Listen Now

Today we're bringing you a rare behind-the-scenes look at a collaboration between two giant American food brands: Taco Bell and Cheez-It. (And no, they’re not paying us to do it — we’re just obsessed with how big companies come up with new foods!) This past summer, Taco Bell debuted the Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme and the Big Cheez-It Tostada. These menu items may sound like they were dreamt up in a dorm room, but getting them to market was actually a yearslong process, involving hundreds of people, and the launch didn’t quite go as planned. Two food product developers — one from Taco Bell and one from Cheez-It — walk us through how it all went down. Then we head to Taco Bell for a taste test of our own.

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Transcription by Emily Nguyen.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.