Article Published by: foodandwine.com

Taco Bell has been one of the biggest names in the fast food business when it comes to creating bizarre, buzzworthy products. This year alone, we’ve seen the fast food chain unleash a Firecracker Burrito filled with Pop Rocks-like spicy popping crystals, a Naked Egg Taco that uses a folded over fried egg as a shell, and a Doritos Quesalupa Crunch—which is a, uh… who knows! Oh yeah, and earlier this month the company began testing a Kit Kat Chocoladilla candy-filled quesadilla. Can’t leave that one off the list!

So with that in mind, a product already slated for 2018 might seem downright pedestrian by comparison. Conagra Brands, the company behind the Bigs Sunflower Seeds, has announced that it’s teamed up with Taco Bell to release Bigs Taco Bell Taco Supreme Sunflower Seeds next year—which as the name implies will be Taco Bell-branded, taco-flavored sunflower seeds.

Though a sunflower seed brand teaming up with a fast food chain might seem a bit unorthodox, working with other companies has actually been Bigs modus operandi for quite some time. The sunflower seed brand already has plenty of other partnership-driven flavors like Tapatío Chile Limón, Vlasic Dill Pickle, Hidden Valley Ranch and Old Bay Seasoned. “The Bigs sunflower seed brand really leverages some incredible brand partnerships,” Erik Havlick, vice-president of sales for Thanasi Foods and co-founder of Duke’s and Bigs, told Food Business News. “These are iconic brands that carry with them a tremendous amount of consumer brand equity, and in our case, a fantastic way of validating flavor and expanding awareness of the category.”

Of course, all this assumes that people want Taco Bell behind the flavoring of their sunflower seeds. But seeing as Taco Bell’s other weird collaborations have included a line of clothing created with Forever 21, offering weddings, and renting out a Taco Bell on Airbnb, apparently, for diehard Taco Bell fans, the more of the Bell they can get in their life the better.

Robert Munakash is a native to Los Angeles. He grew up in the gas station and real estate business, following in his father’s footsteps. Munakash is a graduate from University of Southern California and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations in 1990. He purchased his first gas station in 1995 and has had the entrepreneurial spirit ever since. He is the proud owner of Pacific West General 76 in Pacific Palisades.

Robert Munakash

Owner at Pacific West General Store, Inc. Pacific Palisades, CA.

Address: 17299 Pacific Coast Hwy. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
tel: 310-459-7645
email: rmunakash@aol.com

Excellent management skills and experience. Strong practical and theoretical foundation in sales through marketing, advertising, and customer service. Proven success in implementing productivity-enhancement systems.