Taco Bell is set to open 30 new locations of Live Más Café in 2025. Here’s how they came to be

Image provided by Taco Bell.

Taco Bell exclusive beverages are full of innovations, from the category-leading Mountain Dew Baja Blast to its 25-plus flavored Freezes, including the Strawberry Limonada. But the beverages have often been perceived as add-ons to the brand's signature offerings, like the Crunchwrap, until December 2024 when Taco Bell opened its first Live Más Café, giving beverages literal real estate and creating yet another brand elevation.

Each Live Más Café resides inside a Taco Bell but has its own drink machines and staff members, known as Bellristas. The reason for the restaurant within a restaurant? In 2024, the U.S. nonalcoholic beverage market was valued at $169.5 billion, with specialty coffees capturing over 25% of that total. Both are projected to keep growing, which is kismet, because Taco Bell is set to open two additional California-based Live Más Cafes (for three total in the state), and it's expecting 28 more by the end of 2025.

"What differentiates Live Más Café from other beverage concepts is the elevated experience paired with the innovative spirit of Taco Bell," said Taco Bell Marketing Director and Live Más Café Concept Lead Kathryn Chen. "You can satisfy two cravings at once by getting a specialty beverage and food under the same roof."

Live Más Café also has a unique origin story that involves a passionate franchisee, a cross-functional squad and a food innovation team that has developed a collective brain freeze after taste-testing SO. MANY. BEVERAGES.

Here's how Taco Bell opened its first shop within a shop, giving its beverages the spotlight.

Dreaming without handcuffs

Food Innovation Director Nola Krieg has been with Taco Bell for 11 years, and one of those years, she spent solely working on Live Más Café. She's fuzzy on the concept's origin story - she heard it had something to do with a few members of the leadership team and a passionate franchisee dreaming about future ideas after the first Live Más Live in Las Vegas.

"But what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas because Taco Bell Chief Food Innovation Officer Liz Matthews came to my desk soon after with what she called a 'no handcuffs' assignment," Krieg said. "It was really exciting because we could create new specialty coffee, what you see in boba shops, infusions, pumps using lots of different trending flavors!"

Drawing from Southern California's Mexican-inspired cafés and cafés in Mexico City, Matthews and Krieg began ideating the beverage menu offerings, finding inspiration in Mexican-inspired drinks such as agua frescas and Mexican coffees that can be enjoyed from breakfast through late night. For weeks, that aforementioned franchisee, which happened to be Diversified Restaurant Group CEO and President SG Ellison (whose company owns and operates more than 360 quick service restaurants, a majority of which are Taco Bells), would come to the Taco Bell test kitchen for taste tests. Over time, Krieg finally pared down the menu to fruity Refrescas, specialty coffees, milkshake-like Churro Chillers and pre-packaged grab and go drinks from third-party vendors. The premium beverage lineup featured high quality ingredients, which was exciting, but supply chain posed a challenge for Krieg.

"Where it really became tricky was figuring out how I'm supposed to get all of these ingredients in one store," Krieg said as Ellison and Taco Bell intended to prove the concept in a single location before expanding. "Normally, our suppliers order in bulk for hundreds or thousands of stores, but we started with just one Live Más Café, so it was a lot of trial-and-error, working with our existing suppliers and some new ones who were all willing to lean in with us."

But the power of the brand and its parent company Yum! with its scale and collection of suppliers came through, and in the nick of time as within two weeks of opening, Live Más Café customers blew past sales forecasts, purchasing four times what Krieg had anticipated.

"I remember calling the supplier, asking for a truck from Kansas to deliver more shake mix to California last minute," Krieg said. "We sometimes had to scramble, but thankfully, we got it done with the partnership of our suppliers."

Designing for the ambition

At first, Ellison and the Taco Bell team considered selling a new line of beverages alongside the food - via its existing counters and drive-thru windows. The move would increase sales, and possibly open new dayparts for the brand, but it wouldn't change customer perception.

"When you think about Taco Bell, you think about Doritos Locos Tacos, Crunchwraps - maybe Baja Blast to go with your food, but the beverage rarely comes to mind first," said Chen. "So, it's about designing for the ambition. If we want to be known as a beverage destination, then we need to have a physical presence and a differentiated experience that goes with it."

Watching the Bellristas make a drink, Chen says, gives a handcrafted element to it - shifting perceptions from a typical QSR premade concoction to a premium quality beverage.

The shop-within-a-shop concept also plays well from an operations standpoint as the Bellrista is a new role for the brand delivering a personable experience to each customer.

"Focused on serving elevated experiences and specialty beverages for our customers, the Bellrista is critical when integrating the Live Más Café model into our restaurant model, keeping hospitality, consistency, and efficiency top of mind," said Taco Bell Senior Operations Manager Brent Harkins, who leads the Live Más Café Operations strategy.

While Live Más Café doesn't script what Bellristas can say, it does give them a brand vision that stops short of being prescriptive, allowing the team members the freedom to make it their own. This approach allowed the brand to open the café's doors in nine months from concept to construction.

"We didn't need to hire the best bartender or juice maker-we needed Taco Bell team members with full hearts, bright smiles and great attitudes," said Shane Grant, DRG director of operations. "We kept it simple, searching inside and outside Taco Bell to find incredible team members to bring the vision to life. During training, I ask the team to imagine hosting a party - welcoming guests with smiles, serving delicious food and drinks and creating special memories."

Taking bold swings

Live Más Café is emerging as a premium beverage destination. Nearly a year after its first location opened in Southern California, two more are opening in the region, with another handful in Texas.

"We've designed a concept that has catapulted the brand to be legitimately considered for specialty beverages by consumers," Chen said.

The initial results show that happening - many customers are making it part of their daily ritual, coming for the beverage and adding on the food, opening that snacking occasion and solidly giving beverages main character energy.

"The ambition for Live Más Café is to become a meaningful part of Taco Bell's future," Chen said. "We're learning and ideating on the future of Live Más Cafe every day, and we intend to take bold swings on how it could come to life."