NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Taco Bell is opening its first digital-only restaurant in the U.S. on Wednesday in NYC's Times Square.
To purchase a Chalupa or an iconic Mountain Dew Baja Blast, customers will be able to use one of the 10 automated kiosks inside the new Midtown Manhattan location.
The restaurant will also serve alcoholic beverages, which must be purchased the old-fashioned way by speaking with an employee who can verify that the customer is over the age of 21.
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Taco Bell noted that customers will be able to watch their food being prepared, but once it is ready, the order will be placed in a cubby which lights up to show the food is ready for pick-up.
Web Extra: See inside the new Times Square location
The location, inside the iconic Paramount Building, also features a separate entrance for mobile and delivery order pick-ups from the cubbies.
While the menu will offer the same items that exist at all of Taco Bell’s chains, the Times Square location will add an exclusive new menu item called the “Bell Apple Freeze” – a “’Green Apple Freeze’ swirled with a sweet cherry apple flavor.”
Customers can also order their own Taco Bell merchandise – including sauce packet keychains, pin sets and pens – exclusively at the digital kiosks.
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The Mexican fast-food chain says it hopes the digital-only design will improve customer and employee experiences.
“The beloved elements of the typical Cantina with an open-kitchen and alcoholic drinks paired with the digital design elements of the Times Square Cantina simplify and modernize the consumer experience, which in turn, optimizes and redeploys the role of the team member within the restaurant experience,” the restaurant chain said in a release.
Other restaurant chains, like Starbucks and Chipotle, have also opened digital-only restaurants in the U.S. Taco Bell opened its first digital-only location last year in London.
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