Taco Bell to Reinvent Drive-Thru Concept With Futuristic Restaurant in Suburban Minneapolis

Brooklyn Park, Minn. — Taco Bell is building a restaurant with a new drive-thru concept in Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. Construction is underway on the 3,000-square-foot, two-story restaurant. Completion is scheduled for summer 2022. Known as Defy, the new restaurant concept was developed in partnership with Minneapolis-based Vertical Works Inc., a design company that works with quick-serve restaurants, retailers and healthcare tenants. In 2020, Border Foods, one of the largest privately held Taco Bell franchisees in America, enlisted Vertical Works to create a new restaurant design. With Defy, Taco Bell and Border Foods will partner on their 230th restaurant and 82nd new restaurant build. The concept reimagines the traditional drive-thru experience with four lanes, three of which are dedicated to mobile or delivery order pickups. This way, customers who order via the Taco Bell app or third-party delivery services can skip the line. The drive-thru lanes are situated below the restaurant kitchen. Additionally, digital check-in screens enable mobile order customers to scan in their order via a unique QR code. Food is delivered in a contactless manner via a proprietary lift system. The Defy footprint is smaller or equal to existing Taco Bell store footprints. There will be no indoor dining.