Glenfield Park Taco Bell plans put on hold, may never open

Taco Bell Australia chief marketing officer Andrew Howie said there was no timeline for when the site would open, and it is possible the development plans may be cancelled.

The popular fast food chain submitted a development application with Wagga City Council for an outlet at the Southcity Shopping Centre in Glenfield Park in May last year.

The $1.8 million plan include dine-in, takeaway and drive-through services.

Mr Howie said it was important the company grows sustainably around Australia, and given the current economic environment, the company was not confident this restaurant would be able to maintain the desired level of consistency, and profit.

"Business it doing it tough everywhere, and we want to make sure when we open our stores, we're able to give a great customer experience everywhere," he said.

"The price of tomatoes has doubled in the last year ... just fresh produce is a big challenge.

"This is one of the challenges we face at the moment setting up stores that aren't in proximity to other stores - you can't just jump in the car, race to another store and borrow some stock and pay it back."

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Taco Bell are not alone, with local consumers also hit by the high price of vegetables. The cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 8.1 per cent in the twelve months to March, with price rises seen across all food categories.

Business Manager at the Wagga Wagga Business Chamber Sally Manning said a lot of local businesses were enduring these kinds of problems.

"Finding the resources and construction companies to help with the actual development if you're starting from scratch is a bit of a challenge," she said.

"With food, we see it ourselves in the supermarket. When something's really really, low, the price will increase a lot, and in some cases the supermarket may not stock that product at all.

"If you stop and think about the impact of that on a food based business that's buying in bulk, it has a really big impact on their offerings."

While Ms Manning said many local hospitality businesses had begun to substitute expensive or hard to get ingredients, a chain like Taco Bell that relies on consistency across its franchises doesn't have this option.

Mr Howie said given the challenges facing business at the moment, he was unable to give an estimate of when the store would open. He said it was possible it would never happen.

"Take it as a possibility - It's not the intent, but I also don't want to say yes, it's definitely going ahead," he said.

"The last thing we ever want to do is open a store without being certain we're going to be able to keep it open.

"You don't want to hire people, then have to let them go - that's horrible."

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