Has Taco Bell Fallen Victim To Price Inflation?

For several months, ongoing supply chain issues and increased ingredient costs have caused many chains to raise fast-food menu prices across the board. However, a Reddit post showing the prices at one Washington Taco Bell has some fast-food fans worried that inflation may have gone too far.

It all began when user @Eruionmel shared a photo of their receipt from a recent Taco Bell visit with the caption, "I used to go here between my day job and evening job. Came back post pandemic and got hit with this. Nope. 2 burritos and a drink. $21. Never again." There's no exaggeration here; the screenshot confirms they paid a whopping $4.99 for a bean burrito, $3.59 for a medium drink, and $9.99 for a chicken burrito supreme.

Fellow Taco Bell fans quickly flooded the comments in complete disbelief at what they were seeing. "$10 for a burrito ... S*** must be made of gold," declared one user. Another tried to make light of the situation by yearning for the old days, "I remember when "dude, I spent $10 at Taco Bell" was a flex." Others insisted the prices had to be a mistake. "Bro a bean burrito generally costs like $1.39 or something you got finessed. Or this Taco Bell is literally in a NFL stadium," wrote one user.

So, what's the deal? Are we nearing the final days of Taco Bell being the last budget-friendly food haven?

Before you freak out about having to ration your future bean burrito order, consider this. The Redditor who shared their receipt confirmed the Taco Bell location they visited was near a major tourist attraction in Seattle, which is one of the most expensive cities in the country, per The Seattle Times. As one commenter pointed out, this detail could explain why the original poster paid an extra inflated price for their food. "It's purely your location. Unfortunate how increased they are in high traffic areas like this," they wrote.

On Taco Bell's mobile ordering site, the total cost of the same items at locations in Los Angeles and in Chicago were $10.42 and $11.52, respectively. So that costly chicken burrito supreme may just be a Seattle thing.

Of course, this doesn't mean prices haven't gone up at other locations. A scroll through the Taco Bell subReddit reveals multiple complaints from customers around the U.S. bemoaning the increased prices, along with supposed evidence of shrinkflation via the Taco Bell Crunchwraps. In fact, per Business Insider, between summer of 2020 and 2021, Taco Bell raised its prices overall by about 10% — higher than any other fast-food chain during that same period. So in short, yes, prices have gone up, but much you'll pay for your chicken burrito really depends on where you are. (If you're concerned, Mashed has some tips for how you can stretch your money at Taco Bell.)