[Deathwatch] Glen W. Bell Jr., Founder of Taco Bell, 86

[Notification of departing celebrities]

January 19, 2010


  Glen W. Bell Jr., Founder of Taco Bell, Dies at 86

By DENNIS HEVESI

Glen W. Bell Jr., whose idea in 1951 to sell crispy-shell tacos from the 
window of his hamburger stand became the foundation of Taco Bell, the 
restaurant chain that turned Mexican fare into fast food for millions of 
Americans, died at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He was 86.

His death was announced Sunday on the Taco Bell Web site. No other 
details were provided.

Mr. Bell never forgot the first taco buyer at Bell's Hamburgers and Hot 
Dogs in San Bernardino, Calif., one of three stands he owned at the time.

"He was dressed in a suit and as he bit into the taco the juice ran down 
his sleeve and dripped on his tie," Mr. Bell recalled in "Taco Titan: 
The Glen Bell Story," (Bookworld Services, 1999), a biography by Debra 
Lee Baldwin. "I thought, 'Uh-oh, we've lost this one.' But he came back, 
amazingly enough, and said, 'That was good. Gimme another.' "

By the time Mr. Bell sold the chain to PepsiCo 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/pepsico_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org> 
in 1978, it had grown to 868 restaurants. Today, the company says, more 
than two billion tacos and a billion burritos are sold each year at more 
than 5,600 Taco Bell restaurants in the United States and around the world.

Drive-in stands dotted San Bernardino when Mr. Bell opened his first one 
there in the late 1940s. One competitor, only a few miles away, was the 
original stand opened by two brothers with the last name of McDonald.

They all were capitalizing on the emerging Southern California car 
culture, offering prompt service and streamlined menus of mostly 
standard fare like hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries and milk shakes.

But Mr. Bell, a fan of Mexican food, had a hunch that ground beef, 
chopped lettuce, shredded cheese and chili sauce served in the right 
wrap could give burgers a run for the money. The problem was which wrap. 
Tacos served in Mexican restaurants at the time were made with soft 
tortillas.

"If you wanted a dozen, you were in for a wait," Mr. Bell said. "They 
stuffed them first, quickly fried them and stuck them together with a 
toothpick."

The solution: preformed fried shells that would then be stuffed. Mr. 
Bell asked a man who made chicken coops to fashion a frying contraption 
made of wire.

Tacos became a hit at Bell's, selling for 19 cents each. They were such 
a hit that by 1954 Mr. Bell and a partner opened Taco Tia, his first 
restaurant selling only Mexican-style food.

Two years and three Taco Tias later, Mr. Bell sold his interest after 
his business partner resisted expanding any further. Mr. Bell then 
opened another fast-food Mexican restaurant in Pasadena, in 1957, and a 
year later took on three partners in a chain called El Taco.

After four El Tacos, Mr. Bell decided he no longer wanted to answer to 
any partners. He sold out again. Then, in 1962, with a $4,000 
investment, he opened the first Taco Bell, in Downey, Calif. Over the 
next two years, he started eight more Taco Bells, each with a grand 
opening featuring live salsa music, searchlights and free sombreros. The 
first of its franchises opened in Torrance, Calif., in 1965.

PepsiCo greatly expanded the chain after purchasing it in 1978 for about 
$125 million, then spun it off to Tricon Global Restaurants 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/yum_brands_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org> 
in 1997. Tricon changed its name to Yum Brands in 2002.

Glen W. Bell Jr. was born in Lynwood, Calif., on Sept. 3, 1923, one of 
six children of Glen and Ruth Johnson Bell. When he was 12, the family 
moved to a small farm outside of San Bernardino.

At 16, with the family facing hard times, according to his biography, 
Glen Jr. "goes on the bum" and "rides the rails in search of work." He 
joined the Marines 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/us_marine_corps/index.html?inline=nyt-org> 
in 1943 and served in the Pacific.

Back in San Bernardino after the war, Mr. Bell bought a surplus Army 
truck and began hauling adobe bricks at 5 cents each. A miniature golf 
course that he leased failed to make a profit. Then, he opened a 
hamburger stand in a Hispanic neighborhood.

Mr. Bell married Dorothy Taylor in 1947. They were divorced in 1953. He 
is survived by his wife of 54 years, Martha; three sisters, Delores, 
Dorothy and Maureen; a daughter, Kathleen; two sons, Gary and Rex; and 
four grandchildren.

The trade publication Nation's Restaurant News has credited Mr. Bell 
with introducing millions of Americans to Mexican-style food. "I always 
smile," Mr. Bell told the magazine in 2008, "when I hear people say that 
they never had a taco until Taco Bell came to town."


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