Lifestyle Food Taco Bell Is 'Looking at' Making Nacho Fries a Permanent Menu Item "People that go to lunch want to have French fries," Taco Bell CEO Mark King reportedly said at an investor event By Sam Burros Sam Burros Instagram Twitter Sam Burros is a writer, producer, and cook working with the Food and Lifestyle team at PEOPLE. Prior to working with PEOPLE, he was an editorial fellow for Food Network, a reporter for Heritage Radio Network, and a recipe tester for Alison Roman's third cookbook Sweet Enough. Before making the pivot to food media, Burros studied theatre at NYU Tisch School of the Arts where he met artistic collaborators in theatre, film, and television with whom he created Miss Jordan's Spring 2020 Production, available to stream on Broadstream. People Editorial Guidelines Published on December 15, 2022 02:37 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Taco Bell's nacho fries may be here to stay. During an investor event on Tuesday, Taco Bell CEO Mark King shared that the fast food chain is considering making the popular dish a permanent fixture on their menu, CNN reports. "People that go to lunch want to have French fries. We know that," King said at the event. "We're looking at and testing bringing fries permanently on to the menu, which would increase our lunch business dramatically." The cheesy fan-favorite item made its debut in a limited run at the chain in 2018, selling over 50 million orders in its first five weeks on menus. The fries have since returned over the years, including just one year later in 2019. 'SNL' 's Punkie Johnson Goes to Taco Bell at 4:30 a.m. Every Weekend and Orders the Same Thing Taco Bell's CEO shared additional insight into some of the key motivations behind the permanent return. "If you were to look at how we compete against McDonald's in dinner and late night, we're absolutely even. When you look at breakfast and lunch, we're significantly behind," King said, according to CNN. Nacho fries are currently offered at Taco Bell locations in a seven-layer version topped with guacamole, nacho cheese, beef and more. In 2020, they were offered in a Buffalo Chicken Nacho Fries version. Taco Bell Opens Futuristic Drive-Thru with 'Vertical Lifts' That Deliver Orders from Kitchen Joshua Blanchard/Getty Taco Bell has seen previous success with the return or relaunch of other menu items as well. All the New Menu Items at Your Favorite Chain Restaurants and Fast Food Joints In April 2022, the chain announced it was bringing back its Mexican Pizza after the item left menus in 2020 when the brand decided to scale back its menus in response to the pandemic. At its initial relaunch, which even included plans for a TikTok musical featuring Doja Cat and Dolly Parton, the company struggled to keep up with the demand of ravenous fans who were hungry for the fan-favorite menu item, leading to another brief removal from the menu. "We knew you loved the Mexican Pizza," Taco Bell said in a letter to its fans at the time. "We just didn't know how many of you loved the Mexican Pizza."