THE SWOT OF TACO BELL

Strengths
Taco bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc. It is recognized as of the best
Mexican fast food chains in the United States of America with a specialized quick
service approach. The Taco Bell offers a Mexican-style menu including tacos,
burritos, gorditas, quesadillas, and nachos. It has a total of about 5,600
restaurants in different locations across the United States and as many as about
250 outlets in about 20 countries of the world. Taco Bells distinctive feature is that
its units can be seen operating as free standing units in the shopping malls,
convenience stores, airports etc. It serves more than 2 million customers
annually.
Success story of Taco Bells is a result of top down approach to change. The
change in the management and organizational structure trickled prosperity in Taco
Bells overall set up. The addition of the new job position Market Manager with
enhanced responsibilities and a highly crucial role pushed down the decision
making to a great extend. The key strength as appears from this new
organizational structure is the self-sufficiency, increased employee motivation
levels and efficient customer services.
Taco Bell adopted a healthy trans-fat free formula recently in 2007 which is a key
competitive advantage of the company over other competitors who has not yet
switched to the healthier recipes.
Taco Bell has been the partner of ESPN during promotion and sponsorship of FIFA
World Cup, 2006.
Weaknesses
Taco Bell suffered a number of losses and lost its goodwill when in November
2006, twenty two of its customers were hospitalized due to traces of E.coli bacteria.
Likewise in February 2007, Taco Bell Manhattan was reported to have rodents.
The whole scenario was made public and was shown by the media which lead to
closure of a number or Taco Bells outlets throughout the United States.

Taco Bell faced huge protest from its workers during March 2005 specially when
Coalition of Immokalee Workers boycott the Taco Bell for human rights.
In 1998 a lawsuit was filed against Taco Bell when it failed to pay payments to
Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks who have worked with the company in
marketing department. The men were paid a heavy compensation of about $30.1
million plus about $12million additional interests.
Opportunities
There exists extensive opportunities for market growth to expand in he new
as well as penetrate in the currently existing market segments. New flavors and
new recipes specially focused on more health friendly ingredients should be
introduced by Taco Bell in its menus.
Threats
Fast food Industry as a whole faces some crucial risks which are also a risk to the
Taco Bell. Firstly this sector is highly labor intensive which increases the
subjectivity involved in the delivery of services to the customers. Secondly the new
researches and the raised awareness among the publics about the harmful health
impacts of fast food consumption is a threat to Taco Bells fast food menus. The
trans-fats, sugars, oils and salts which are ingredients of the fast foods being
offered, are thus consumed in low proportions by the aware and educated
consumers.