Doritos Locos Tacos went through 40 rounds of recipe testing to perfect the shell.

 

Doritos Locos Tacos went through 40 rounds of recipe testing to perfect the shell.

Although the idea seemed simple, the iconic DLT proved to be much more challenging to execute than the creators had anticipated. 

For the chain’s 50th anniversary in 2012, CEO Greg Creed wanted to develop something new and innovative.

A Doritos taco shell was the clear winner out of 30 different product pitches. 

The first version was an absolute flop with taste testers.

Since it was a taco shell sprayed with nacho cheese seasoning, it lacked the crunch or flavor of Doritos chips, which was the main selling point.

The other prototypes were crunchy but too fragile to ship. 

It took time to find the balance of the crunch and flavor of Doritos with the sturdiness of a taco shell.

But after 40 recipes and two years of testing, the product launched with massive success in 2012 and has remained on the menu ever since.