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Glen Bell capitalized on the rising popularity of Mexican cuisine by founding Taco Bell in 1962.
Over the next few decades, Taco Bell would experience remarkable growth and eventually become part of PepsiCo in 1978.
The origins of the Taco Bell empire can be traced to 1948.
A young entrepreneur, Glen Bell, opened a hot dog stand called Bell’s Drive-In in San Bernardino.
Yet Bell had bigger dreams brewing when he witnessed the long lines and booming business at the Mitla Cafe, a Mexican restaurant situated across the street.
Studying the Mitla’s hard-shelled tacos, Bell aimed to reverse-engineer the popular dish, eventually convincing the owners to reveal their technique.
By 1962, Bell was ready to launch his own hard-shell tacos—launching the first Taco Bell in Downey, California in a 400-square foot mission-style walk-up restaurant.
This little stand would one day become a multinational, multi-billion dollar Tex-Mex empire.
The small 400-square-foot restaurant was about as big as a two-car garage. It was designed in the Mission architectural style, with arches and a little walk-up window for customers to place their orders.
In 1978, Taco Bell was acquired by PepsiCo, helping the Mexican fast food chain to expand globally.
The purchase brought together two of the biggest names in junk food. Now, Pepsi would have the perfect place to showcase all their soft drinks in Taco Bell’s soda fountains, including exclusives like Mountain Dew Baja Blast.
In 2000, Taco Bell was forced to recall up to $50 million worth of taco shells after it was discovered they contained a genetically modified variety of corn called StarLink.
It caused a PR disaster.
This corn was not approved for human consumption.
The recall was the first time a major company had to recall GMO food products at scale. PepsiCo agreed to a $60 million settlement over the recall.
In a marketing stunt in 2001, Taco Bell declared they would give a free taco to every person in the United States if a piece of the aging Russian Mir space station hit a 40-by-40 foot floating target the company had placed in the ocean.
As the space station came hurling back to Earth—no piece of Mir debris ended up hitting the target in the ocean.
So, Taco Bell avoided having to give tacos to 285 million Americans.
Taco Bell’s popular 1990s advertising mascot was a chihuahua named the Taco Bell Chihuahua.
The dog’s actual name was Gidget, and she appeared in numerous memorable ads for the chain.
Over a decade later, in 2009, at age 15, Gidget suffered a stroke and had to be euthanized.
In 2004, a Taco Bell franchisee purchased the naming rights to Boise State University’s basketball arena.
This led to the venue being renamed the Taco Bell Arena.
In 2007, Taco Bell launched a World Series marketing campaign called “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco,” pledging to give every person in the U.S. a free taco if any player stole a base during the championship games.
Boston Red Sox player Jacoby Ellsbury delivered in Game 2, successfully stole a base and forced Taco Bell to follow through on their promise.
Taco Bell has tried on two separate occasions to expand into Mexico by opening restaurants.
However, both times—once in the 1990s and again in the 2000s—the chain failed in Mexico and was forced to close down all its locations there due to lack of interest from consumers.
When Taco Bell first expanded to Australia in the 1970s, it faced a lawsuit from a local restaurant called “Taco Bell’s Casa,” which had been using the name since the 1960s.
A court ruled that Taco Bell had to change its name in the Australian market due to consumer confusion—forcing Taco Bell to use an alter identity in the land down under.
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