Taco Bell’s Taco Tuesday is finally a national holiday after legal battle

Taco Bell fans rejoice, as the popular fast food chain has just been given its own national holiday after a legal battle with Wyoming-based Taco John’s, who formerly owned the ‘Taco Tuesday’ trademark. 

Taco Bell asserted that too many establishments used the phrase ‘Taco Tuesday’ for Taco John’s to lay claim to the phrase. 

“Taco Bell believes ‘Taco Tuesday’ is critical to everyone’s Tuesday,” Taco Bell asserted in a US Patent and Trademark Office filing. “To deprive anyone of saying ‘Taco Tuesday’ — be it Taco Bell or anyone who provides tacos to the world — is like depriving the world of sunshine itself.”

The battle continued, with Taco John’s defending their rights over the trademark, and devising a two-week taco promotion that ran in May 2023. The chain’s CEO, Jim Creel, announced:

“I’d like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesday is best celebrated at Taco John’s.

“We love celebrating Taco Tuesday with taco lovers everywhere, and we even want to offer a special invitation to fans of Taco Bell to liberate themselves by coming by to see how flavorful and bold tacos can be at Taco John’s all month long.”

Despite this, Taco Bell eventually won the battle, and Taco Tuesday was given a spot on the official National Day calendar. 

“For years, we’ve celebrated National Taco Day on October 4, but it’s always felt like there was a bigger opportunity to align it with something even more special—Taco Tuesday,” commented Marlo Anderson, founder of National Day Calendar.

“Thanks to Taco Bell’s efforts, we’re excited to officially move National Taco Day to the first Tuesday in October, creating the Taco Tuesday of all Taco Tuesdays,” Anderson said. “It’s more than just moving a date—it’s about bringing taco lovers together in a bigger way, and we couldn’t be more excited!”

Taco Bell were equally enthusiastic about the outcome, with the Chief Marketing Officer, Taylor Montgomery, stating: “When we liberated Taco Tuesday last year, we did it for all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos; but we couldn’t just stop there.

“With National Taco Day coming up, it felt unnatural for it to not fall on a Tuesday, and as some of the biggest advocates of Taco Tuesday out there, we knew we had to help shift the holiday permanently to give taco makers and lovers the opportunity to celebrate bigger and better every year.”

Taco Tuesday isn’t the only national holiday that has customers excited. National Burger Day, which fell on September 18 saw a bunch of great deals for fast food customers to take advantage of, and some of them are still in effect, so be sure to check out our list.