Taco Bell has appointed Graham McGarvie, formerly of Yum Brands stablemate KFC, as European director of operations, MCA has learnt.
McGarvie joins Katie Taylor, who six months ago joined the European team in Woking from the US, coming in as marketing director.
The appointments come as the Tex-Mex brand looks to continue its “aggressive” rollout which has seen it open 10 sites in the last six months to reach 36.
Taylor said the brand would continue at a similar rate of expansion, including further sites in London, while developing further self-service kiosks and delivery with Deliveroo.
Taylor told MCA: “In the last few months it’s been incredible from a development perspective. From when I got here, we’ve gone from 26 to 36 restaurants. To Add in a few in a few months is pretty significant.
“We have definitely been ramping up our expansion pretty rapidly, and we continue to underpin that with regular innovation from a marketing perspective, such as new products.
“We are really pleased with new restaurants. Opening in London was a huge thing – it was our most requested city globally – so we were really excited to meet that demand, and we have identified further opportunities in London with franchisees.
“Over all 2019 has a lot of activity in the pipeline. Some leases are already signed, some construction is already started. 2019 will see the same aggressive growth.
“Our target is very similar to what you’ve seen open already. We are looking to be aggressive.”
The brand has introduced a number of products specifically for the European market, such as a meal for two deal, and Mexican seasoned fries, while fajita vegetables are specific to the UK.
Digital pay kiosks are in many restaurants, and will be added to new sites, space provided.
Taylor said delivery was proving to be an “incremental sales driver” for the brand, and was currently available at 26 sites.
