Taco Bell tag teams with Jimmy Dean

¿Te gusta Taco Bell for breakfast?

When you read the brand names of the products the chain plans to use as the foundation for expanding its morning business, you might find yourself salivating like a hungry chihuahua.

According to Nation's Restaurant News, the a.m. choices on Taco Bell's menu are evolving. The chain is about to start testing co-branded products including Jimmy Dean sausage, Seattle's Best coffee, Dole, and Cinnabon. Can't you just smell the heady aroma of butter, cinnamon and refried beans?

Breakfast is just one element in the reinvention of Yum Brands' Taco Bell, and is not yet available in all 5,500 outlets.

A new, more healthy group of nine choices, the Fresco menu, has already been introduced. Other changes In the company pipeline now are the upgrading of meats used in burritos and all their various incarnations, expanding snack offerings, improving the appearance and ambiance of the restaurants, and launching a "Drive-thru Diet" ad campaign to promote the Fresco items.

Many fast food restaurants have learned the painful lesson of how hard it is to expand on their core business without losing what brought them success in the first place (witness McDonald's circa 1990 and Wendy's breakfast crap-out this year).

My friends love the Bell for three reasons -- the prices are low, the quantities high, and the locations quick and convenient. None of them has ever expressed regret that they couldn't order a Cinnabon along with their chalupa.