Both chains launched new energy drinks just days apart. The real fight is over who can stand out in a category getting crowded fast.
Jon Small
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edited by
Jessica Thomas
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Aug 31, 2026
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McDonald’s and Taco Bell are duking it out over who gets to wake you up in the afternoon. McDonald’s teamed up with Red Bull this month to launch the Dragonberry Energizer. A few days later, Taco Bell punched back with three new energy refreshers of its own, according to Restaurant Business.
Both chains have been tackling the beverage boom for years, as a wave of upstart chains muscles in on the category too.
McDonald’s says beverages are already paying off big. The amount a typical customer spends per visit is up roughly 50%, and the drinks are pulling in new customers who weren’t stopping by before. Taco Bell wants beverages to hit $5 billion in sales on their own, enough to rival the entire systemwide sales of chains like Wingstop or Pizza Hut.
However, neither is really the other’s biggest threat. Chains like 7 Brew and Dutch Bros are the ones actually sipping away their market share, with 7 Brew alone adding nearly 300 new locations last year while boosting sales per store by a third. McDonald’s has the bigger army, over 13,700 restaurants to Taco Bell’s 7,700-plus, but Taco Bell has Baja Blast, the neon-blue drink with a cult following since 2004.
