Taco Bell boss Greg Creed hints at new Mexican food wave in Australia

A NEW wave of Mexican fast food stores could be headed to Australia. The CEO of US giant Taco Bell yesterday hinted at a renewed push into the Australian food market.

Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed. Picture: Erika Fish

A NEW wave of Mexican fast food stores could be headed to Australia.

The CEO of US giant Taco Bell – Queenslander Greg Creed – yesterday hinted at a renewed push into the Australian food market.

Mr Creed is set to become the global CEO of Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut. The company reported more than $A13.8 billion in revenue last year.

Speaking at Tuesday’s QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards in Brisbane, the 57-year-old admitted he was surprised how much food trends in Australia and, particularly Brisbane, had changed.

“It’s really a world class food scene … whether it’s fast food, quick casual food or even fine dining, there’s really been a renaissance of food in Brisbane. I think it’s fantastic,” the former MacGregor State High School student told The Courier-Mail.

“Mexican food, which wasn’t (widely) available five years ago, is now available. There’s obviously always been a lot of Asian food, but I’m really just blown away by the quality of food and restaurants that I’ve had a chance to visit while I’ve been here. So you should never say never (to Taco Bell re-entering Australia).”

The popular Mexican fast food brand, which has nearly 6000 restaurants across the US, has attempted to crack the Australian market in the past – most recently in Sydney until 2005 – but struggled to gain a foothold.

It also fell into trouble over a clash of names with a Sydney diner called Taco Bell’s Casa in the 1980s.

Its current rivals would include Guzman y Gomez, which now has 42 Australian outlets including 13 in Queensland, and Taco Bill, which has 34 restaurants in Victoria and one in NSW.

Mr Creed, who was named the 2014 QUT Outstanding Alumnus of the Year, suggested Australia could be part of Yum! Brands’ strong push into Asia.

“I don’t see why not. It’s a very developed market. We have an amazing KFC business here, probably one of the best KFC businesses in the world, which I worked on 20 years ago and it’s still a world class business,” he said.

“I do think there’s opportunities as we look at other brands. In the US we’re about to launch a product called US Taco Co. It’s a quick casual Mexican chain, we’re going to open our first store at Huntington Beach (California) next week.

“So I think there are lots of opportunities. There’s no timetable, there’s no agenda, but … it (Australia) is a very successful country for us and maybe one day there’ll be Taco Bell.”

Mr Creed becomes Yum! Brands CEO in January.