Taco Bell Corp.
Corporate logo of Taco Bell
	Wholly owned subsidiary
Founded	March 21, 1962 (Downey, California)
Headquarters	Irvine, California
Key people	Glen Bell (founder) Greg Creed (president/CEO)
Industry	Fast Food
Products	Tacos, burritos, and other Mexican cuisine-related fast food
Revenue	$1.8 billion USD (2005)
Employees	175,000+
Parent	Yum! Brands
Website	tacobell.com

Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., is a Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain based in Irvine, California, United States. The restaurant has locations primarily in the United States and Canada, but also operates outlets in several other markets.

Corporate profile

History

After experimenting with alternative food items, Glen Bell opened three Taco-Tia stands between 1954 and 1955, which he later sold to his partners. He then opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California on March 21, 1962.

The first Taco Bell franchise was sold in 1964 and the company became public in 1969. In 1978, the chain was sold to PepsiCo. The chain was spun off along with Pepsi's other fast food restaurant holdings as Tricon Global Restaurants in October 1997. Tricon became Yum! Brands in May 2002.

General operations

Smaller Taco Bell outlets, offering a reduced version of the menu, appear in malls, airport terminals, department stores, hotels, gas stations, and other locations. Some school lunch programs also offer Taco Bell items under the Taco Bell Express branding.

The Taco Bell name is also used under license by Kraft Foods, which offers a line of taco shells, spices, salsa, and other Mexican foods (including full meal kits) featuring the Taco Bell Home Originals name in supermarkets nationwide.

As of 2005, there are 5,845 Taco Bell restaurants in the United States, including 1,252 company-owned locations, 3,803 franchisees, and 790 licenses. There is a 3% drop in branches compared with 2001.^[1] Internationally there are 243 locations, 201 franchisees and 42 licensees, which adds up to growth of 2% since 2001.^[2]

Over the last several years, Yum! Brands, Inc. has been co-locating its various restaurant franchises (KFC, Long John Silver's, A&W, and Pizza Hut).

Results

• As of 2007 Taco Bell is the best-performing brand of Yum Brands, having USD1.8 billion sales for company-owned stores in the United States (compounded annual growth rate of 6% from 2001), and sales of USD4.4 billion for franchisees and licensees in the United States (compounded annual growth rate of 3% from 1999).

Taco Bell also has the largest sales per system unit in Yum!, having USD 1.17 million sales per system unit, excluding licensees.^[3]

Co-branding

Many Taco Bell Express brand outlets can be found in suburban strip malls, often adjacent to other Yum!-brand eateries, most notably Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in 1998 by Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks alleged Taco Bell failed to pay them for use of the Chihuahua character they created. The men alleged that Taco Bell had breached payment on a contract after they worked with the restaurant chain for a year to develop the talking Chihuahua for use in marketing. The talking Chihuahua became a hit with the first advertisement, in which the character bypasses a female Chihuahua for a Taco Bell taco and declares: "Yo quiero Taco Bell." Taco Bell said it would appeal the verdict. The two men received $30.1 million, plus an addition of $11.4 million in interest. ^[4]

Acquisitions

• In 1984, Taco Bell acquired Pup 'N' Taco.
• In 1986, Taco Bell acquired the Faux-Mex restaurant chain known as Zantigo, known for their Chilito, a chili-cheese burrito. The Chilito was added to the Taco Bell menu. The name was later quietly changed to Chili Cheese Burrito after comedian Paul Rodriguez pointed out the negative connotations of the word chilito (a slang word for penis) in Mexican Spanish dialect.

Products

Taco Bell Menu

• Tacos
• Burritos
• Gorditas
• Chalupas
• Nachos
• Quesadillas
• Taquitos
• Mexican pizza

Taco Bell's dessert options include the Caramel Apple Empanada and Cinnamon Twists. Sides include nachos, pintos and cheese, and a cup of rice which comes with a double portion of rice, red sauce, cheese, and formerly green onion, though this ingredient is no longer carried after an E. coli scare.

Big Bell Value Menu

In the late-1980s, Taco Bell commonly advertised its "59, 79, 99" pricing plan, in which nearly everything on the menu was either 59¢, 79¢, or 99¢.

Despite Taco Bell's relatively cheap per-item pricing, it never had a true value menu until the mid-2000s. The menu features several items generally priced below $2.00. The introduction of the value menu also brought new items to the restaurant's offerings, notably items made with potatoes and Taco Bell's third dessert, the Caramel Apple Empanada. (Cinnamon Crispas, triangular fried flour tortilla shells, were offered until being replaced by Cinnamon Twists.) The Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito recently replaced the Bean Burrito Especial, which was removed because of its small profit margin. Also of note is that half of the menu is not truly new, as Beef Combo Burritos, Cheesy Bean and Rice Burritos, Double Decker Tacos, and both Spicy Chicken items had been on the regular menu before, as permanent or limited time only items.

The Big Bell Value Menu (usually) includes:

• Grande Soft Taco: two 6" tortillas with nacho cheese in between, a double portion of beef, then lettuce and cheese
• Double Decker Taco: beans on a 6" tortilla wrapped around a crunchy taco with beef, lettuce, and cheese
• Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito: beans, rice, nacho cheese, 3-cheese blend, jalapeno sauce, and fiesta salsa
• Beef Combo Burrito: beans, a double portion of beef, red sauce, cheese, and onion
• Beef & Potato Burrito: beef, red sauce, potatoes, and sour cream
• Spicy Chicken Burrito: spicy chicken, rice, creamy jalapeno sauce, and fiesta salsa
• Spicy Chicken Soft Taco: spicy chicken (1.5 oz), lettuce (.5 oz), fiesta salsa (.5 oz.)
• Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes: warm nacho cheese, cool sour cream, golden fried potatoes
• Caramel Apple Empanada: warm caramel sauce and apple chunks

Previous Limited Time Items

• The Cheesy Beefy Melt
• Chicken and Steak Grilled Taquitos (Now on permanent menu)
• Club Chalupa
• Crunchwrap Supreme (Now on permanent menu)
• Chicken Enchilada Grilled Stuft Burrito
• Zesty Nachos
• Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito
• Bacon Cheeseburger Taco Supreme
• Nacho Crunch Grilled Stuft Burrito
• Extreme Cheese and Beef Quesadilla
• 7-Layer Crunchwrap
• Cheesy Gordita Crunch (Still available in some locations)
• Enchirito (Now on permanent menu -- had been discontinued for years and brought back recently, albeit with a slightly different preparation)
• Chicken Caesar Grilled Stuft Burrito
• Grande Quesadilla

Other Discontinued Menu Items:

• The Cheesarito
• Border Ices - Tropical flavored ice pops
• The Bell-Beefer, a taco like Hamburger with a hamburger bun, taco meat, cheese, tomato, and lettuce.
• Good Humor's Choco Taco was also offered for a short while

In 1991, Taco Bell launched a Fiesta menu which had smaller sized versions of four their popular menu items: the taco, soft taco, bean burrito and tostada. Each item was approximately 40% smaller than the normal versions and cost $.39 each.

In the early-1990s, Taco Bell changed its menu due to pressure concerning the nutritional value of items labeled "Lite". It was believed the term lite was vague or possibly deceptive. Many items were dropped entirely from the menu, such as the "Taco Lite", a fried flour tortilla shell with lean beef, fat free sour cream, lettuce, reduced fat cheese, and tomatoes. Some items were altered to change the nutritional values, such as the removal of black olives from the list of ingredients, in an effort to reduce sodium. In early 1994, Taco Bell transformed the familiar rainbow logo, in favor of a simpler pink/purple combo logo in an effort to revitalize their almost 20 year old logo.

New Promotions

The current promotional item is Chili Cheese Nachos Bellgrande. It is tortilla chips covered in beef chili, refried beans, and cheese sauce, topped with sour cream and diced tomatoes.

Reduction of Trans Fats

As of April, 2007, Taco Bell has switched to zero trans fat per serving frying oil in all of its US single-branded locations.^[5]

This has greatly reduced the levels of trans fats in most Taco Bell menu items, but they are still not completely free of trans fats.

"Fresco style"

In 2003, Taco Bell launched the "fresco style" menu. ^[6] By ordering something fresco style, the item's cheese and/or sauce is replaced by the chain's fiesta salsa. Using this option cuts the fat in the product in half in some cases. ^[7]

Advertising

In 1995, Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon appeared in a series of commercials promoting the Double Decker Taco, which would become a permanent menu item.

On April 1, 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it to "the Taco Liberty Bell." Thousands of people who did not immediately get the April Fool's Day hoax protested.

In March of 2001, Taco Bell announced a promotion to coincide with the re-entry of the Mir space station. They towed a large target out into the Pacific Ocean, announcing that if the target was hit by a falling piece of Mir, every person in the United States would be entitled to a free Taco Bell taco. The company bought a sizable insurance policy for this "gamble."^[8] No piece of the station struck the target.

In 2003, Costa Rican Taco Bell franchises temporarily marketed their tacos as "Tacos ticos", because for Costa Ricans, the word "taco" refers to what is known in Mexico as a flauta. ("Tico" is a colloquial term for natives of Costa Rica.)

In 2004, a local Taco Bell franchisee bought the naming rights to the former Boise State Pavilion in Boise, Idaho and renamed the stadium the Taco Bell Arena. [1]

In the summer of 2004, PepsiCo and Taco Bell introduced Mountain Dew Baja Blast. The tropical-lime flavored drink is exclusive to Taco Bell stores. Along with this, Taco Bell introduced its Mountain Dew Viva Variety! promotional campaign, where a sign shows three cups of Mountain Dew, one normal, one Code Red and one Baja Blast.

Added to the official menu in early 2007, the Grilled Taquito is Taco Bell's latest permanent product. Some of their most recent "limited time only" items have included the Ultimate Chalupa (chalupa with chicken or steak, sour cream, lettuce, guacamole, 3 cheese blend, and fiesta salsa),and the Nacho Crunch Grilled Stuft Burrito.

Slogans

• Taca-taca-taca-taca-taca-taca Taco Bell!
• Ooh! What a difference Taco Bell makes!
• Make a run for the border.
• Nothing ordinary about it.
• The Cure for the Common Meal.
• Just Made for You.
• Hello Taco Bell!
• Cross the Border.
• Fetch that food!
• You can munch it! So good!
• Taste that food! Dong!
• Change Is Good.
• Want some?
• Yo quiero [I want] Taco Bell.
• Zesty!
• Spice Up The Night. (For Taco Bell's late night day part)
• Good To Go (Paired with various Crunchwrap promotions)
• Fourthmeal (Term developed to help promote Late Night day part. Fourthmeal is the fourth meal of the day eaten late at night. In other words, any Taco Bell food eaten after dinner and before breakfast.)
• I'm Full! (For the Big Bell Value Menu)
• Opportunity doesn't knock, it rings a bell (For employment brochure inside Taco Bell)
• Think outside the bun.
• You Need Fourthmeal.
• Feed the beast (also used by rival Del Taco)

Mascots

Taco Bell has not had many mascots to this date. In 1995, they introduced two mascots to promote the Taco Bell kids' meal, the Ren and Stimpy-esque Nacho and Dog. Nacho is a crazy cat who gets all his knowledge of the world by watching television and is obsessed with Mexican food. Dog is a dog who is more well-behaved than Nacho and gets all his knowledge of the world by reading books. They were dropped in mid-1997.

In September 1997, the Taco Bell chihuahua was introduced. He spoke the line in commercials for their wildly popular "Yo quiero Taco Bell" campaign. In the Spanish language, yo quiero means I want . The little dog's real name was "Gidget", but that was never publicized in the ad campaign. The character was voiced by comedian, and cartoon voice-over artist, Carlos Alazraqui of Reno 911! and Rocko's Modern Life. By 1998, the Taco Bell chihuahua was known as the biggest commercial star on the planet, but his popularity dropped significantly by 2000. As of the early-2000s, Taco Bell has gone away from the chihuahua and instead has promoted its value menu through "I'm Full!!" commercials and used "Think outside the bun" as its slogan. Gidget did, however, make a cameo in a 2002 Geico commercial where he met Geico's spokes-gecko. That commercial continued to air through 2004.

In the early 2000s, Taco Bell's hot sauce packets (Mild, Hot, and Fire) got a major makeover. The restaurant decided to implement a scheme that would make the condiments a conversation piece; quotes change regularly, and Taco Bell has created a contest to have patrons enter their ideas.^[9]

International Locations

Australia

Taco Bell's Australian franchise launched circa 1999 with a handful of stores in Sydney. There were also outlets in shopping centre food courts, "piggybacking" off existing KFC or Pizza Hut shopfronts. The venture only had moderate success, and eventually some standalone Taco Bell restaurants were 'split' to offer KFC as well. The Taco Bell dog was used in commercials with promotions such as 99 cent tacos used to encourage customers to try the chain. However, Sydneysiders never really warmed to the concept of Mexican fast food and Taco Bell disappeared in December 2003. Former Taco Bell sites were rebranded as KFC or Pizza Hut.

China

In 2003, Yum! Brands introduced the Taco Bell brand into People's Republic of China. The Chinese Taco Bell restaurants are not fast-food restaurants like other Taco Bell restaurants are. Instead, they are full-service restaurants called Taco Bell Grande that are more analogous to a Mexican grill in the United States. In addition to the usual taco and burritos, Taco Bell Grande also serves other Mexican cuisine like albóndigas (meatball soup), tomatillo grilled chicken, fajitas, and alcoholic drinks such as Margaritas. Currently the chain has three restaurants in China, two in Shenzhen and one in Shanghai.

England

There are only two known Taco Bell locations in England, both being operated by AAFES on air bases RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath. These locations are normally restricted to the general public.

Germany

Currently, there are no Taco Bell locations in German cities. AAFES does operate several locations at major US bases in southern Germany. These secure locations are located at: Ramstein Air Base near Kaiserslautern, Mannheim Gartenstadt, Heidelberg Shopping Center, Schweinfurt Ledward Barracks, Grafenwöhr PX Complex/Shopping Center, Baumholder and Wiesbaden Hainerberg. After 9/11, access for non-military customers was severely restricted.^[10]

Iceland

Iceland is apparently the first country in Europe to have publicly accessible Taco Bell. It is operated as a part of KFC establishment in Hafnarfjörður, suburb of Reykjavík. It was established in late 2006, after the departure of US Navy from Naval Air Station Keflavik.

Mexico

In October 2007, Taco Bell opened in Mexico for the first time in fifteen years in the city of Monterrey with two locations. They plan to expand to the whole country.

Philippines

In 2004, Taco Bell opened three restaurants in Manila, Philippines.

Singapore

Currently there are a few KFC outlets in Singapore that also sell Taco Bell meals, for example, the Hougang KFC Taco Bell outlet in Heartland Mall, Hougang South, beside Kovan MRT Station along Upper Serangoon Road. There is also the new 3-in-1 freedom of choice outlets, serving Pizza Hut/Taco Bell/KFC such as the branch in Funan The IT Mall on North Bridge Road. However there are no restaurants selling only Taco Bell merchandise.

See also

• Priszm
• Taco Bell chihuahua
• Enchirito

References

External links

• Official site.
• Canadian website.
• (Chinese) Taco Bell Grande
• (Icelandic) Icelandic Website
• Taco Bell King, N.C. Website
• Lessons In Taco Bell Trouble Newsday.com
• Family Files Suit Against Taco-Bell - Newsday.com
• Viva Gorditas! Video of the Taco Bell Chihuahua
• Taco-Bell Sued By Sick Boy With E-Coli - FORBES
• Information from FDA

•  • [ e] Yum! Brands, Inc.
A&W Restaurants East Dawning KFC Long John Silver's Pizza Hut Taco Bell WingStreet