lots of fast food places allow customers to order via app, but Taco Bell Defy's system — where the customer orders, gets a code, then scans the code at the drive-thru — ensures almost zero human contact throughout the process.
They don't appear to be old-school pneumatic tubes like you'd see on The Jetsons, but they're pretty close.
When your food is ready, it'll be delivered from the second-story kitchen to the drive-thru window via a vertical tube.
With an uptick in drive-thru visits since the start of the pandemic, Taco Bell is going all-in on the concept. The four drive-thru windows and expedited ordering system should allow each order to be filled in under two minutes.
Is it just another Taco Bell, or is it a tourist attraction in its own right? The good people of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota will decide in the weeks and months to come.
Let us know what you think of this futuristic restaurant — and of Taco Bell in general — in the comments section.
h/t: Taco Bell
