Taco Bell Is Experiencing a Shortage of this Popular Drink, Customers Say

There are plenty of commodity shortages rocking the U.S. economy at the moment—labor and computer chips being the primary among them. In the world of fast food, we've recently seen Chick-fil-A struggling with their supply of sauces, and national chains having a hard time securing enough chicken breasts for their chicken sandwiches and tenders. But we may soon be adding another item to the growing list of things we simply can't get at the drive-thru right now: Taco Bell's Baja Blast.

Taco Bell fans are working themselves into a frenzy over a rumored shortage of the specialty Mountain Dew beverage. The whole thing seems to have kicked off on Twitter a few months ago, with this stray Tweet from a worried customer.

ok now I have to ask: is there a baja blast shortage? did they cancel it?

— Conversation Pit of Despair (@nickhasthoughts) March 30, 2021

Related Tweets about the shortage began to appear steadily thereafter, stoking the flames. Most of them claim the nationwide shortage was in fact confirmed by Taco Bell employees themselves.

both taco bells that I've been to in the past two days have told me there's a manufacturer baja blast shortage

— stin ray (@justinf825) May 30, 2021

TACO BELL JUST TOLD ME THEY ARE HAVING A NATIONWIDE SHORTAGE OF BAJA BLAST. THIS IS TERRIBLE!

— Happy Fathers Day Miss Hope Ⓥ ? (@TrecherousHope) May 15, 2021

Today I went to @tacobell and was told there was a national shortage of Baja Blasts because of warehouse issues. I have not tweeted about the national gas shortage but will tweet about the travesty that is the national Baja Blast shortage.

— Ethan Dolan (@_ethandolan) May 12, 2021

The shortage of baja blast in every taco bell in my city is actually making me depressed

— Lily (@whywhywhywhyyh) May 3, 2021

Over on Reddit, rumors of a shortage started circulating as early as January, with a speculative post receiving over two thousand upvotes and dozens of comments. Redditors were wondering whether the beloved drink was about to be retired from the menu altogether.

For those familiar with Taco Bell fandom, discontent over a Baja Blast shortage, rumored or otherwise, comes as no surprise. The drink is a favorite among customers and, since its launch in 2004, has generated over $1 billion in sales for the company. Originally a promotional item, the frozen drink is now a fixture of the Taco Bell menu, having reached its fifteenth year of sales in 2019. As one fan put it: Baja Blast is a foundational piece of the Taco Bell menu, and the chain wouldn't be the same without it.

So far, Taco Bell has not announced the shortage officially nor returned our request for comment. But the company was plugging its Baja Blast Colada Freeze as recently as late May, so fans have every reason to believe the beverage won't be going anywhere any time soon.

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