Taco Bell has a new deal in its hunt to steal a key American customer from McDonald's and Wendy's

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Taco Bell's value menu.

• Taco Bell is launching a new value deal called the $2 Duo that allows customers to get a burrito and a drink for $2.
• The fast-food chain is doubling down on affordability, building out its $1 value menu with new limited-time offerings.
• "We're in a business where affordability for Americans is a real concern when you've got one in two Americans living paycheck to paycheck," Taco Bell's chief brand officer, Marisa Thalberg, told Business Insider.

Taco Bell has a new deal to win over budget shoppers across the United States.

On Thursday, the fast-food chain announced it would debut the "$2 Duo," a combo deal that allows customers to purchase the Triple Melt Burrito and a drink (including the Baja Blast) for $2.

The new deal speaks to Taco Bell's drive to win over customers who may not have much money to spare in a competitive restaurant industry.

"We're in a business where affordability for Americans is a real concern when you've got one in two Americans living paycheck to paycheck," Taco Bell's chief brand officer, Marisa Thalberg, told Business Insider.

"The fact that you can literally fill up your car with gas to go to work, and you can still be able to take $2 and get a great burrito and a great drink and feel good about the fact that you treated yourself - it's not inconsequential for most people," Thalberg said.

Taco Bell has been pushing its value menu in recent months, announcing late last year it would roll out 20 new $1 menu items in 2018. According to Thalberg, Taco Bell has been rolling out new items that are "not just cheap, but things we really, really want."

In March, UBS analyst Dennis Geiger named Taco Bell as an industry leader on value. Winning over budget shoppers, Geiger noted, is especially important as many consumers feel they don't have the funds to eat out at restaurants.

Having "less free spending money lately" and chains being "too expensive" were the top two reasons that customers cite for eating out at a particular chain less often, according to UBS. And, the issue of fast food being too expensive for customers isn't getting better.

"Further, more consumers indicated these two factors as reasons for eating less often at QSRs in 2018 relative to 2016, potentially indicating an even more price-sensitive consumer," Geiger wrote.