The Indo Daily: Taco Bell queues, restaurant blues – are US giants hurting Ireland's food sector?

Burgers, burritos and doughnuts - these are hardly exotic menu items for the average Irish family nowadays. But anyone who witnessed the hours-long queues for Ireland’s first Taco Bell restaurant would be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

The Mexican-inspired restaurant is just the latest in a flurry of chains looking to capitalise on our enduring appetite for US food brands. But with every Wendy’s, Wingstop or Five Guys launch with a social media frenzy, it seems another local business closes.

Are we really just curious about the food we’ve seen in film and TV for decades, or do they operate at a scale local businesses can’t match? Kevin Doyle is joined by John Meagher (senior features writ

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