“When you’re a teen, Taco Bell is the first place place you go for freedom,” Jeff Jenkins, Taco Bell director of digital experience and new concepts, tells Fast Company. “It’s where you go when you get your first car, or when you get your first paycheck.”

Which, okay, sure. Fine. Teens love Taco Bell. I sure did! It’s one reason why, starting today, the fast food chain known for its mutant Franken-taco hybrids is targeting the millennial demographic in the place where they spend the bulk of their time–on their phones.

Today, after nuking its social media accounts and going dark to drum up buzz, Taco Bell is launching its first dedicated app for iPhone and Android that lets you order whatever you want, from wherever you are. The idea is to funnel the fast food chain’s online following over to its new application. It works like this: After you sync your credit or debit card, you select whatever it is you want to eat. Place your order, stroll over to the nearest Taco Bell, and–ta-da!–a piping hot bag of Mexican Pizzas and bean burritos will await your arrival.

Working with creative agency Digitas, Taco Bell originally conceived its mobile app about three years ago as a replacement for what it considers to be its big and intimidating in-store menus. Design-wise, the software is a far cry from other food ordering apps like GrubHub or Chipotle; Taco Bell’s app is what would happen if an Instagram filter fell in love with Seamless and had a baby.





“Like everything we do in digital and social, we wanted it to look like something your friend would post,” says Jenkins. Images are big and bright, and the UI is largely swipe-based. Don’t want cheese? Swipe left. Want to swap in chicken for ground beef in your Doritos Locos Taco? You can swipe through different protein options as if they were Tinder potentials.

But underneath the sheen of millennial-ness is a platform designed around customization, which is what’s really at the heart of the application. The general idea behind the app is to “open up” Taco Bell’s secret kitchen to the masses, allowing anyone to create whatever burrito/taco/nacho monstrosity their imaginations can dream up. Guacamole, bacon, jalapenos, Baja sauce, Doritos taco shells–all are at your gastronomical disposal.