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Taco Bell
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Taco Bell is a restaurant chain based in Irvine, California, specializing in Mexican-inspired fast food. It is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands. Most restaurants are located in North America, but there are also many in other countries. The menu focuses on taco and burrito variations, but many other selections are offered.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m7536",this)' onMouseout='hide("m7536")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Glen_Bell">Glen Bell, a former Marine, began the chain with his first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
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Encyclopedia
Taco Bell is a restaurant chain based in Irvine, California, specializing in Mexican-inspired fast food. It is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands. Most restaurants are located in North America, but there are also many in other countries. The menu focuses on taco and burrito variations, but many other selections are offered.
History
Founding and growth
Glen Bell, a former Marine, began the chain with his first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. He named it Bell's Drive-in.
In 1978, the chain was sold to PepsiCo. It 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.
Taco Bell has the largest sales per system unit in Yum!, having US$1.17 million sales per system unit, excluding licensees.
Menu
Taco Bell's menu items comprise a variety of Mexican style foods. Among these are several varieties of hard- and soft-shell tacos and burritos, as well as nachos, taco salad, taquitos and enchiladas. Other notable menu items include the Gordita and Chalupa, as well as the Enchirito.
Border Bell
In 1997, PepsiCo experimented with a new "fresh grill" concept, opening at least one Border Bell restaurant in Mountain View, California on El Camino Real (SR 82). In addition to a subset of the regular Taco Bell menu, Border Bell offered Mexican-inspired items like those available from Chevys Fresh Mex restaurants (then owned by PepsiCo), such as Chevys signature sweet corn tamalito pudding and a fresh salsa bar.
Controversies
In 2000, it was discovered that Taco Bell used Biotech corn that was not approved for human consumption in at least some of its taco shells.
In November 2006, Taco Bell made local headlines when 220 customers were sickened by the E. Coli bacteria. The bacteria was traced to ten New Jersey restaurants. While some people were hospitalized, all were severely harmed.
In 2007, Taco Bell again made headlines in the New York metropolitan area when a Taco Bell/KFC restaurant in Manhattan was overrun by termites; footage of the pests scurrying about were shown on local news. The location was opened by order of the Department of Health.
Lawsuits
Chihuahua
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 Chihuahua became a hit: In it, the character bypasses a female Chihuahua for a Taco Bell taco and declares: "Yo quiero Taco Bell." The two men received $30.1 million, plus an addition of $11.4 million in interest. Taco Bell sued its ad agency TBWA. In January 2009 an appeals court ruled against Taco Bell.
50 Cent
The rap artist 50 Cent filed a federal lawsuit against Taco Bell on July 23, 2008. The suit claims that his name was used in a print ad asking him to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent as a part of the "Why Pay More?" campaign. 50 Cent was not aware of the ad until it came out, while fake letters containing the name change request were sent to the news media for promotional purposes. He is seeking $4 million in damages.
Reduction of trans fats
As of April, 2007, Taco Bell had switched to zero trans fat frying oil in all of its US single-branded locations.
"Fresco-style" menu
In 2003, Taco Bell's current head of Public Relations Kassandra Marshall launched the "fresco-style" menu. 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.
Advertising
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In March 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. No piece of the station struck the target.
In 2004, a local Taco Bell franchisee bought the naming rights to the Boise State Pavilion in Idaho and renamed the stadium Taco Bell Arena.
In 2007 Taco Bell offered the "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion—if any player from either team stole a base in the 2007 World Series the company would give away free tacos to everyone in America in a campaign similar to the Mir promotion, albeit with a much higher likelihood of being realized. After Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox stole a base in Game 2, the company paid out this promotion on October 30, 2007. This promotion was used again in the 2008 World Series, when Jason Bartlett of the Tampa Bay Rays stole a base during Game 1 at Tropicana Field, to be paid out on October 28, 2008.
Taco Bell sponsors a promotion at home games for both the Portland Trail Blazers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in which, if the home team scores 100 points or more, everyone in attendance receives a coupon for a free Chalupa. This tradition started sometime around 1999.
One of their oldest catch phrases featuring the well known Chihuahua was "Yo quiero taco bell!" Translating to "I want taco bell!"
Outside the United States
China
In 2003, Yum! Brands introduced the Taco Bell brand into People's Republic of China. The Chinese Taco Bell restaurants were not fast-food restaurants like other Taco Bells. Instead, they were 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 served other Mexican cuisine like albóndigas (meatball soup), tomatillo grilled chicken, fajitas, and alcoholic drinks such as Margaritas. The chain had operated three restaurants in China, two in Shenzhen and one in Shanghai. However, the Shanghai location closed at the end of January 2008 . One location in Shenzhen closed on February 20, 2008; the second location followed shortly after, closing on March 5, 2008.
Germany
There are no public Taco Bell locations in major 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. Beginning with September 11, 2001, access for non-military customers was severely restricted.
Iceland
Taco Bell on Iceland is operated as a part of the KFC establishment in Hafnarfjörður, suburb of Reykjavík. It was established in late 2006, after the departure of the U.S. Navy from Naval Air Station Keflavik. A second location opened in the Ártúnshöfða part of Reykjavik in November 2008
Mexico
After a failed attempt to enter the market in 1992 that finished with all the restaurants closing two years later, in September 2007 Taco Bell returned to that country. The first restaurant in the northern city of Monterrey is part of a plan to open between 8 and 10 more locations in 2008 and eventually reach 300 stores.
Spain
Yum! Brands announced that it would open Taco Bell locations in Spain in early 2009 as part of a test trial for the European market.. The first Taco Bell open for the general public in Spain is located in the , Madrid, and was open on December 2008 .
United Arab Emirates
The first Taco Bell in the Middle East opened in November 2008 in Dubai at the Dubai Mall.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom was the first European country with a Taco Bell. In 1986 a location was opened in London on Coventry Street (between Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus) followed by a second location in Earls Court near the Earl's Court tube station. One other store opened in Uxbridge but all closed in the mid 1990s. Today the Coventry Street site is occupied by a branch of the sit-down restaurant chain TGI Friday's. In 1994 the university food provider Compass announced plans to open stores in its university and college sites. However only one store was opened in Birmingham University, no other stores were opened and the Birmingham site is now closed.
Yum! Brands has announced that it is considering reopening Taco Bell locations in the United Kingdom as part of a large planned expansion into Europe, with trial outlets opening first in Spain in early 2009. Yum! is taking advantage of the recent recession which has led to increasing sales at other fast food outlets, it also says that there is now a greater awareness of Mexican food in the UK and that it can be successful with improved menu offerings and marketing.
Logos
See also
External links
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