Taco Bell Previews the Dark Future of Public Dining

Published on Wednesday, July 13, 2011, by James Norton / Edit Post

According to Nation's Restaurant News, Taco Bell "will add an in-store entertainment network and free Wi-Fi at all of its more than 5,600 U.S.
locations by 2015."

This puts the restaurant in the mix with other in-store "entertainment" network providers including Hooters, Applebee's, Chili's, and some Jack in the Box and Wendy's franchises.

It also raises a question: Will there come a day when audible TV screens become a feature of dining across the board, from fast food to sports bars to hotel restaurants to fine dining locations? If NBA basketball and Ke$ha videos work at Jack in the Box or Hooters, why shouldn't Wagner's Ring Cycle or cricket matches work at Per Se or Masa? Public tolerance of yakking can only rise as eight-year-olds tote smartphones and video entertainment becomes increasingly intrinsic to education.

The follow-up question: Would such a TV screen explosion at restaurants in general be the end of civilization, or merely the beginning of a new one?

Image source: Flickr member erikmarcus under Creative Commons
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POST A COMMENT |27 Comments

COMMENT

  • Excuse me, Taco Hell, mine tastes better.

  • It's not the TVs at Taco Bell I mind. It's the TVs at the gym. Being forced to watch Oprah while adding calories somehow makes sense. Having to do so while trying to get rid of them is society-imposed cruelty, a la "A Clockwork Orange."

  • This is nothing new. Some McDonald's already have TV's in the dining rooms. To their credit they don't have the audio turned up, some just leave them on news channels and mute the sound.

  • The only TV sets in Italy are found in bars and pubs- and they get turned on so people can watch the game. TV in eateries are obnoxious!!! Dinner should be a social, relaxing and enjoyable experience...I don't want to feel like I am at a noisy train station when I am eating!!!

  • TVs in Taco Bell don't signal a future - they are the present. At least in New York, if the restaurant has entrees in the 11-20 buck range, you can count on at least one set. It's obnoxious, and a giant red flag, as in "we're hoping these reruns of Alf distract you from our shitty food."

  • Who knows if TVs in Taco Bell will start yet another revolution in terrible eating habits. I suspect that the TVs won't draw new customers into Taco Bell restaurants, it will just excite the population that is already gross and already goes there. So, those patrons will continue getting grosser (socially and healthwise too), while the rest of the world still sees all that as unpleasant. There has...+READ

    Who knows if TVs in Taco Bell will start yet another revolution in terrible eating habits. I suspect that the TVs won't draw new customers into Taco Bell restaurants, it will just excite the population that is already gross and already goes there. So, those patrons will continue getting grosser (socially and healthwise too), while the rest of the world still sees all that as unpleasant. There has to be somewhere where regular people can go out to eat without cell phone zombies sitting at every table, right? .... Right?!-COLLAPSE

  • the dark future is fat and getting fatter. "you're out. you're hungry. you're doin' fourthmeal." volcano nachos and a 40 oz pepsi: a mere 1460 calories. it's the taco bell version of "i've got type 2 diabetes, and i'm lovin' it!" way to go TB! You're making the Colonel proud!

  • The Food Sucks....they'll try anything to keep the doors open

  • People have been complaining about the end of civilization since the beginning of civilization.

  • My guess is that certain segments of the industry, particularly places like Taco Bell - where a major percentage of people order food to go or via drive thru - are interested in keeping people around longer. Does anyone currently spend more than 20 minutes inside a Taco Bell if they go there? If they have space, use it.

    From a business perspective, it's often better/more profitable to get...+READ

    My guess is that certain segments of the industry, particularly places like Taco Bell - where a major percentage of people order food to go or via drive thru - are interested in keeping people around longer. Does anyone currently spend more than 20 minutes inside a Taco Bell if they go there? If they have space, use it.

    From a business perspective, it's often better/more profitable to get current customers to spend more money than to get new ones in the doors. If that $7, 20-minute lunch customer decides to watch a game for 3 hours and eats another $7 in food/drink, then you've doubled profits. It doesn't sound impressive, but multiply that by daily visitors and it's really significant money.

    One chain that's current a Wall Street favorite is Buffalo Wild Wings, who just reported a 26% growth in earnings. In the current economy, getting double digit growth from a consumer-driven business is amazing. To me, they were always a place to eat hot wings. But they've seemingly turned their business into a destination/sports bar experience.-COLLAPSE

  • Makes me proud that one of the two Taco Bells in my town just closed!

  • Just another chapter in the "dumbing down" of America, ask anyone who is glued to one of the screens in these joints what they just saw and they probably won't be able to tell you. Lights are on but nobody's home.

  • eat a homemade taco with your lovers

  • It would be the end of civilization. Cell phones are already doing a pretty good job. Verplanck, my friend has the same problem, I always have to insist on taking the seat facing the tv if we end up some place with one, or his eyes cannot help being drawn to the screen over and over. And then there are the places with multiple tvs. /sigh. Remember, a lot of times it is the employees and owners...+READ

    It would be the end of civilization. Cell phones are already doing a pretty good job. Verplanck, my friend has the same problem, I always have to insist on taking the seat facing the tv if we end up some place with one, or his eyes cannot help being drawn to the screen over and over. And then there are the places with multiple tvs. /sigh. Remember, a lot of times it is the employees and owners that want the tvs on so they shouldn't get bored. Once my friend and I spent mucho bux on lunch at a pricey but small gelato place only to have the owner turn on the tv to watch his favorite afternoon show practically on top of us. He knew it was bothering us but he just didn't care. TV is addicting.-COLLAPSE

  • Given that Taco Bell isn't really a "restaurant", I don't see what the fuss is. It's not like anyone with standards eats there anyway. People are voluntarily subjecting themselves to this, remember? They deserve what they get.

  • Free WIFI yes but TV no it would distract me and what's on is not neccessarily what I want to watch. I imagine also the Media output would be used to host ads which make diners a a captive audience, not nice.
    Perhaps this is to discourage Laptop/Smartphone use and independent tailoring of Media output to tastes/requirements hence more ad avoidance.
    One does not wish to have more ads than is...+READ

    Free WIFI yes but TV no it would distract me and what's on is not neccessarily what I want to watch. I imagine also the Media output would be used to host ads which make diners a a captive audience, not nice.
    Perhaps this is to discourage Laptop/Smartphone use and independent tailoring of Media output to tastes/requirements hence more ad avoidance.
    One does not wish to have more ads than is strictly neccessary doesn't one and certainly not in Dining environs whatever the type of food on offer.-COLLAPSE

  • I can think of only one outcome: regular announcements to please return your seats to the vertical position and secure your seatbelts.

  • I think I'm more alarmed by that NEW! Bigger is Better! thing depicted on the window.

  • Is this really where we're headed? Awful!! There's already a lack of communication between adults and children, but then again, if you're taking your kids to Taco Bell every night, that would be the bigger issue.. I guess it's ok, in moderation. ;)
    And I don't think it would wind up in Fine Dining, that wouldn't fly.

  • Given the hundreds of billions of dollars in the segment of the economy that depends on capturing and selling your attention, I think it's inevitable, although not by 2015. People under 30 who grew up with electronic media don't seem to think anything of it having audio and video coming at them from all sides. They actually seem to enjoy it.

  • *Demolition Man, not Judge Dredd. Your mixing up your Stallone dystopia films.

  • Truman, I thought the same thing... I just... didn't want to admit.. that "All resturants are Taco Bell." >_

  • Anyone remember the scene in "Judge Dredd" (yes, I admit to having watched parts of it) where the newly defrosted Sylvester Stallone is taken out to a fancy dinner at Taco Bell? Sandra Bullock's character explains that TB was the only survivor of the Restaurant Wars...

  • Honestly at a Taco Bell who would be able to hear it already over the racket? I don't think tvs will be an issue at fine dining restaurants.. or at least Per Se.. I think Thomas Keller would go apocalyptic on the person who suggested such a thing. Yeesh. If I want to go to a sports bar, I go to a sports bar.

  • Great- extraneous media already drove me away from major league baseball games (well, along with the strikes). Maybe this explains why so many diners these days want to go sit in the middle of the sidewalk.

  • They already blare music at us, usually awful. How is this so different?

  • it would be the end of me dining out. I can't stand bars with TVs in them, let alone restaurants. My eyes are constantly drawn to the glowing box, no matter what's on (antiques roadshow, cops, basketball, etc.)

    thankfully in my hometown, there are plenty of local places that will never pollute their barrooms/dining rooms with television.