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The future of Taco Bell: Fewer drive-thrus, more booze

Pretty soon you might be able to give your Baja Blast a little boost.

The future of Taco Bell: Fewer drive-thrus, more booze

Pretty soon you might be able to give your Baja Blast a little boost.

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The future of Taco Bell: Fewer drive-thrus, more booze

Pretty soon you might be able to give your Baja Blast a little boost.

Some serious changes are underway at Taco Bell, including one that will change the way you hit up fourth meal. According to Food & Wine, the fast food chain plans on opening up to 350 new restaurants by 2022, and all of them will be missing one key feature: the drive thru. Despite a good majority of the brand's stream of revenue coming from drive-thru orders. In an attempt to grow the brand's base in large, urban areas, Taco Bell is planning on opening up hundreds of redesigned cantinas in a handful of big cities like Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and New York (apparently, there will be around 50 new locations in Manhattan alone). Food & Wine reports that the new locations will be decked out with with artwork, open kitchens, and digital menu boards.But the overall vibe of the restaurant isn't the only thing Taco Bell plans on switching up. The brand will soon be adding alcoholic beverages to the menus at these new locations, so you're in luck if all you could ever dream about was being able to order a margarita to go along with your Crunchwrap Supreme. It was announced back in April that the chain was set to start rolling out beer and frozen beverage options at certain locations, but the expansion only targeted restaurants in Canada. There are only a handful of Taco Bell locations in the U.S. that currently serve alcoholic beverages so, luckily for us, that number is set to increase dramatically. Of course we'll have to wait a few years for the company's expansion to go into full effect, but the mere thought of being able to give an already-delicious Baja Blast a boozy upgrade makes us think that the wait will be worth it.

Some serious changes are underway at Taco Bell, including one that will change the way you hit up fourth meal. According to Food & Wine, the fast food chain plans on opening up to 350 new restaurants by 2022, and all of them will be missing one key feature: the drive thru. Despite a good majority of the brand's stream of revenue coming from drive-thru orders.

In an attempt to grow the brand's base in large, urban areas, Taco Bell is planning on opening up hundreds of redesigned cantinas in a handful of big cities like Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and New York (apparently, there will be around 50 new locations in Manhattan alone). Food & Wine reports that the new locations will be decked out with with artwork, open kitchens, and digital menu boards.

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Taco Bell
Mike Mozart/Flickr

But the overall vibe of the restaurant isn't the only thing Taco Bell plans on switching up. The brand will soon be adding alcoholic beverages to the menus at these new locations, so you're in luck if all you could ever dream about was being able to order a margarita to go along with your Crunchwrap Supreme. It was announced back in April that the chain was set to start rolling out beer and frozen beverage options at certain locations, but the expansion only targeted restaurants in Canada.

There are only a handful of Taco Bell locations in the U.S. that currently serve alcoholic beverages so, luckily for us, that number is set to increase dramatically. Of course we'll have to wait a few years for the company's expansion to go into full effect, but the mere thought of being able to give an already-delicious Baja Blast a boozy upgrade makes us think that the wait will be worth it.