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IRVINE, cALiF. - Riding a wave of positive same-store sales growth, Taco Bell has rolled out its first complete-meal-in-a-bowl item and compared it with the kind of fare available in the industry's emerging crop of fast-- casual upstarts.
Taco Bell's new Zesty Chicken Border Bowl, which was being launched in units nationwide on June 19, will compete with similar meal-in-a-bowl items offered by such rival chains as El Pollo Loco, Jack in the Box, Panda Express and Wahoo's Fish Taco.
Priced at $2.99, the 14-ounce Zesty Chicken Border Bowl features grilled chicken, salsa, red tortilla strips and a three-cheese blend over a bed of lettuce in dressing with seasoned rice and beans.
Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc., which also operates KFC, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants, said it would expand its Border Bowl offerings with a Southwest Steak Border Bowl in late July.
"Our new Border Bowls give Americans a casual-dining restaurant product with the benefits of quick service," said Greg Creed, Taco Bell's chief marketing officer.
Coming in the wake of such Taco Bell product rollouts as last year's Grilled Stuft Burrito and the chain's upgradings of various key ingredients, the Border Bowl product launch marks the 6,500-- unit chain's latest effort to adopt a more fast-casual-like...