A little over a decade ago, the primary spokesman for Taco Bell was a wildly popular talking Chihuahua, who, despite becoming a cultural phenomenon and spawning a line of plush toys, did little for the company’s bottom line. Today the face of Taco Bell is quite different: Lorena Garcia, a Venezuelan-born chef who has served as a judge on America’s Next Great Restaurant, competed on Top Chef Masters and runs the Miami-based Lorena Garcia Cocina restaurants.
So why is a company with the reputation for serving the junkiest of junk foods (such as the infamous Doritos Locos tacos, in shells made of Nacho Cheese Doritos chips) having a critically acclaimed chef endorse its product? Because fast food is going upscale, baby–or at least as upscale as a 30-second drive-thru order can get.
In the last year quick-serve restaurants (QSRs) have begun adding bigger, fancier items to their menus. Salads have blossomed from wilted iceberg lettuce dotted with chicken cubes and ranch dressing to lush beds of greens with candied walnuts, berries and vinaigrettes. Lava-hot Styrofoam cups of joe have morphed into iced mochas, caramel frappés and espressos. Twenty years ago, fast-food companies advertised lettuce and tomato as the ultimate in burger decadence (remember the McD.L.T?). Today consumers snarf down burgers piled high with portobello mushrooms or Gouda cheese without a thought.