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Taco Bell to Open Tech-Driven Location

Specialty Food Association

Taco Bell will open a 3,000-square-foot, two-story restaurant in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, next summer. The Taco Bell Defy location was developed in partnership with Minneapolis-based Vertical Works Inc., a design company that merges manufacturing and construction to concept and build industry-leading solutions for quick-serve restaurants, retail, and healthcare.

The restaurant will feature four drive-thru lanes, three of which are dedicated to mobile or delivery order pickups; digital check-in screens that allow mobile order customers to scan in their order via a QR code; contactless food delivery via a proprietary lift system; and two-way audio and video that lets customers interact directly in real time.

"In 2015, we created the Taco Bell Cantina concept with an open kitchen environment in urban markets. In 2020, we introduced the Go Mobile concept much earlier than anticipated with the help of quick collaboration with franchisees just like Border Foods,” said Mike Grams, Taco Bell's president and global COO, in a statement. "Partnering with our franchisees to test new concepts is a huge unlock of learning for us. What we learn from the test of this new Defy concept may help shape future Taco Bell restaurants."

Related: Latest 7-Eleven Evolution Store Features Two RestaurantsPandemic Trends Carry Into 2021: Restaurants Focus on Off-Premises Consumption.

Image: Taco Bell

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