It’s 23 and counting for Taco Bell Corp.’s mobile-focused restaurant formats.
The Irvine-based chain’s parent Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) updated investors late last month on the digital-first restaurant design in its latest quarterly update call, indicating no signs of slowing growth for Taco Bell Go Mobile.
The chain revealed the Go Mobile concept last year, when it began testing the new restaurant design. Go Mobile focuses on a smaller real estate footprint, with two drive-thru lanes, employee Bellhops that help expedite ordering with tablets and curbside pickup, and mobile pickup shelves in restaurants.
Taco Bell’s suite of tech, called All Access, is aimed at streamlining operations, and that was acknowledged in the recently ended quarter as helping drive the chain’s seventh straight quarter of drive-thru times under four minutes.
Taco Bell, with 7,619 restaurants, opened 74 restaurants in the third quarter and ended the period with systemwide sales of $3.1 billion, up 8% from a year ago. Comparable sales ticked up 5% during the quarter.
Parent Yum, headquartered in Louisville, Ky., said digital sales across its brands globally totaled $5 billion for the three-month period.
Yum also owns Irvine-based The Habit Burger Grill, in addition to KFC and Pizza Hut for a footprint of more than 50,000 restaurants globally.
