Livin' Mas Is A Lifestyle
Taco Bell's New Café The Latest In Crunchwrap-Flavored Experiments
Taco Bell never ceases to amaze.
The fast food chain that sells a style of food that’s neither Mexican, American, Tex-Mex, Southwestern or snack food, but somehow evokes the feeling of all of them, has become a bit of an institution. Whether it was being the butt of stoner and poop jokes, or being known as the home of the superior Baja Blast, just about everyone is aware of The Bell and its slogan of “livin’ mas.” And so, we really shouldn’t have been surprised that Taco Bell is experimenting with a beverage restaurant concept called the Live Mas Café.
Don’t take my word for it, here’s video proof:
TLDR: Live Mas is Taco Bell’s spin on Dutch Bros. or Starbucks. There ars vaguely Mexican-named beverages, and “Bellristas” are on hand to make your afternoon pick-me-up-something special.
As for why this was a separate concept, and not a menu just grafted onto a normal Taco Bell? Well, I don’t know for sure but it seems more and more businesses are okay with testing concepts outside of their stores. For one, if it’s a failure, they can just pretend it didn’t happen. Secondly, it may be hard for people to reconcile getting a premium beverage from a restaurant that is…um…not. In fact, McDonald’s is doing the same thing with it’s CosMc’s beverage house experiment:
Lastly, and most importantly. Human nature with the rise of social media has all but told brands that doing business this way will get them loads of press. In other words, content creators with a drive to out do the next person are going to go out of their way to advertise the concept for free, and while every business can use the promotion, older legacy brands like McDonald’s and Taco Bell could use the “cool” rub.
And nothing is cooler than a *checks notes* Churro Chiller…?
But the crazy thing is Taco Bell has been experimenting with its brand for a long time. Ten years ago there was the ‘Cantina’ concept, where it tried to offer a more sit-down restaurant experiment. There was a time they had a Apple-like “tech reveal” of some of their future products. Or what about that year at Comic Con they had the “San Angeles” experiment, paying homage to its product placement in the movie Demolition Man. I even bought the shirt!
And oof, that first DJ Logo was ROUGH. Flo-3-ito? Why didn’t anybody stop me?!
The thing is, even though I can’t tell you the last time I’ve been to Taco Bell, I can’t knock a brand that has the self-awareness to try new things to shore up the brand for different customer segments. If they doubled down on $0.69 tacos, I’m sure nobody would try their take on a premium $5 frozen coffee beverage. However, having these experiments out in the open only helps to educate customers that they are going to be offering premium products in the future. In fact, Kia/Hyundai did that with their Genesis luxury brand and it’s one of the fastest-selling brands in North America. And they don’t even have to sell a Baja Blast Freeze to do it.
Before I wrap this up, I considered using the following video to describe the Live Mas Cafe. it’s like 30 seconds but they must’ve reused the same three taco bell clips like 40 times, haha.