2018 Taco Bell Menu Madness by ChiliCheese.org
Yesterday, March 13, 2018, ChiliCheese.org launched the 2018 Taco Bell Menu Madness tournament. To learn more about who ChiliCheese.org is and what they do, please read my article here.
Similar to March Madness (the NCAA Men's Division Basketball Tournament), this bracket tournament pits 32 of the most popular Taco Bell menu items against each other for fans to vote on their favorite. Each round lasts one week with the championship round ending on April 2, 2018. In the first round you see very exciting match-ups like the 5-Layer Burrito vs. the 7-Layer Burrito, the Chalupa Supreme vs. Crunchwrap Supreme, and of course the Chili Cheese Burrito vs. the Double Tostada. We had a chance to ask Steve Gomez from ChiliCheese.org some questions about this event and here is the word for word interview:
What inspired you guys to create this Menu Madness?
"We knew that we wanted to create two or three annually recurring campaigns to help spread awareness of the Chili Cheese Burrito, but since re-launching the ChiliCheese.org Web site last fall, we hadn't gotten far with the initiative. About a week ago, Emma [also from ChiliCheese.org] noticed a Twitter post where someone was doing a fast food bracket game and she proposed the idea to the group. We all thought it would be fun to try it solely for Taco Bell items, to help find the 2018 Taco Bell "fan favorite"."
How long has this been in the works?
"Honestly, only for about a week. Emma proposed the idea on Monday, March 5th and we started working on it Tuesday, March 6th, during our time off."
What kind of work/research went into creating the Menu Madness?
"A bulk of the work was creating the database, coding the site, and creating the scripts that we'd eventually use to tally the votes and close each round. We divided the research work and selection of items from the Taco Bell Website into the initial groupings, referring to the LivingMas.com/@Bell_IsLife survey as fallback. (We did hit a small hiccup when Taco Bell re-launched their new Web site nationwide and we had to go back and update all of the images to the new look.)
Most of the “real work” was done by Friday, March 9th and we spent the weekend in a few Google Hangouts narrowing down the contestants and refining the groups. On Saturday we began DM'ing some prominent members of the Taco Bell fan base, as well as Taco Bell corporate, soliciting feedback."
He then stated that ChiliCheese.org has not yet heard back from Taco Bell corporate, but has seen multiple hits from Taco Bell in their analytics reports.
What are your goals/what do you hope to accomplish with this?
"The goal of Menu Madness is to [un-scientifically] determine Taco Bell's single fan-favorite menu item of 2017/2018. We're under no delusions that the Chili Cheese Burrito will make it very far against so many other good and popular choices, but it is a great opportunity to help spread awareness of the plight of the Chili Cheese Burrito while promoting conversation about Taco Bell's other great menu items."
Where does this play into the Chili Cheese vision and what can we expect in the future from ChiliCheese.Org?
"We're working through the conceptual stages and technical feasibility of another campaign to run in the fall, possibly in collaboration with other Taco Bell fan groups and "Bring it back" movements. Once we get the concept nailed down a little more we're going to be reaching out to the other groups to see which ones would like to participate, or if anyone else has a campaign on which we can help."
Since my interview with Steve, the 2018 Menu Madness has achieved over 12,000 votes for its first round, which ends on March 19, 2018. There is plenty of time to vote so make sure to visit https://chilicheese.org/TacoBellMenuMadness/ .