Taco Bell Has Good News For Breakfast Fans

People who love their breakfast burritos can celebrate. Taco Bell is bringing back the Breakfast Crunchwrap, which will reappear on the breakfast menu at more than half of Taco Bell locations. Other items that will come back to the menu include the Cheesy Toasted Breakfast Burrito Potato and hash browns (via Delish). With around 6,800 locations in the United States (via Nation's Restaurant News), chances are a Taco Bell near you will be serving the beloved breakfast staples again in the not-so-distant future.

Initially, Taco Bell reduced its menu and hours like many other fast-food restaurants at the beginning of the pandemic. It was an effort to keep people safe that was the result of quarantine and lockdown at the onset of COVID-19. While the initial change resulted in a decline of Taco Bell's sales, which were driven by late-night snacks and breakfast. "The breakfast business is impacted when people aren't on the roads going to work," CEO David Gibbs said in late April. "They're not going through your drive-thru for breakfast as much." However, the change to the menu and hours also brought good things to the drive-thru.

During the pandemic, Taco Bell was able to improve wait times at its drive-thrus. A report released on October 1st explained that the chain had a total wait time of 310.2 seconds in 2020, which was a nearly 10-second improvement from 2019's wait time of 319.3 seconds. That improvement was enough to move Taco Bell to the second-best wait time for the year while it ranked eighth last year.

Trimming some 20 items from the menu during the pandemic helped Taco Bell ultimately provide better service. "The customer experience has always been a top priority for Taco Bell – a key piece of that being our speed of service," Jen Somers, vice president of global operations services for Taco Bell, told NRN in a statement. "Our menu evolution efforts have not only allowed us to make more room for future innovations, but combined with increased digital efforts, have simplified our guests' overall journey in our drive-thrus" (via Nation's Restaurant News). What that essentially means for customers is that when they go back to Taco Bell for their favorite breakfast items, they'll not only find them there, but they'll be served faster too.

So, stop by your local Taco Bell to see if it's one of the locations welcoming the breakfast menu back. Then, get ready to hit the road again once you receive your order. Chances are you won't be waiting long.