First-of-its-Kind Taco Bell Concept Approved for Brooklyn Park

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way restaurants do business. Taco Bell now wants to build a new, experimental concept in Brooklyn Park.

The Brooklyn Park City Council approved the plans this week.

“There’s not a playbook available for this concept,” said Barb Schneider, chief development officer with Border Foods.

The Taco Bell will have four drive-through lanes to better meet the growing demand for app-based ordering. Designed similar to a drive-through at a bank, customers receive their food dropped down from a kitchen above through a dumbwaiter-type device. The new building will be two stories and 35 feet in height. While it also allows customers to order from a counter inside the building, there would be no dine-in service.

Brooklyn Park City Planner Cindy Sherman describes the building design as “different from anything we’ve seen.”

Design rendering of new Taco Bell concept

The building will go up on 5900 block of 94th Avenue North, just to the west of multi-tenant retail that includes Chipotle, Jersey Mike’s and Sport Clips. Groundbreaking is scheduled for May with a possible opening in late summer or early fall. The location would be the third Taco Bell in Brooklyn Park.

Schneider anticipates this location will have more employees than a traditional Taco Bell.

“We will have an overabundance of staff to adequately service folks,” she said.

You can review the plans that went before the Planning Commission here.

Executive Producer Corey Bork contributed to this report.

Brooklyn Park