This Beloved Fast-Food Franchise Boasts a Bold Strategy to Hit $3 Million Per Location
The brand isn’t just maintaining its #2 spot on the Franchise 500 — it’s setting ambitious targets for 2030.
This story appears in the January 2026 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
To view our entire 2026 Franchise 500 list, including category rankings, click HERE.
At Taco Bell, more is always more.
The fast food brand, known for its frequent menu introductions and limited-edition offerings that keep a rabid fan base on its toes, set out to double the pace of menu innovations in 2025 — and delivered. From a Y2K menu with favorites from the early aughts to customer-created offerings dubbed Fan Style, Taco Bell whipped up new recipes all year.
“Menu innovation generates PR,” says Meghan Farren, president of North America at Taco Bell. “It’s almost its own media driver for us.” In addition to novel dishes, in 2025, the brand rolled out new Luxe Cravings Boxes (specialized value meals first introduced in 2024) and a beverage line called Refrescas.
The buzz helped to drive sales. In the third quarter of 2025, Taco Bell saw 7% growth in same-store sales in the U.S., with international growth close behind at 6%. As of August, they’ve sold over 600 million beverages, a 16% increase from last year.
Related: Taco Bell Is More Than 60 Years Old — Here’s the Brand’s Secret to Staying Relevant, According to Its CEO
Aside from menu innovation to attract new and existing eaters, a focus on improved customer experiences and seamless digital tools are driving the company toward lofty goals: By 2030, Taco Bell wants average unit volume to jump from $2.2 million to $3 million, international locations to nearly triple to 3,000, and the beverage business to grow to $5 billion.
The company, which has spent nine years in the Franchise 500 Top 10 — and took the top spot from 2021 to 2025 — knows that none of that can be achieved without the support of its franchisees or their crew members. The popular Tacos & Tuition program, which offers tuition assistance to select employees, contributed to a 17% improvement in retention at company-owned stores in 2025. In October, the brand announced the program expanded to more than 1,100 stores, contributing to 73% frontline retention.
“To build the culture and develop your teams is a nice thing to do, but it also drives your retention and creates more capable teams,” Farren says. “And that drives better business outcomes, better customer outcomes. [Taking care of our teams] is a very important pillar of our strategy.”
That strategy, Farren stresses, doesn’t depend on a trickle-down method. “When we talk about and test strategies, it’s not just at our corporate stores; we have multiple franchisees who will test, and they have a voice [and a seat] at the table,” she says. “There’s real connection, coordination, and challenges that we go through together.”
Related: Why Taco Bell’s New Boss Says He’s ‘Not the Dictionary Definition of a CEO’
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To view our entire 2026 Franchise 500 list, including category rankings, click HERE.
At Taco Bell, more is always more.
The fast food brand, known for its frequent menu introductions and limited-edition offerings that keep a rabid fan base on its toes, set out to double the pace of menu innovations in 2025 — and delivered. From a Y2K menu with favorites from the early aughts to customer-created offerings dubbed Fan Style, Taco Bell whipped up new recipes all year.
