Move over Tabasco and Buffalo sauce -- there is a new heat in town, and Taco Bell isn't wasting any time capitalizing on it.
Sriracha, the red chili sauce that comes in a rooster-blazoned bottle, is expected to be one of the top food trends of 2015 by the Speciality Food Association, and that means there is a big market for this brand of hot sauce.
Taco Bell is currently experimenting with Sriracha-themed menu items at more than 70 restaurant locations in the Kansas City area. If successful, the menu is expected to roll out nationwide.
The menu itself isn't terribly exciting. It mostly consists of standard favorites, but with a new Sriracha Crema sauce added to the mix. There are Sriracha tacos, a Sriracha griller, Sriracha nachos and a Sriracha flavored Quesorito, one of Taco Bell's latest contraptions that consists of a cheese quesadilla wrapped around a burrito.
Sriracha will even be included in one breakfast menu item in the form of the Sriracha Grand Scrambler, which consists of scrambled eggs, potatoes, Sriracha Crema sauce, nacho cheese sauce and bacon all topped with pico de gallo and sour cream.
Taco Bell is catering to its market, Taco Bell's vice president Stephanie Perdue says in a statement.
"Our customers love spicy food and we know that Sriracha is on the top of their list as the latest, most relevant flavor," Perdue says.
But Taco Bell isn't the first restaurant to jump on the Sriracha band wagon. In Nov. 2013 Subway became the first major chain restaurant to introduce Sriracha to its menu in the form of two new sandwiches featuring a creamy Sriracha sauce. Since then other restaurants like P.F. Chang's and Pei Wei have added Sriracha dishes. Taco Bell's core demographic is males between the age of 18-34, many of whom can't get enough of spicy foods.
This isn't the first time Taco Bell has partnered with another food brand either. Taco Bell continues to partner with brands like Mountain Dew, Doritos and Fritos to appeal to their core customers, and it seems to have worked well so far. The Sriracha menu being tested may change before being rolled out nationwide, but until then fans of the flavor will just have to make a pilgrimage to KC if they want to get a taste of Taco Bell's future.
Photo: Seth Anderson via Flickr
