• by Steve Ellwanger , September 15, 2021

Taco Bell is testing a digital-only taco subscription program at 17 restaurants in Tucson.

Purchasing a Taco Lover’s Pass from the chain’s app menu costs between $5 and $10—depending on users’ locations—for 30-day access to one free taco per day.

There are seven hard and soft tacos available via the Taco Lover’s Pass, although not Taco Bell’s new crispy chicken sandwich taco—the chain’s most popular menu item in the past week, according to Fast Food Nutrition.

To purchase a Taco Lover’s Pass, users choose it from the Online Exclusives section of the Taco Bell app menu, add it to their cart and complete the regular checkout process. Tacos ordered via the program are available only by restaurant pickup, not by delivery.

The test comes roughly a year after the launch of the Taco Bell Rewards Program.

In a conference call with financial analysts on July 29, David Gibbs, CEO of Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands Inc., quantified the impact of the rewards program in the second quarter ended June 30.

“We're seeing significant uptick in frequency and higher spend per visits leading to an increase in overall spend of 35% for active customers in the Taco Bell Rewards Program compared to their pre-loyalty behavior,” said Gibbs.

According to place-based data provider Placer.ai, Taco Bell has posted double-digit foot traffic growth every month since May—with growth above 25% in the past two months.

“We believe there are many reasons to explain this outperformance, but the launch of its Taco Bell Rewards program—with features such as loyalty member exclusives and early-access to select promotions—has been a clear contributor,” Placer.ai head of analytical research R.J. Hottovy tells Marketing Daily.

According to data from App Annie, Taco Bell was the 10^th most-downloaded food/drink app in the first quarter of 2021 behind Domino’s Pizza (#9), Chick-fil-A (#8), Starbucks (#6) and McDonald’s (#3).

Leading the way was DoorDash at #1, followed by Uber Eats (#2), Grubhub (#4), Yelp (#5) and Instacart (#7).

The test of Taco Lover’s Pass runs until Nov. 24.

It’s not clear how Taco Bell is promoting the limited-time subscription test. The chain featured the crispy chicken sandwich taco on Instagram upon its Sept. 2 launch, but there’s been no mention of the subscription program.

Marketing Daily reached out to a Taco Bell rep for clarification, but had not heard back by deadline.