Taco Bell is getting rid of selling kids meals, the first fast food chain to make this move. The elimination of the meals will begin starting in January, the company said on Monday.
“As we continue our journey of being a better, more relevant Taco Bell, kid's meals and toys simply no longer make sense for us to put resources behind," Greg Creed, CEO of Taco Bell, announced in a statement, AdAge reports.
"What does make sense is concentrating on expanding choices that meet and exceed the diverse needs of consumers of all ages, without losing focus on what makes us great today."
Taco Bell says their target audience is the late teenager to mid-20s aged customer, so offering a kids meal isn’t necessary. They said their overall sales of kids meals totaled .05% of its total sales. McDonald’s kids meals, in comparison, make up about 10% of sales.
Reynolds Center notes nutrition experts and child advocate groups have long targeted fast food chains as using toys to market fast food to children. When Jack in the Box got rid of their kids meals two years ago, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said in a press release, “We hope that McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Taco Bell are paying attention to Jack in the Box, which has decided to stop using toys to market fast-food meals to children."