I wonder if there are any airport located Taco Bells. Those kind of captive locations are notorious for crazy prices.
Their business model is - they big up the price of all the available spots such that no one can make money unless they charge exorbitant prices. After they capture the majority of the market, they're free to charge a ton of money.
How they haven't been charged for collusion and price fixing is beyond me.
Anyway, typically, if you find a huge brand like Starbucks or McDonald's - or a brand that owns all its locations (not franchised) like Chipotle, the prices will not be extreme.
European airports are worse. I never spent so much on a coffee than at Zurich's airport. It was swiss markup over the usual swiss markup.
Portland, as another commenter said, tends to have the same price in the airport as their restaurants outside.
Definitely not normal. In most of Manhattan, you can get a quite good sandwich for less $14 or less.
The rest of NYC is going to be cheaper.
I'm pretty sure it's because they're cutting the (govt-owned/operated) airports in on the action.
It looks bad for you to be a >$100B company and trying to price gouge your loyal customers at the airport.
I've seen speculation about undiagnosed lactose intolerance but frankly Taco Bell doesn't use that much cheese on their cheesiest items compared to say, a pizza, which is another very common food in the US and has way more cheese.
On the other hand, last time I took my family to Chipotle, my kid had liquid poo for 2 weeks with onset a couple hours after eating there. We have never been back since. That place scares the you know what out of me.
Someone has to pay back the loans and/or bonds plus interest… or a lot of someones chipping in with their hot dogs, tickets, drinks, etc...