What Did Taco Bell Discontinue?
Taco Bell cut a large part of its menu during 2020 for reasons that had nothing to do with popularity. Several of those items have already come back, one of them after a petition with more than 170,000 signatures. Here is what went, why, and what returned.
Most chains trim a menu quietly. Taco Bell did it publicly, in waves, in the middle of a year when every restaurant in the country was rebuilding how it operated, and the reaction was loud enough to reverse some of it.
Here is what actually happened.
The 2020 cuts and the real reason behind them
Through 2020 Taco Bell ran a menu reduction in stages. The largest round was announced in September 2020 and took effect on November 5, 2020.
Items removed in that round included:
| Item | Status now |
|---|---|
| Mexican Pizza | Returned permanently in September 2022 |
| 7 Layer Burrito | Gone from the national menu |
| Nachos Supreme | Gone from the national menu |
| Spicy Tostada | Gone from the national menu |
| Shredded Chicken Soft Taco | Gone; the shredded chicken protein itself was dropped |
| Shredded Chicken Burrito | Gone with the same protein |
| Shredded Chicken Quesadilla Melt | Gone with the same protein |
| Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes | Returned in March 2021 |
| Spicy Potato Soft Taco | Returned in March 2021 |
Pico de gallo was also replaced with fresh diced tomatoes across the menu.
The reasoning was operational. With fewer people in kitchens and the overwhelming majority of orders coming through the drive thru, restaurants found that a shorter menu produced faster service times. Fewer distinct components means fewer holding stations, less prep, less waste and fewer chances for an order to jam the line.
The Mexican Pizza also took longer to build than almost anything else on the menu, which is exactly the wrong trait when the whole strategy is drive thru speed.
The Mexican Pizza reversal
This is the part that changed how the company handles cuts.
After the Mexican Pizza was removed, a Change.org petition to bring it back collected more than 170,000 signatures. It picked up celebrity backing, most visibly from Doja Cat, and stayed in public view for well over a year rather than fading the way most food campaigns do.
Taco Bell brought it back in May 2022. Demand was far beyond forecast. Reporting at the time put sales at several times the pre removal level, and roughly 7,600 restaurants burned through what had been planned as a six month supply in under two months. It sold out.
It returned as a permanent menu item on September 15, 2022 and has stayed since.
Whether the Mexican Pizza is currently on your local menu is a separate question from whether it is discontinued, since availability still varies by store. Current status and pricing are on the Taco Bell menu.
The potatoes came back too
Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes and the Spicy Potato Soft Taco were removed in the 2020 reductions and returned in March 2021, after a much shorter gap than the Mexican Pizza.
The potato items matter more than their sales figures suggest, because they are the backbone of ordering vegetarian at Taco Bell. Removing them gutted the meat free options, and the pushback reflected that.
Items that rotate rather than being discontinued
A lot of the confusion around this question comes from treating limited time offers as discontinuations. They are different things.
Nacho Fries are the clearest example. They are not a permanent item and never have been. They run for a promotional window, disappear, and come back. Every disappearance generates a fresh round of people asking whether they were discontinued.
The Quesalupa and various stuffed shell items have cycled on and off the menu multiple times.
Nostalgia items such as the Enchirito have been brought back for limited runs and then withdrawn again.
The practical test: if an item was announced with an end date or a promotional campaign, it is a limited time offer and it will probably be back. If it vanished from the permanent menu without a campaign, that is a discontinuation.
Why chains cut popular items at all
This is the part that frustrates people, and it is worth being clear about.
A fast food menu item is not judged on sales alone. It is judged on what it costs the kitchen. An item that sells well but needs a unique ingredient, a dedicated holding station, its own packaging and thirty extra seconds of build time can be worth less to the operator than a slower selling item that uses components already on the line.
The Mexican Pizza was exactly that profile: genuinely popular, and expensive in every way that does not show up on a sales report. The shredded chicken items were the same story from the other direction, an entire protein held in every store for three menu items.
That is also why fan campaigns sometimes work. A petition changes the sales forecast enough to justify carrying the cost again.
Related Questions
What did Taco Bell discontinue?
The biggest round came in 2020 and included the Mexican Pizza, the 7 Layer Burrito, Nachos Supreme, the Spicy Tostada, Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, the Spicy Potato Soft Taco and the entire shredded chicken line covering the Shredded Chicken Soft Taco, Burrito and Quesadilla Melt. Pico de gallo was also replaced with fresh diced tomatoes. The potatoes returned in March 2021 and the Mexican Pizza returned permanently in September 2022.
Why did Taco Bell get rid of the Mexican Pizza?
Speed and packaging, not sales. It took longer to assemble than most menu items at a time when nearly all business was moving through the drive thru, and its rigid box accounted for more than 7 million pounds of paperboard annually in the United States. It was removed as part of the November 5, 2020 menu reduction and came back after sustained public pressure.
When did the Mexican Pizza come back?
It returned in May 2022 following a Change.org petition with more than 170,000 signatures and high profile support including Doja Cat. Demand ran several times higher than before removal and around 7,600 restaurants exhausted a planned six month supply in under two months, so it sold out. It returned as a permanent menu item on September 15, 2022.
Did Taco Bell bring back the potatoes?
Yes. Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes and the Spicy Potato Soft Taco were cut during the 2020 menu reductions and returned in March 2021. The return mattered beyond sales because the potato items are the foundation of most vegetarian orders at Taco Bell, and removing them had cut the meat free options sharply.
Is the 7 Layer Burrito still available?
Not as a national menu item. It was removed in the November 5, 2020 round and has not returned to the permanent menu. Because its components are mostly still in the kitchen, some customers build an approximation by customizing a bean burrito, though what a given store will do varies by location.
Are Nacho Fries discontinued?
No. Nacho Fries have never been a permanent menu item. They run for promotional windows, come off the menu, and return, which is why they generate a wave of discontinuation questions every time they disappear. Treat them as a recurring limited time offer rather than a permanent item that keeps being cut.
Why did Taco Bell remove shredded chicken?
The shredded chicken protein was dropped entirely in the 2020 reductions, which removed the Shredded Chicken Soft Taco, Shredded Chicken Burrito and Shredded Chicken Quesadilla Melt at once. Holding a separate protein in every restaurant for three menu items is expensive in prep, storage and waste, which is exactly the kind of cost the streamlining targeted.
Why do fast food chains cut popular items?
Because sales are only one input. Operators also weigh build time, unique ingredients that need their own holding space, dedicated packaging and the waste from stocking something used by only a few menu items. An item can sell well and still cost more to carry than it returns, which is what happened with the Mexican Pizza and its dedicated box.
More on Taco Bell
About this guide. USA Food Menu is an independent reference site and is not affiliated with Taco Bell Corp. or Yum! Brands, Inc. Removal and return dates were checked against company announcements and contemporary news reporting. Menus vary by location and limited time items change constantly, so confirm availability with your local restaurant. Current prices and calories are on the Taco Bell menu.
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