Taco Bell has become a hot bed of food licensing and co-branding featuring Snapple Lemonade Freeze (Dr Pepper Snapple Group), Starburst Strawberry Freeze (Wm. Wrigley Jr.), in addition to Doritos Locos Tacos and the Cap’n Crunch Delights, basically a doughnut hole covered with Quaker Oats Co.’s Cap’n Crunch Berries cereal and filled with “milk” icing (PepsiCo).
Nation’s Restaurant News describes the latter as Taco Bell’s variation on Cinnabon Delights, a cream-filled doughnut hole reminiscent of Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls, that debuted when Taco Bell rolled out breakfast nationwide last year.
Cinnabon has reportedly developed its licensing business into a $750 million revenue stream, triple its earnings from selling rolls at its own storefronts. Meanwhile, the Taco Bell goodies which were available as test items only in Bakersfield, Calif., have gone viral since being profiled in the Food Beast blog.