The Taco Bell food you enjoy today is probably not the same grub best taco bell items enjoyed in your younger years. That’s not a huge surprise — menus change. Fast food establishments are constantly tweaking their offerings to figure out the best concoctions for their customers. There was a time, however, when Taco Bell actually thought wait for it inside the bun.
The Bell Beefer existed on the Taco Bell menu from the 1970s until — depending on the location — the 1990s. If you’re thinking, “That’s a sloppy joe! You know the old adage “Don’t order a steak at a seafood joint? I’m never going to get this taste of my mouth” to “prison riot starter.
The meat and toppings were actually fine, and in theory it should have worked without a hitch. But a combination of not enough turnover led to buns that sat around which likely led to the Bell Beefer exiting the menu. History books will write about that period in the 1990s when someone decided that bacon went on everything, and Taco Bell didn’t know that tacos aren’t included in “everything. You’ve probably heard of a BLT, but if this is your first day on the planet, welcome! A BLT is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. If you thought the idea of a BLT as a taco was kind of weird, then hold your horses. So it’s just a chicken burrito with bacon on it, and a ranch sauce that was either too overpowering or just not there.
Taco Bell learned their lesson and licked their wounds, never to return to the world of bacon again. If the “bacon” item didn’t work, and the “club” item didn’t work, maybe the problem was they needed to be together? In 2008, Taco Bell decided to give it a whirl and came up with the Bacon Club Chalupa. They marketed the item as a great way to pick up guys. Just like the chicken club burrito was just a chicken burrito, the Bacon Club Chalupa was just a freakin’ chicken chalupa.