New Taco Bell in Brooklyn Park is first with two stories, four lanes and two-minute promise

A new Taco Bell in Brooklyn Park is set to revolutionize the drive-through experience, with the potential to deliver chili cheese burritos and Mexican pizzas to customers in two minutes.

The "Taco Bell Defy" that opened last week offers four drive-through lanes, with one offering traditional service and three reserved for mobile customers and third-party delivery services.

"It's really an industry game-changing experience," said Lee Engler, CEO of Minnesota-based Border Foods, which operates the outlet at 5931 94th Ave. N.

Taco Bell drive-through times average around four minutes. But technology coupled with a bigger kitchen and more staff are speeding that up at Taco Bell Defy, said Engler, who led a media tour Monday.

Mobile customers can order via Taco Bell's app and the kitchen receives it within 45 seconds. Instead of pulling up to an order window, customer pull into lanes where they can scan their order code at a screen and then pull forward to a "vertical lift" where their food is delivered. The delivery experience resembles pulling into a bank or pharmacy drive-thru.

Technology such as digital check-in screens for mobile order customers' unique QR codes and two-way audio and video technology service to talk to employees in the second-floor kitchen is expected to start appearing at other locations nationwide.

Border Foods operates 230 Taco Bells in the Upper Midwest and is looking into retrofitting some of its other locations into the Defy concept.

The Taco Bell Defy concept takes twice as many workers and twice the equipment, but it can serve two to three times the number of customers, Engler said.

The second-floor kitchen offers four food prep lines vs. two in the traditional model. A "quarterback" makes sure the orders are correct before they are delivered to customers via the lifts.

Engler concedes that hiring is "tough" given today's workforce shortage but said that Border Foods focuses on offering career paths as an incentive for employees.

One thing customers won't find at the Taco Bell Defy is indoor seating. Border Foods has found that 90% of its customers use drive-through only vs. around 65% before the pandemic. That pattern from the pandemic has become a habit, though customers who prefer to go inside can order in a lobby.

Taco Bell has licensed the technology from Vertical Works, a Minneapolis-based agency that created the design experience with an aim to be fast, easy and contactless.

"This design and technology solution is well timed to be used in other industries besides drive-through service at restaurants," said Josh Hanson, co-founder of Minneapolis-based Vertical Works.