Why It Took 13 Years to Engineer The Taco Bell Crunchwrap

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Video written by Ben Doyle
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[@RealEngineering]

My lawyers will be in touch

[@wecluse]

Wait that wasn’t you???

[@aniquee8281]

Uh oh

[@randomizer3024]

Trolled

[@backwashjoe7864]

You need to do the second half of the cross-over series now, with a HAI title and thumbnail. :)

[@ticron]

Brian's next video: The Insane Engineering of Bricks

[@avinashbinand9272]

Randomly cutting to Ben doing ungodly things to pseudo-mexican food is the funniest thing

[@coolbrotherf127]

He's just an embodiment of the spirit of Taco Bell.

[@deleted-something]

Fr

[@kikokusy9974]

​@@coolbrotherf127 "spirit of taco bell" sounds like the shittiest Carnival cruises cruise ship

[@coolbrotherf127]

@@kikokusy9974 Now instead of unrefrigerated shrimp you'd get diarrhea from the almost real meat.

[@thomasrinschler6783]

@@kikokusy9974 You only get to visit really cheap and unauthentic Mexican ports on those cruises...

[@namenamename390]

The title and thumbnail made me believe this was a Real Engineering video, so I was kinda surprised to hear Sam's voice lol

[@NotAmira_]

haha i thought the same too lol

[@afh7689]

Same here

[@lucasglowacki4683]

Yeah…I expected an Irish accent🙄

[@mattcook6868]

Omg you ruined the surprise I was thinking the same thing till I saw your comment at the top before the ad ended

[@somedayitsgonnamakesense]

oh my god, i didnt even noticed the thumbnail

[@sagemorrison8228]

Ben was extremely in-character in this video and I'd very much like to hear him defend himself against that accusation in the next Layover Podcast

[@JatPhenshllem]

Layover?

[@jma89]

​@@JatPhenshllem The Layover is a podcast on Nebula regarding the Jet Lag game series

[@JatPhenshllem]

@@jma89 Oh, right, thanks :)

[@CopyableOak]

Ben drinking on the job? What is the world coming to, next you'll be telling me he's gotten drunk on the job before.

[@Chrischi4598]

Multiple times!

[@adog3129]

oh that was in the small part i saw

[@deleted-something]

Ye

[@TheBaxes]

While recording himself!

[@CameronReape]

I have ben

[@HeisenbergFam]

4:27 "cannot believe Ohio ruined this for the rest of us" Ohio's ability to disappoint people is a talent

[@ku8721]

Hey they have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and uhhh.... Well I'm sure they have something else cool... OH they have produced more Astronauts than any other state, including but not limited to: John Glenn, Jim Lovell and Neil Armstrong! But Walt would have known that.

[@carltonleboss]

Neil Armstrong was from Ohio? No wonder he wanted to be on the Moon.

[@bobchan1666]

@@ku8721 and LeBron

[@Dirty_Orange_Cup]

@@ku8721 Also some of the best theme parks in the world surprisingly enough

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Grew up in Ohio. Can confirm. I came back after several years away, and found that the Mason-Dixon line appears to have been moved up into Lake Erie, considering how many Confederate Jacks are flying in that state, now.

[@Dirty_Orange_Cup]

Living in one of the test markets the Croissant Taco was tested in, Ben's iteration may have been fire but Taco Bell's was mid at best

[@jasonblalock4429]

I'm a little surprised they even tested it, since the croissant would be an expensive component to add to their ingredient list. I imagine they went as cheap as possible with it.

[@alexcisneros2980]

Your mom was mid but still worth it. 🙇

[@eredris]

​@@alexcisneros2980 sickkkk

[@klausstock8020]

​@@alexcisneros2980 I shouldn't upvote this. I mean...I shouldn't have upvoted this.

[@kpetree10]

I lived in Toledo when the Doritos Taco was being tested. They ran strange ads that vaguely seemed like a Taco Bell ad but with 1/8 the budget that said things like "Hey Toledo, try the new doritos taco or nobody else will get it" and "Your purchase will help shape the future Taco Bell menu." Regardless, I tried it, I liked it, and now it's here to stay... or not, Taco Bell likes randomly taking things away (I'm looking at you rolled chicken tacos.)

[@northstarjakobs]

rip the cool ranch dorito taco, I loved it and now it's gone forever...

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

​@@northstarjakobs And likewise RIP to the fiery locos tacos. Delicious

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Fkin nacho fries coming and going quarterly it seems lol

[@magenlin]

Bro my Taco Bell doesn't have regular tostadas anymore I don't know if it's an everywhere thing. I have to order a hard taco with refried beans which is actually pretty good

[@zuglymonster]

I miss rolled chicken tacos so much

[@TheAnonymousMrGreen]

Crossover from Drunk Ben! My favorite Jet Lag character

[@AliJ5533]

It took me until seeing this comment to remember that Jet Lag Ben and HAI Ben are the same Ben. That makes these antics way funnier. On that note, I am eagerly awaiting the day we get a Jet Lag series featuring HAI Amy.

[@revcrussell]

The selection of a test market can be a bit more complicated. Usually they target more conservative areas because if that is the worst-case area for adoption of something new. They also like to target isolated market areas so adoption data is better.

[@adog3129]

wait, really? you're telling me that something in a half as interesting video was... oversimplified?

[@adog3129]

oh yeah, didn't conservative areas kill new coke?

[@revcrussell]

@@adog3129 Ha, good point.

[@TimHunold]

Taco Bell rotates on 30-60-90 day intervals for things to keep it fresh and try to get customer loyalty since burger joints are the super familiar same old stuff. I worked at their Irvine ad agency for a couple years. That's why Nacho Fries keep coming and going. The one item we kicked off that never stayed or returned was the chicken bacon ranch chalupa/gordita thing.

[@antiseth3964]

I beg of you, please, for the love of all things good, make the cool ranch and fire dorito tacos come back. I miss those so much.

[@TimHunold]

@@antiseth3964 I feel like the Doritos were stale taco shells before they even got packaged

[@billthompson9092]

So, what inhuman monster is responsible for the removal of the double-decker taco from the menu? That person should be jailed, and the unjustice they perpetrated on the TB customer base should be reversed immediately!

[@alexcisneros2980]

So fking true. Your mom will be hot then cold. She will be yes then no. She'll let me in then make me pull out. Keep demand up and supply low. 😞

[@polishhammer1992]

It's actually the reason I don't eat at taco bell. They always coincidentally don't have the item I crave like nacho fries leaving me very frustrated

[@oOBoomBox]

Ben's struggles is probably one of the greatest topics you ever talked about

[@mattsnyder4754]

As a proud Toledoan, I really need you guys to trust us on the crossiant taco. It was not the move. Neither was the late 2000 run of breakfast items. You can thank us for the Doritos Locos. You can trust us for the stuff we protected you from.

[@girhen]

You had one? Was it just a case of an idea that could be good, but their execution was subpar?

[@mattsnyder4754]

@@girhen pretty much yeah. The croissant somehow managed to be hard and soggy at the same time. Biggest problem with TB Breakfast was that it took them a long time to figure out how to do eggs at a reasonably good quality. That’s what really killed all of their early breakfast ventures.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

And what, what are foods only blue collar workers eat?

[@justinbevier8231]

But the breakfast crunchwrap is fire.

[@SamPhoenix_]

Only Ben can go out to get fast food and get drunk. Ben, never change. We love you

[@drpeper6471]

My mom use to work doing this for a different company, and it was delicious when she do testing. Espically when they were testing steaks. Though she did more consumer testing and less professional testing

[@I_SEE_RED]

She tested more than tacos (LOL!!)

[@Fs3i]

I like the writers featuring more by name in the HAI videos, especially now 2(ish, I know adam is mostly jet lag now) have faces, and the 3rd is Amy. Makes the channel feel more personal, which I like

[@donaswa]

Those shots of classic Taco Bell have shattered my nostalgic heart.

[@sudokode]

I don't care how long it took them to create it. It takes me about 30 seconds to inhale this marvel. We salute you, fiesta engineers!

[@BBWahoo]

Juicy boi

[@Tarkov.]

That was the best 15 second intro to a youtube video I've ever seen. Bravo, Ben.

[@ЭнрикеЧурин]

You're reading my mind.

[@artielikesthings]

We all need to know where Ben gets his outfits from. I speak for everyone when I say I want those pants.

[@jars555]

Just search for "clown costume"

[@paulmccartney2327]

Of course the anime avatar wants to get inside people's pants

[@mangos2888]

I also noted those discreet pants 😂

[@Alguien644]

They look kinda gay ngl

[@cicada.and.pomegranate]

Ben eating a Crunchwrap and getting drunk is just a cut Jet Lag challenge that they decided to reuse.

[@romulusnr]

The Dorito Loco Taco story is equally amazing to read, and how close it came to failure

[@TriglycerideBeware]

4:57 CRUNCHWRAP 2 CONFIRMED??!?

[@votekyle3000]

Oh god you gave Ben permission to drink on the job again. I think he actually has a problem.

[@49Ibanez]

Love the Real Engineering parody thumbnail

[@thomasdelbert]

Came here to say just that. It’s one of my favourite KZbin channels.

[@pey.l]

i am a big fan of ben and amy as recurring characters in hai videos

[@danielx555]

As I ate a Crunchwrap Supreme yesterday (substituting black beans for beef) I found myself actually wondering how they made it. I've eaten a bunch of these in my life. They really are an engineering marvel.

[@silasdietrich7464]

The ad at the end is actually really useful 82 companies down 60ish more to go and spam calls have nearly gone away

[@Shiestey]

Crunch wraps are so clutch with their design. I’ve eaten sooo many of them simply because I can hold it while driving, and I’m in the car a lot. Whoever came up with that on their team hit a home run in my book.

[@Kraus-]

I still need two hands for a crunchwrap. One to hold it and one to add hot sauce to every bite.7

[@AViancourt]

Excuse me. It was bowling green Ohio , not Toledo Ohio. Because our Taco Bell was inbetween the dorms of BGSU , and the 25+ bars of downtown bg, our Taco Bell became one the highest grossing Taco Bell in the us , and therefore a test kitchen

[@nickwolfe483]

I like to imagine that the engineers unnecessarily wear hard hats like the stock footage.

[@AdelineDavis]

I'm impressed you got footage of Toledo. Good eye to detail

[@MetanoiaMan]

That breakfast crunchwrap really is a slam dunk

[@pyrotechnic96]

It's stupid good

[@Fools_Requiem]

With steak. The steak makes an already good item so much better

[@MetanoiaMan]

@@Fools_Requiem I'll need to try it, I always get sausage, and I don't care much for the bacon type. I always did like their steak though

[@TheSheiban]

The thumbnail had me thinking this was done by Real Engineering, then I saw that it was about the Crunchwrap and RE talks about aircraft, MRI machines, and other technical marvels... and it's not April 1st either...

[@AndrewPonti]

Thank God the real MVP of all the vids, Amy, came over and saved Ben.

[@AliJ5533]

As a European, I am in awe of the sponsor being a subscription service to essentially just have GDPR protections.

[@RoyalPear]

this was truly half as interesting

[@limjiaan4512]

The real royalpear 😮

[@limjiaan4512]

I'm ur first and second comment

[@Lev3759Mc]

Wait RoyalPear watches HAI?

[@cuddlemeheywoodu]

Interesting to hear about an apparently well-known food item for the first time in my life in a Half as Interesting video of all things! Definitely curious to try it out one day.

[@lordhater2]

Amy and Ben remind me of that “smart jerk and nice moron duo” TV trope lol

[@davidb2]

3:29 Amy coming in clutch for the channel AGAIN

[@TotalxTroll25k]

My favorite tacobell item ever was the crispy chicken quesadilla and it was so short lived while I was in highschool. No one ever remembers it but I got it every chance I had

[@dtheguy]

Dude really the best parts of the video are IRL videos of your writers just messing around. Dan has nice sense of humor with that taco croissant thing

[@vale.antoni]

0:07 Ben forgot for a second, that he isn't playing JetLag, and he doesn't have to be the team member that gets drunk for 25 credits

[@donovanphillips419]

I knew the Toledo bit was coming; we’ve got a Taco Bell on damn near every corner. And as a Toledoan I just want to say WE WANT THE VOLCANO MENU BACK.

[@sharpe3698]

So we're getting Ben drunk for HAI episodes now too?

[@IanDresarie]

this is probably my favourite HAI video ever. love the random Ben and Amy tidbits!

[@jocax188723]

It’s nice to know that Drunk Ben is still a menace even when he isn’t on Jet Lag.

[@lakshmivallabh6936]

0:50 I work there, Living In Irvine California, next to the recently burnt hangar

[@at_omic8578]

I love the parody thumbnail of Real Engineering ngl, very clever

[@Zambi75]

This is gonna be a top 10 most watched HAI video within a year… calling it now

[@bobfreds]

The thumbnail just makes me think the crunchwrap should be an April 1st Real Engineering video

[@alfred7846]

Amy yet again proving herself to be the backbone of this channel

[@quinnlovelost]

Ben's pants are really cool, wonder where he got them

[@dagoose.]

Hai never stops finding ways to piss off Real Engineering

[@edl5731]

I invented Mexican spaghetti in only a few minutes. Basically I was planning on making regular spaghetti but while looking for tomato sauce in the fridge I noticed the salsa and said to myself "I wonder how it would taste with salsa instead of tomato sauce." And it tastes much better that way. And Mexican spaghetti was born. Haven't made regular spaghetti since.

[@nahometesfay1112]

What were you using before? Salsa on spaghetti probably tastes good, but spaghetti is my favorite food so that's low key blasphemous. Still better than Prego/Ragu

[@joshcobi]

You’ve given me a lot to think about here

[@edl5731]

@@nahometesfay1112 Prego, Ragu, etc. Only thing I did was replace the jarred tomato sauce for jarred salsa.

[@dan_loeb]

@@edl5731 you should try finding a good sauce with lots of sliced garlic in it. or at least add some fresh garlic and tomato to the ragu if it's because ragu is so cheap. good pasta sauce typically runs like $6-10, ragu and prego are like $2 and change because it's just tomato paste water.

[@edl5731]

@@dan_loeb Yeah, the salsa is a little more expensive. And I use to add garlic and chopped onion to the jarred sauce. But....for a little bit more money. I can skip all work of cutting up onions and garlic and wind up with something that tastes even better.

[@mangos2888]

As someone in one of the test markets, getting some amazing creations and then having them disappear forever is truly heartbreaking.

[@alexanderkvenvolden4067]

If your other writer Amy can make a shell and not get burnt by it unlike Ben, shouldn't she get a chance to be on Jet Lag?

[@ЭнрикеЧурин]

I think the show needs to stay fair. Amy would beat anyone 100%, who wants to see that!

[@joshuakirkham9593]

Amy is growing in importance. The crunch of a taco.

[@daemon.mythos]

Swapping the Lettuce for Refried Beans makes it an entirely different experience.

[@mangos2888]

Never! The lettuce is essential 😂!

[@VaraNiN]

3:34 Not just from this vid, but... Amy = MVP JetLag when??

[@WeirdSeagul]

innovating at taco bell is easy. just slightly vary the exact same ingredients and you have a new item

[@miguelbarov2241]

Chale, and here I am in Mexico always eating my tacos with one hand. Taco bell be spending 13 years in research when they could've asked el don de los tacos how to cook one

[@jeffmorris5802]

I don't care what anyone says, the Naked Chicken Chalupa was, and forever will be, the best Taco Bell menu item ever created.

[@BirdRaiserE]

Wait a minute, Editor Ben's pants look suspiciously like some pants claimed to belong to whatshername the last time they did a staff joke

[@colinmurphy8222]

Taco Bell engineers: Spend over a decade perfecting the exact ingredients and their portions Stoned Taco Bell employee: Forgets the beef, adds an ocean of queso.

[@Alguien644]

Why not just say cheese?

[@colinmurphy8222]

@@Alguien644 Queso is the liquid cheese that also goes on a crunchwrap.

[@Alguien644]

@@colinmurphy8222 queso is just cheese in spanish

[@colinmurphy8222]

@@Alguien644 I know, but virtually every restaurant calls that melted cheese sauce queso so you'll have to take it up with them.

[@Alguien644]

@@colinmurphy8222 thats just nonsense

[@JamesGilbert_]

I cannot believe that Ben's kitchen abilites are that good. A true marvel.

[@hilleltulchin]

Wait, is Amy no longer your outside correspondant?

[@laurabowles]

Petition for Amy to team up with Ben and Adam on a future season of Jet Lag.

[@Heynmffc]

I know a propaganda piece when I see one.

[@lazerllamaz]

you need to do another "A machine wrote this video" video for 400 videos

[@singam7436]

Drunk Ben? But it's not even a season of Jet Lag! 0:11

[@TheRussell747]

Growing up in Toledo and getting to be a tester for the DLT was an experience im very happy to have had

[@OwlRTA]

Ben got drunk again lol

[@prettypic444]

The seasonly drunk ben is spilling over from jet lagged!

[@monasimp87]

Diarrhoea wrap

[@Bluemansonic]

4:24 all 3 of those sound incredible!

[@hiphopgrinch]

Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars. Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.

[@michealdrake3421]

Extra fun fact: The reason Toledo is used as a test city is because the demographic distributions in the city are almost exactly the same as those for the country as a whole, and the local geography means there aren't a lot of travelers and tourists. Bigger cities, while having larger populations, usually have demographic distributions wildly different from the national ones. They also tend to have lots of travelers and tourists, further muddying the numbers. Cities like Toledo are perfect for this kind of testing where demographics matter.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

And huh, he's implying there are foods mostly only eaten by blue collar people. What would those be?

[@alexabney7913]

Imagine trying to come up with new foods every years but with only 10 ingredients and it so has to be Mexican themed

[@Calebs_Aviation]

Great video Sam and the HAI team! Wow! I had no idea something we arbitrary and common as the Taco Bell Crunchwrap was so difficult to get right! Thank goodness they did also I didn’t know that Toledo OH tests new Taco Bell items, I know where I’m moving! 😂🎉 Also Why was this not a Real Engineering video or a collaboration between you and Brian?! What the heck Sam!

[@serjordan13]

Now I need a video explaining why they took the 7-layer burrito off the menu. That was by far my favorite item 😭

[@Fools_Requiem]

I want the regular gordita supreme back. I don't want this crunchy abomination they have now.

[@ChedWick05]

Oh man, I bet you guys would have loved to get your hands on the internal training and marketing videos for the Crunchwrap when it came out. I got my first fastfood job at Taco Bell right when the CrunchWrap came out. The videos we watched during orientation and training were golden. They were really pushing it, largest push for a new product they've had at the time. GD do I miss working there for fresh chalupas and chips straight out of the fryer. I also innovated the pocke-dilla A pocket sized chicken quesadilla taco wrap. Since we weren't allowed food on the line I would make 3 of them and put them in my chest pocket and snack during down time when no one was looking.

[@americansmark]

If you want try weird foods from restaurants, come to Columbus, Ohio. It is the test market for most restaurants.

[@evandotpro]

This is KZbin / Nebula creator satire at its finest. 😂 I genuinely thought the Nebula app had a bug mixing the video with the wrong creator for a second haha.

[@Т1000-м1и]

I feel proud of having heard about Milwaukee before

[@dmacpher]

Ah the good ol Franchise Wars from Demolition Man

[@JJJRRRJJJ]

Yeah yeah yeah, I saw “Conan Visits Taco Bell” too

[@KaiseruSoze]

And one Togo's #16 kicks their asses around 10 city blocks. Effortlessly.

[@reynochavier6297]

4:05 Toledo, Ohio! Come stay awhile, we have a Burger King down the road. Toledo, Ohio! Don't get killed here! Toledo, Ohio! Everyone is your dad here! - Scott the Woz

[@Alguien644]

Someone got killed a few days ago in Toledo (Spain)

[@GryphonBrokewing]

LOL, that opening with getting alcohol with your TB and getting day drink drunk reminds me of a skit from "Kids In The Hall". Think it was titled "Girl Drink Drunk", which really hits with the sweet drink options...

[@yyhsupergroovegear]

you need to torment Amy more and make her Sam's travel partner in jetlagged

[@bes03c]

Amy is the true GOAT. We want more Amy.

[@skyfiresage5980]

Hold the FUCKING phone. WHERE IN THE NAME OF GOD can I buy Taco Bell liquor??

[@TXnine7nine]

3:23 Well all these years later and the DLT shell still breaks without fail. Doesn’t matter as I’ll eat it all the same. 😂

[@drewnolen5994]

When the ad spot is literally so good it's almost like a video in itself

[@mcmatt11]

Everything at Taco Bell is essentially a repackaging of often used Taco Bell ingredients.

[@MozartTheGOAT]

Sometime in the far distant future: Why it took GTA 6 2000 years to be developed

[@heychrisfox]

Like everyone else and their cat, I was about to make a silly comment about Ben. But he has such a fan-club that transcends HaI at this point that I'm honestly impressed.

[@aaronlarsen8412]

This movie was SO loud in theaters i couldnt believe how loud it was

[@thatguythere98]

The jokes in this video were hilarious. Especially the residents of Toledo being ready to "Live Mas"