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Taco Bell's new app lets you order tacos from your phone and cut lines

Taco Bell has launched a new app that promises to paradigm shift how you order tacos.Didn't know your taco had a paradigm that needed shifting? Get ready to "Live mas."In the new app, called simply, "Taco Bell," you can can order using the app and you can skip the entire line in the store when you go in to pick up a meal. Or simply have it ready when you pull up at the drive-thru. To avoid food ge
Taco Bell's new app
Today

Taco Bell has launched a new app that promises to paradigm shift how you order tacos.

Didn't know your taco had a paradigm that needed shifting? Get ready to "Live mas."

In the new app, called simply, "Taco Bell," you can can order using the app and you can skip the entire line in the store when you go in to pick up a meal. Or simply have it ready when you pull up at the drive-thru. To avoid food getting cold or not being ready, the app sends a message asking you to "check in" when you get within 500 feet of a store. Tap it and the kitchen gets a message on their screens to start making your order just like any other.

The app, available in the App Store and on Google Play, does do a few things an "analog" customer can't. Customers can add any ingredient to any meal to make their own Frankentacos. Mobile users will get access to exclusive menu items and deals. "Freeze" drinks only cost $1 for those ordering by smartphone. And the patent-pending "Rotate to Reorder" feature lets customers reorder their customized favorites simply by turning their phone to the side.

Taco Bell's app, two years in the making, isn't the first from a fast food chain. Starbucks has an app that lets their customers order ahead and is linked to their credit or debit card. Mobile and online ordering accounts for 40 percent of Domino's U.S. sales. Chipotle, Dunkin' Donuts, Jimmy Johns all have apps and Panera Bread and McDonald's are signing up with Apple Pay.

Increasingly, fast food isn't just about what's sizzling behind the counter, but what they've got cooking on your smartphone's touchscreen. That's especially true as restaurants compete for millennials' money.

“Decades ago, your car keys were the ticket to convenience at the drive-thru. Today as food culture changes and generations grow up with smart phones, our customers seek restaurant experiences that fit their lifestyle,” said Brian Niccol, president, Taco Bell Corp in a statement. “We believe mobile ordering and payment is the biggest innovation since the drive-thru."

Email Ben Popken at ben.popken@nbcuni.com or tweet @bpopken.