The spice is right… York to get its first Taco Bell restaurant

One of the biggest names in fast food is to open a restaurant in York.

Taco Bell, described as “the world’s leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain” is building an outlet at Monks Cross shopping centre.

The new restaurant is found next to Herbert Todd on Monks Cross Drive, just a few hundred yards away from the McDonald’s restaurant.

It has applied for an alcohol licence to cover its opening hours from 10am to 3am every day.

No opening date has been revealed yet – as our pictures show, there’s a lot of work to be done before that – but the chain is already recruiting.

Volcanic menu

As you might expect one of the most popular items on the Taco Bell menu is… tacos. These come with a variety of fillings, such as crunchy beef and Mexican chicken.

Another favourite line is the burritos. And if you hanker after something hot you can plump for something from the ‘volcano menu’.

For example, the volcano burrito is a “tortilla filled with beef or Mexican chicken, cheddar cheese, reduced fat sour cream, lava sauce, crispy nacho chips and seasoned rice”.

You can also order nachos to share, and tuck in to churros for dessert – a sort of doughnut swirl sprinkled with sugar and served with chocolate dipping sauce.

Jobs up for grabs

Taco Bell, which is part of the Yum! Brands group which also includes KFC and Pizza Hut, is already advertising for staff for the York store.

The company is looking for “a dynamic individual to lead the right people to help grow our business” as its restaurant manager.

Other jobs, advertised on Indeed, including assistant restaurant manager (£20,500 a year) and team leaders (£8 an hour).

You can also apply by sending a CV to [email protected].

Opening offers

Taco Bell was founded in California in 1962 by Glen Bell, a former US Marine, who had invented the preformed taco shell 11 years earlier.

Since then it has gradually conquered the world. Today it serves more than 35 million consumers each week in nearly 6,500 restaurants in the US and more than 300+ around the globe.

Eighteen of those outlets are in the UK. The nearest one to York before now are in Bradford and Leeds.

When the York restaurant opens, expect some promotional offers.

It opened its outlet in the St Johns Centre, Leeds, last June by giving away free T-shirts to the first 100 visitors, while two lucky diners won a year’s supply of Taco Bell orders by finding one of the Golden Tacos hidden in the city centre.