When Taco Bell introduced their new Doritos Locos taco in 2012, they did more than fulfill the Doritos-flavored fantasies of millions of hungry stoners—they also singlehandedly created 15,000 jobs. The chip and taco combo was responsible for “the biggest launch in Taco Bell history,” as Taco Bell sold over 375 million Doritos Locos tacos in the U.S. alone and made plans to add over 2,000 new American stores in the next ten years to handle customer demand. The massive surge in sales meant that Taco Bell had higher growth rates than fast food giants KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s, despite big industry complaints that federal regulations inhibit growth and prevent job creation.

The United States currently leads the world in both fast food consumption and total public debt, so it makes a weird kind of sense that the solution to American financial woes would come wrapped in Doritos and stuffed with cheese and sour cream. Probably won’t do much to solve the nationwide obesity epidemic (sorry Michelle Obama), but hey, tacos can’t solve every problem. Just the most urgent ones. Like munchies.

H/T + PicThnx  Daily Mail

Erika GrantTwitterFacebook

Erika Grant is an Orange County native in a long-distance relationship with the Bay Area. She's enthusiastic about all things vegan/vegetarian, has cheese dreams on the regular that make it difficult to commit to the vegan lifestyle, and gets obscenely excited about avocados in anything.