Taco Bell Opens Early Retirement Community for Those Wanting to Unleash Their ‘Inner Eclectic Grandparent’

“¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!” may not be the slogan you imagined as a symbol of your retirement. But it could become the motto for the next generation of retirees.

Taco Bell has created its own early retirement community, The Cantinas. The Tex-Mex restaurant chain has decided to host a weekend-long experience for people 21 and older to “live like a retiree,” according to The Cantinas’ website.

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“Come visit Live Más at the ultimate playground for your inner eclectic grandparent,” reads the website for the mid-August event.

Activities at the San Diego location include “retiree-inspired recreation” such as bocce ball, knitting and pickleball. Guests can choose to stay overnight in the “retiree boarding house” for $150 or visit for the day for $50.

Interested? Don’t get your credit card out yet: tickets to the event are already sold out. Taco Bell’s early retirement pitch has clearly struck a chord with the younger generation.

Soft life aspirations

True retirees often struggle to spend all their free time. In fact, 68% of people plan to work during their retirement for funaccording to Fidelity’s 2024 State of Retirement report.

But young people think very differently about retirement. In fact, 66% of Gen Zers don’t think they’ll ever have enough money to retire, according to a 2023 study from fintech company Intuit. They’ve already experienced a tough job market and stagnant wages, making it hard to put money into a 401(k).

Rather than working hard so that they can retire comfortably, young people prefer the “soft life,” where they prioritize their immediate happiness over planning for the future.

Corporate lawyer and TikToker Tay Ladd is one of the young people who traded the hustle culture for a relaxed life.

“I want to romanticize these things that are important to me because I didn’t take care of myself for years,” she told Moneywise in 2023. “I neglected my mental health and my well-being.”

A place like The Cantinas perfectly encapsulates the soft living philosophy. Many young people long for a weekend of soft activities like knitting and napping.

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Inspired by baby boomers

The Cantinas may be a great marketing ploy for Taco Bell, but when it comes to the Live Más philosophy, the retirees who inspired the Tex-Mex chain do it better than they do.

Seniors have dominated the leisure market of late, with people aged 65 and over accounting for 22% of national spending in 2022, according to the latest Labor Department survey of consumer spending.

“These are the consumers who will matter in the year ahead,” Susan Sterne, chief economist at Economic Analysis Associates, told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in 2023. “Our large share of older consumers provides a consumption base for times like today, when job growth is slowing, interest rates are rising and student loan payments are starting again.”

An example of this is in a Real a retirement community called Sun City Texas, near Austin. A recent WSJ article says it has even more amenities than The Cantinas: multiple pools, pickleball courts, and fitness centers. The residents have even been known to cause quite a stir at their annual Mardi Gras Party.

“We’re not dead yet,” Suzanne Herndon, 70, of Sun City, Texas, told the WSJ.

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This article provides information only and should not be taken as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.