How Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme helped Centro grow
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios; Photo: Courtesy of Hippo Pockets
Centro Restaurant Group is taking a "Live Más" approach to its spin on Taco Bell's Crunchwrap, with fresh plans for its first brick-and-mortar outpost focused on the fan favorite.
The big picture: Taco Bell's top-selling menu item, which the chain debuted 20 years ago last week, has become an "unlikely muse" — and a moneymaker — for chefs across the country, the New York Times reports.
The local angle: The success of Centro's own playful take on the layered hand-held tortilla wraps inspired owners to create Hippo Pockets, a stand-alone ghost kitchen and pop-up dedicated to serving the "flying saucers of crunch."
What's new: The Hippo Pockets brand, first launched in 2023, will get its first storefront next week, with a 17-seat restaurant at the 48th and Chicago spot formerly occupied by Herbie Butcher's Fried Chicken opening July 9.
- Later this year, they'll debut another pop-up location inside U.S. Bank Stadium for the Vikings season, owner Jami Olson told Axios.
What they're saying: "It's nostalgia," Olson said of the item's popularity and staying power. "They're just good, they're substantial, they're comforting."
What to expect: The Crunchwrap-style items on the Centro and Hippo Pockets menus, which Olson says are about 2.5 times the size of those sold at Taco Bell, go beyond traditional combos like ground beef and cheese.
- Popular flavors include Cool Ranch Chicken Crunch ($13.50) and the Pickle Pocket (about $14), a "Minnesota Sushi"-inspired combo of pickles, cream cheese, ham and Pik-Nik shoestring potato chips.
- The Hippo Pockets ghost kitchen has a Nutella and graham cracker dessert wrap and plans to sell breakfast and kids' versions when the brick-and-mortar launches next week.
The back story: Centro's first experiment with selling a Crunchwrap-style item — a 2019 Taco Bell-themed pop-up at a brewery down the block from its original Northeast Minneapolis location — was a smashing success.
- "We sold out of food in like 20 minutes," Olson recalled.
Yes, but: Olson said a "very nice" cease-and-desist letter from Taco Bell over their use of the chain's logo prompted them to pump the brakes.
About a year later, as the restaurant looked for ways to attract more take-out customers during the pandemic, Olson decided to bring the Taco Bell-inspired items back via a weekly pop-up (without the logo).
- "It was hugely successful," Olson recalled. "Mondays were absolutely insane."
What happened: Sales of the "Munchwrap," later dubbed the "Centro Crunch," were so strong that they added it to the menu permanently.
- It's still a top seller at Centro's four locations across the metro.
What we're watching: Olson hopes to eventually get approved as a State Fair vendor and use that booth to experiment with even more fun flavors.