NEW YORK – Taco Bell will broaden testing of its breakfast menu on a larger scale early next year, chain officials said in early December. Currently, only certain Southern California restaurants have the breakfast menu, Nation’s Restaurant News reports.

The breakfast menu is part of a broader effort to get the U.S. operations of Taco Bell and its sister concepts, KFC and Pizza Hut, “on the right track,” said David Novak, chief executive of parent company Yum! Brands. Novak revealed details of the plan during the company’s annual meeting with financial analysts and investors.

Other initiatives discussed could include the addition of dessert items, breakfast offerings and late-night operating hours at KFC, and lunch sales and a focus on mid-week dinners at Pizza Hut.

Three U.S. markets will test the Taco Bell breakfast program early next year, said Greg Creed, president of the chain’s U.S. business. If implemented, Creed estimated, breakfast could add up to $208,000 per unit in sales.

He added that 72 percent of Taco Bell customers surveyed in November indicated that they buy breakfast from a quickservice restaurant. Taco Bell is confident it could snare a fair share of the $34 billion fast-food breakfast segment.