Updated 1/20 & 5/31 (New breakfast items being tested in Orange County)



After five years of testing, Taco Bell plans to launch a new breakfast menu next week in 750 restaurants, including dozens of locations in Southern California.

The 11-item breakfast line, dubbed First Meal, features traditional “back to basics” morning foods with scrambled eggs, sausage patties, bacon, tortillas and hash browns. The Irvine-based chain also switching to Seattle’s Best for its coffee.

***CLICK HERE to get first look at First Meal breakfast foods***

The much-anticipated breakfast menu, which began testing in 2007, debuts Jan. 26 in 10 states. In Orange County, company restaurants adding breakfast are in Anaheim, Brea, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Habra, Mission Viejo, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, Newport Beach and Laguna Niguel. (List: Taco Bell locations serving breakfast)

“It’s everything people love in breakfast, but done in a Taco Bell way,” said Brian Niccol, chief marketing and innovation officer at the Irvine-based chain.

By 2014, First Meal is slated to be in 5,800 domestic Taco Bell locations.

The roll out ends years of product testing for Taco Bell, which scrapped many wacky and “too spicy” food items based on customer feedback. In 2009 and 2010, The Register spotted a few Taco Bell restaurants serving sticky syrup slathered French toast egg sandwiches, skillet egg dishes, and sausage biscuits with gravy.

None of those made the final cut because customers weren’t excited about them.

“We tried to go too zippy and clever,” Niccol said.

On Thursday, Taco Bell officials gave The Register and an industry trade publication an exclusive first look at the new breakfast line.

We sampled an egg and bacon burrito, a sausage and egg “crunch” wrap, hash browns, iced coffee and Cinnabon Delights. The latter are tiny little fried dough balls with a creme filling and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. The food items range in price from 99 cents to $2.79. Coffee, orange juice and iced coffee (vanilla or mocha) will cost 99 cents to $1.99.

Taco Bell has served various breakfast foods in the past. But, this year, it is re-entering the competitive category with an eye on capturing “on the go” young adults, ages 18 to 28.

But, are they entering the breakfast game too late? Fast-food chains like Lake Forest-based Del Taco, McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. and Chick-fil-A have been adding new breakfast items for years. Carl’s Jr., for example, just launched scratch biscuits in Southern California while Chick-fil-A has added oatmeal.

Breakfast generates about $42 billion in annual sales in the restaurant industry, according to market research firm Technomic. Niccol said the First Meal program will evolve, and eventually contain more items such as oatmeal and yogurt parfaits.

Though he declined to provide sales projections, Niccol said he believes Taco Bell can be a big player in the breakfast category.

“There’s no reason why we can’t win,” he said.

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More: Stay tuned for more Taco Bell menu news in the coming weeks. Taco Bell is testing a variety of new food products expected to debut in certain markets in 2012. The Register’s Nancy Luna will have a full report as she learns about these menu items. Go to her blog for more information: ocregister.com/fastfood

Contact the writer: 714-796-6756 or Nluna@ocregister.com