Taco Bell's history

Howdy folks,

Hereby we provide you with information with regard to Taco Bell's history.

The idea of Taco Bell started with Glen Bell; founder of the fast food chain. Glen was 23 when he left the Marine Corps in 1946: after World War II was over. He lived in the small agricultural town of San Bernardino. His original idea was to start off with a miniature golf course, but his financial situation didn’t give him the opportunity. So Glen Bell started with a small hotdog stand, Bell’s Drive-In, and it would be strictly takeout.

In 1952 he sold his first stand, and began building a perfected version. Back then, the menu existed of hamburgers and hot dogs only.

A strange coincidence was that the McDonald brothers also started their business in San Bernardino! That’s how Glen came up with the idea to introduce alternative menu items. Glen himself was an avid Mexican food take-out customer and well aware of snacks such as tacos because of that. He started to experiment with his new food items in a Mexican neighborhood. So if his tacos were indeed a success, potential competitors would write it off to the location and assume that the idea wouldn’t sell anywhere else.

Glen kept experimenting until he was satisfied with the taco ingredients and proportions. The next issue was how to introduce them. "There wasn't room for new items, or to diversify the menus in the little stands we built then, so I decided to sell 19-cent tacos from a little window off to the side," he says. "I'll never forget the first taco customer because naturally, I was really concerned about his reaction. He was dressed in a suit, and as he bit into the taco the juice ran down his sleeve and dripped on his tie. I thought, 'We've lost this one,' but he came back, amazingly enough, and said, 'That was good, I'll take another one!'"

With tacos selling well, and Glen ready to open a second stand in Barstow, it was no coincidence that he added shakes to the menu. A local ice cream manufacturer offered financing in exchange for carrying their product. Barstow was a ways away from San Bernardino, so he promised young Ed Hackbarth that he would lease him the stand so he could run it in Barstow. Ed took over the stand, and later was to become the founder of Del Taco.

Because of the tacos’ success, it was time to dedicate a complete stand to the Mexican food items. Because financing was still a roadblock Glen took a partner, and between 1954 and 1955 he built three Taco Tia stands in San Bernardino, Redlands and Riverside.

"It was 1956, I was 28 and we had three restaurants that were making $50,000 a year each. But I was willing to give them up to grow. It bothered me that we would slow down and others would move in. I had a great idea and I wanted to be the one to take advantage of it."

"We put in a commissary geared to run 100 units, and in 1958, in spite of a lot of newly acquired overhead, we did well. Our first Long Beach location had been open only nine months, the second six, and the last only a month or two. Each partner was drawing a salary and we had new commissary and office staff. There shouldn't have been any profit, but in that nine-month period, we came out with $3,000. At the first meeting of partners I was really high," recalls Glen. "But it's tough to share a dream. We were off to a great start, but I've always been independent and was ready to launch out on my own."

The first Taco Bell franchise was bought in 1964 by a former L.A. policeman and was an immediate success. A new era had clearly emerged for Glen Bell. No longer was it a case of providing the energy, determination and belief in an idea until it took off. Now, it was a matter of running a large company. "Once we got up to 100 restaurants, it changed for me. I hated the day when we had to start numbering the units. The business issues became financial, we had really won the war as far as I was concerned. The stock market began to smile on fast food, and we were on the road to success."

In 1978, Glen Bell sold Taco Bell's 868 units, to PepsiCo, Inc. The deal was some six months in the making and ended with Glen Bell as a major PepsiCo shareholder and millions richer.

Taco Bell has been booming ever since:
In 1977 the first international unit opened in Guam, the Drive-Thru took its start in 1984, in 1988 Taco Bell introduced the free refills of soda drinks in its restaurants. Taco Bell's compact carts, kiosks and in-line units begin appearing in airports, gas stations, retail stores, cinemas, stadiums, schools, etc. In 1995 PepsiCo Restaurant International (PRI) is the global management unit for the Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut international business. In March 2001, Taco Bell makes an out-of-this world offer: Everyone in the U.S. will receive a free taco if the Mir space station hits a floating Taco Target placed in the South Pacific ocean.

With all these developments in innovation of products, big marketing stunts and loyal customer offers over the past decades, Taco Bell is still getting bigger, better and more popular today. One thing is for sure: only time will tell whether Taco Bell can keep up with the customer’s needs and expectations that keep shifting in this new chapter of the world’s history.

xoxo
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