CKF Collins foods sole owner of first Taco Bell...'
Taco Bell Australia: New store to open in Annerley, Brisbane
Darren Cartwright, The Courier-Mail
October 3, 2017 8:00pm
Subscriber only
IT’S official. Taco Bell is making its Australian comeback, and its first store will be right here in Brisbane.
The US fast-food chain has tried twice to crack the market Down Under and failed.
Collins Foods, which so far is the sole Australian franchisee, is behind the first Brisbane Taco Bell restaurant and the first in Australia since 2005.
It will open at Annerley, in Brisbane’s south, on November 4.
Brisbane-based Collins Foods’ emerging brands boss Paula Nelson said Annerley was an ideal location for the fast-food chain which started in California in 1962.
She said since Taco Bell last operated in Australia, there was now a greater appreciation for Mexican food, while the stand-alone restaurant was also an improvement on the previous business model.
She also drew parallels between sunny California and Queensland.
Collins Foods’ Paula Nelson at the new Taco Bell site in Annerley, Brisbane. Picture: Annette Dew
“Since then (2005), as consumers, we have evolved in terms of the food that we eat and the Australian palate,” she said.
“It’s a Californian brand and we think there are a lot of similarities between Queensland and California in terms of climate and lifestyle so we think there is a real connection there.”
The outlet sits on the former site of a Sizzler restaurant, which was also under the control of Collins Foods, before it was razed soon after it closed its doors in July.
Ms Nelson said Taco Bell’s previous attempts to break into Australia had been stymied by having restaurants contained within the premises of another major brand.
It prevented Taco Bell from being able to establish itself in its own right, she said.
