Called the “catalytic effect,” dairy checkoff power partners like Taco Bell spur other food service chains to increase the amount of cheese and dairy used in menu items – without more checkoff investment. For example, Mexican restaurant Qdoba recently amped up its cheese use with a new Cheese-Crusted Quesadilla that adds cheese baked into the crust in addition to the cheese inside the quesadilla.

“This catalytic launch follows last year’s Grilled Cheese Burrito at Taco Bell, that has more than 10 times the cheese of a taco,” said Dairy Management Inc.’s Paul Ziemnisky.

Just last year, checkoff partners Domino’s, Taco Bell and McDonald’s grew overall sales between 3-6 percent – it’s exciting to think how much more dairy can be sold when other chains follow their lead!