Taco Bell to Cook up Breakfast Burritos

Taco Bell is largely responsible for the late-night snacking push across the
fast-food world as one of the first major chains to stay open into the wee hours
as late as 4 a.m. at most locations with its Fourthmeal menu. Now the
Mexican-style restaurant is looking to stay open so late that itll actually open
early. Taco Bell is introducing a breakfast menu at almost 800 restaurants . The
signature item? What else a breakfast burrito. According to top marketers at
Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM ) the corporate parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and
other fast-food brands the chain hopes breakfast burritos will be cooking up
nationwide by the start of 2014. But the first offerings are actually cooking up
this morning, mostly in about a dozen Western states. Those lucky Firstmeal menu
states include California, Arizona and Colorado. Breakfast hours start at 8 or 9
a.m., depending on location, and wind down at 11 a.m. Whats being served?
Actually, some very impressive brands fill out the menu, including Johnsonville
sausage, Tropicana orange juice, Cinnabon sweets and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX )
Seattles Best coffee. Diners can order a 99-cent sausage or bacon-and-egg
burrito or a $2.79 Grande Skillet Burrito with all the works. Or make them a
combo with hash browns. The move into breakfast shouldnt surprise anyone.
McDonalds (NYSE: MCD ) has long been the standard bearer of fast-food breakfast,
with some estimates pegging as much as 25% of sales for the Golden Arches coming
from Egg McMuffins and morning coffees. That makes it a big breakfast target. In
2010, Burger King completely revamped its menu to get into the a.m. action, with
the new BK breakfast menu boasting an upscale cibatta sandwich . And Subway has
been doing its darnedest to establish a breakfast following. Taco Bells push may
spark curiosity, but its very late entry makes it questionable whether sales
will find traction. Its harder to lose money on breakfast, since eggs are much
cheaper than beef and veggies these days, but that doesnt mean Taco Bell has
found a cash cow. Its also worth noting that Taco Bell has been revamping much
more than just breakfast. The company actually just launched items for its
standard menu that are meant to appeal to fast-food consumers focused on fresh
options . Yum Brands will offer its next regular profit report on Feb. 6, so
well see whether developments like these have helped the company keep up its
streak of increasing sales. Yum has posted seven straight quarters of
year-over-year growth. Will the roll-out of Taco Bell breakfast help keep sales
momentum strong? Maybe, maybe not. But its certainly a reasonable strategy to
grow Taco Bells customer base. Much more reasonable, say, than a recent
harebrained scheme at Burger King to launch home burger delivery . Jeff Reeves
is the editor of InvestorPlace.com. Write him at editor@investorplace​​.com
, follow him on Twitter via @JeffReevesIP and become a fan of InvestorPlace on
Facebook . Jeff Reeves holds a position in Alcoa, but no other publicly traded
stocks.