45 Fun Facts About Taco Bell

In which US state did the first Taco Bell open in 1962?

The first Taco Bell opened in 1962 in southern California; founder Glen Bell had run drive-in stands in San Bernardino since 1948.

Which Los Angeles County city hosted that original 1962 restaurant on Firestone Boulevard?

The first Taco Bell opened at 7112 Firestone Boulevard in Downey in 1962; the original building was moved to the chain's Irvine headquarters in 2015.

Before he ever sold a taco, Glen Bell ran a San Bernardino drive-in selling what?

Glen Bell opened Bell's Drive-In in San Bernardino in 1948 selling hot dogs; his 19-cent tacos came a few years later.

How large was the original 1962 Taco Bell building?

The first Taco Bell was just 400 square feet: a walk-up stand with no indoor seating, where customers ordered at a window and ate outside.

Which drinks giant bought the chain in 1978?

PepsiCo bought Taco Bell in 1978, a year after acquiring Pizza Hut; KFC followed in 1986, and the three chains were spun off together in 1997.

What did the buyer pay for the 868-restaurant chain in 1978?

PepsiCo paid $125 million in stock for Taco Bell's 868 restaurants in 1978, sixteen years after Glen Bell opened the first one.

When the soft-drinks parent spun off its restaurant division in 1997, what was the new company called?

PepsiCo spun off KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in October 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants, a name nodding to its three chains.

Which company has owned the brand since renaming itself in 2002?

Tricon Global Restaurants renamed itself Yum! Brands in 2002, the year it also bought Long John Silver's and A&W.

Which fried chicken chain is a sister brand under the same parent?

KFC has shared a parent with Taco Bell since PepsiCo bought the chicken chain in 1986; the two often operate combined KFC/Taco Bell restaurants.

In which year was the parent company's China business spun off as a separate listed company?

The Chinese arm had grown big enough to run itself, with thousands of outlets. It kept the licence to operate the same brands there.

Which dog breed fronted Taco Bell's advertising from 1997 to 2000?

The Taco Bell Chihuahua campaign ran from 1997 to 2000, built around the catchphrase '¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!'.

What was the name of the Chihuahua who starred in Taco Bell's 1997-2000 ads?

Gidget, a female Chihuahua, played the male character in the ads and later appeared in Legally Blonde 2 (2003) as the mother of Bruiser.

Which actor voiced the talking Chihuahua in Taco Bell's 1997-2000 commercials?

Carlos Alazraqui voiced the Taco Bell Chihuahua; he is also the voice of Rocko in Rocko's Modern Life and played Deputy James Garcia in Reno 911!

In which year did the Crunchwrap Supreme become a permanent Taco Bell menu item?

The Crunchwrap Supreme sold so well in its 2005 limited run that Taco Bell made it a permanent menu item in 2006.

The Doritos Locos Tacos launched in March 2012 through a partnership with which company?

Frito-Lay, maker of Doritos, co-developed the Doritos Locos Taco; Taco Bell sold more than 100 million of them in the ten weeks after the March 2012 launch.

In 2004, which soft drink brand handed the chain exclusive rights to a new tropical-lime flavour?

Mountain Dew Baja Blast, a tropical-lime flavour, was created in 2004 as a fountain drink exclusive to Taco Bell.

In which year did Baja Blast first reach supermarket shelves?

Baja Blast first went on sale in shops in 2014, as a limited summer release a decade after its fountain-only debut at Taco Bell.

In 2001 Taco Bell promised free food for every American if a Pacific target was struck by debris from what?

Taco Bell floated a 40-foot target in the South Pacific for the Mir space station's March 2001 re-entry and insured the free-taco payout; the debris missed.

After a 2011 lawsuit, Taco Bell advertised that what proportion of its seasoned beef was beef?

Taco Bell answered the suit with full-page ads saying its seasoned beef was 88% beef and 12% seasonings and binders; the lawsuit was withdrawn in April 2011.

The Mexican Pizza returned to menus in which year, after a fan campaign?

The Mexican Pizza came back in May 2022 after a fan petition; demand ran about seven times its pre-removal level and it was made permanent that September.

In which year was Taco Bell's Pizzazz Pizza renamed the Mexican Pizza?

The Pizzazz Pizza, launched in 1985, became the Mexican Pizza in 1988; the original version was topped with black olives and green onions.

What reason did the company give for dropping the Mexican Pizza in November 2020?

Taco Bell blamed its packaging's environmental impact, saying the Mexican Pizza's paperboard boxes added more than seven million pounds of paperboard a year to its waste.

Which musician announced the Mexican Pizza's comeback during a 2022 Coachella set?

Doja Cat confirmed the Mexican Pizza's return from the Coachella stage in April 2022 and went on to star in Mexican Pizza: The Musical with Dolly Parton.

Roughly how many signatures did the change.org petition to bring back the Mexican Pizza collect?

Krish Jagirdar's change.org petition to save the Mexican Pizza gathered about 170,000 signatures, and Taco Bell credited it when the item returned in 2022.

Which chain replaced Taco Bell in the European release of Demolition Man?

Pizza Hut took Taco Bell's place in the European cut, with lines re-dubbed and logos swapped, because Taco Bell was little known in Europe in 1993.

In which year did Taco Bell's April Fools' ads claim it had bought the Liberty Bell?

On April 1, 1996, full-page Taco Bell ads announced it had bought the Liberty Bell to help reduce the national debt; the hoax was revealed at noon.

How many major newspapers carried Taco Bell's full-page Taco Liberty Bell hoax ad?

The Taco Liberty Bell ad ran in six major newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, at a cost of about $300,000.

Roughly how much free publicity did Taco Bell's Taco Liberty Bell hoax reportedly generate?

The $300,000 Taco Liberty Bell stunt was estimated to have generated about $25 million in free publicity, and sales rose by more than $1 million over April 1-2, 1996.

Which White House press secretary joked that the government was selling the Lincoln Memorial to Ford?

Mike McCurry, Bill Clinton's press secretary, answered the 1996 Taco Liberty Bell hoax by joking the Lincoln Memorial would become the Lincoln-Mercury Memorial.

The 2019 pop-up hotel called The Bell sold out its rooms in how long?

Reservations for The Bell, Taco Bell's pop-up hotel in Palm Springs, sold out in two minutes; it ran for just a few days in August 2019.

Which Taco Bell slogan was replaced in 2012?

'Think Outside the Bun' gave way to 'Live Más' in 2012, the year Taco Bell also launched the Doritos Locos Taco.

Which upscale spin-off closed in 2015 so the company could focus on its Cantina format?

U.S. Taco Co., a premium taco-and-beer spin-off opened in Huntington Beach in 2014, closed in 2015 as Taco Bell shifted to the urban Cantina format.

Which country made the chain change its name in the 1980s after a misleading-conduct case?

In Australia, a Sydney restaurant already trading as Taco Bell's Casa won a misleading-conduct case in the early 1980s, forcing the chain to drop its name; it returned in the late 1990s.

Roughly how many restaurants did Taco Bell operate worldwide at the end of 2023?

Taco Bell had more than 8,200 restaurants worldwide at the end of 2023, about 1,000 of them outside the United States.

Roughly how many customers a year did Taco Bell report serving as of 2023?

Taco Bell reported serving more than two billion customers a year as of 2023, more than the combined population of the Americas.

Glen Bell served in which branch of the US military during the Second World War?

Glen Bell served in the Marine Corps during the Second World War, then opened his first food stand in San Bernardino in 1948.

Glen Bell learned to make tacos by watching the owners of which San Bernardino restaurant?

The Mitla Cafe, opened in 1937 on Mount Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino, sat across from Bell's stand; its owners showed him how they made hard-shell tacos.

In which city was Glen Bell born in 1923?

Glen Bell was born in Lynwood, California, in 1923 and died in Rancho Santa Fe in 2010 at 86; his first stand was in neighbouring San Bernardino County.

What two earlier names did the founder's business go through before settling on its current one?

Glen Bell opened Taco-Tia in San Bernardino in 1954 and later co-founded El Taco, leaving both before launching Taco Bell in 1962.

In which year did Taco Bell go public, with 325 restaurants?

Taco Bell went public in 1970, when it had 325 restaurants; PepsiCo bought the chain eight years later.

In which year did Nacho Fries go on sale nationwide at Taco Bell?

Nacho Fries arrived nationwide in January 2018 as a limited-time item and became the most successful launch in Taco Bell's history.

What World Series event triggers Taco Bell's free-taco giveaway, first run in 2007?

A stolen base in the World Series wins everyone a free taco; Jacoby Ellsbury's steal in 2007 triggered the first 'Steal a Base, Steal a Taco' payout.

Which celebrity chef created Taco Bell's Cantina Bell menu, launched in 2012?

Venezuelan-born chef Lorena Garcia developed the Cantina Bell menu, launched in 2012 with black beans, cilantro rice and citrus-herb marinated chicken.

Where did Taco Bell open its first Spanish outlet in 2004?

Taco Bell's first outlet in Spain opened in 2004 on the US naval base at Rota, open only to people with base access; public restaurants followed later that decade.

What final name did Taco Bell's original 1962 Chiliburger end up with?

The Chiliburger became the Bell Burger and then the Bell Beefer, a loose-meat sandwich on a bun that was dropped in the mid-1980s.