400% Surge in Taco Bell Locations on Upside Over the Past Year

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25, 2025 — Taco Bell franchises are joining Upside in record numbers to attract new and infrequent diners and boost profitability. In the past year alone, the number of Taco Bell locations on Upside has jumped over 400%, with more than 1,500 restaurants now live across 16 franchise groups.

This growth reflects a shift in how franchisees are driving traffic at the local level. While national advertising builds brand awareness, Taco Bell operators are turning to performance-based solutions like Upside to market their individual locations more effectively — reaching new customers and delivering measurable results.

“Upside is helping us influence those hard-to-reach customers that weren’t choosing our restaurants before,” adds Marjorie Perlman, Chief Marketing Officer at Tacala Companies. “And not only that; we’re seeing more frequent visits from our regular customers, too. As Upside’s reach and usage increases, we will reap even more benefit.”

Upside works by delivering personalized, cash back promotions to nearby consumers through its mobile app and partner platforms. When a customer selects a participating restaurant and makes an unexpected visit — one they wouldn’t have made otherwise — Upside’s data model identifies that behavior as incremental. The business only pays a portion of the profit earned on that transaction, making it a true performance-based channel. There’s no hardware to install, no menu changes required, and no added burden on staff.

On average, Taco Bell franchises using Upside are seeing:

• 40% of Upside customers are first-time visitors
• Existing customers return 3x more often
• Locations report an average 79% ROI

Upside connects millions of consumers with personalized cash back offers at more than 100,000 restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations and c-stores nationwide. Its performance-based model drives measurable profit for businesses and puts real money back into the hands of shoppers—delivering more than $2.3 billion in incremental profit for retailers to date and nearly $1 billion in cash back to consumers.

“Franchisees are finding real value in Upside because it works,” said Ryan Gaylor, Head of Restaurants at Upside. “It’s simple to activate, drives results, and reaches customers traditional marketing often can’t.”

Learn more at upside.com/business/restaurant.

About Upside
Upside is a technology company that helps millions of people get more purchasing power on the things they need, and tens of thousands of businesses earn measurable profit. Our platform uses personalized, performance-based promotions to bring customers more value while ensuring businesses earn more profit — with no changes to their operations. For more information, visit upside.com.