The fast-food chain brought back the beloved menu item, then it went away again, but it’s more complicated than that.
As those of us who have a fond passion for Taco Bell’s (YUM) – Get Yum! Brands Inc. Report Mexican Pizza already know, what was once a reliable staple on that menu has suddenly become quite elusive the last few years.
First Taco Bell removed it from the menu in 2020, citing the packaging as the reason why and saying it was not eco-friendly. It attempted to comfort those who had enjoyed the Mexican Pizza for the prior 35 years and change by saying that the elimination would aid Taco Bell in contributing less waste to the environment.
Then in 2021, after a series of fan-led petitions begging the chain to bring it back, Taco Bell announced (by way of so-hot-right-now rapper Doja Cat, no less) that the beloved pizza would be making a return (and in the exact same non eco-friendly box, strangely enough).
It came back in May, and most were thrilled to see it (there were some haters, of course, but when aren’t there?). And then, before the month was up, signs of it going out of stock at many restaurants were quickly followed by a formal announcement that the Mexican Pizza was going away again because, as Taco Bell put it, “demand was more than seven times what it was the last time it was on our menu.”
So the Mexican Pizza is gone again. Well, mostly, that is.
Taco Bell
Which Taco Bell Has Mexican Pizza?
While most Taco Bell locations have run out of the ingredients necessary to make the Mexican Pizza, not all of them have.
And while you could just drive from location to location in your own town trying to figure out which Taco Bell has Mexican Pizza, it’s most likely that you’d come back disappointed and empty-handed.
That’s where fan enthusiasm enters the picture. Amit Tallapragada, a San Jose-based software engineer and longtime Mexican Pizza fan, understood the suffering involved with a fruitless search for this lunch favorite.
So, Tallapragada created a simple website called the Mexican Pizza Locator. It works by plugging in your zip code to track the Taco Bell locations in your area.
If a location still has the Mexican Pizza, it’s marked by a little pizza slice icon, whereas if it doesn’t, it has a little crying emoticon (which is pretty much how most people feel about its absence).
Tallapragada told TheStreet that when the Mexican Pizza came back, it was sold out in all the restaurants near him–which made him consider the idea of how to help other folks find the coveted food item.
“Much like many other fans, I really wanted one!” he said. “Luckily I was able to reverse-engineer the way Taco Bell shows if the Mexican Pizza is available at a particular store. After I figured out how to do this, I thought it would be cool if I could make a tracker anyone could use. I worked on a project similar to this in the past so I was able to leverage some of my work from there to quickly build this tracker!”
Not only did Tallapragada’s handy tool help a lot of Mexican Pizza seekers, but he found additional inspiration from it too.
“Doing both of these projects has shown me that there’s a lot of demand for finding stock of limited edition fast food items,” he said. “This realization led me to start working on a new app that lets you locate limited edition fast food items from any fast food restaurant in your city!”
As for Tallapragada’s own Taco Bell faves aside from the Mexican Pizza, he says there’s one he misses most of all.
“This is a tough one, but I think the one I miss the most is the XXL chalupa,” he said. “It was like a chalupa, but like, twice the size. But somehow it was still significantly more satisfying than just ordering two chalupas.”
Those impressed by Tallapragada’s thoughtfulness can click a button on the bottom of the Mexican Pizza Locator website and buy him a coffee, which is certainly well-deserved.
