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'Resident Disrupters' Invent Doritos Locos Tacos

An article in The Atlantic titled "Doritos Locos Tacos" detailed how Taco Bell invited a group of snack manufacturers to their California headquarters for an "ideation session." Eventually, a product was created that made a taco shell out of Doritos. It sold 100 million in the first ten weeks, and one billion were sold the first year. It is easily the most successful product launch in Taco Bell history. Today, Doritos Locos Tacos are the iPhone of Mexican fast food.

People like these taco geniuses are sometimes referred to as "resident disrupters." Disrupters aren't afraid to ask, How do we reinvent what we do? In the case of Taco Bell, disrupters could see that Millennials wanted food to deliver more than energy—they wanted an experience. So after lots of research, 40 prototypes, and several years of testing, a product was born. It took both tenacity and timing. According to David Peterman, who was VP of new concept operations at Taco Bell in the 90's, the product was almost created 22 years earlier, but it just needed the right timing and the right group of resident disrupters to create the Doritos Locos Taco.

Now wouldn't it be great if the best resident disrupters were in the church, and not just the corporate world? Imagine a day the church is flourishing, where creativity and solid tradition embrace one another, with outcomes that make Doritos Locos Tacos seem trivial by comparison.

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