Taco Bell

Taco Bell trades from roughly 8,200 US restaurants, most of them drive-thrus running well past midnight. Glen Bell built the first one out of a hot dog stand in San Bernardino, watching the queue at the taco stand over the road. That copied taco still shapes the board today.

What follows covers the founding, the company that owns Taco Bell now, and the shape of the US estate today. Four pages carry the rest: prices, secret-menu builds, the happy hour window and allergen declarations. Every figure comes from one recorded source, and

Taco Bell History

Glen Bell came home from the Marines and opened a hamburger and hot dog stand in San Bernardino, California, in 1948. The Mitla Café stood across the street. Its queue for hard-shell tacos never seemed to shorten, so Bell worked out how to sell the same thing faster. He fried a pre-formed shell instead of folding a soft tortilla, which turned a slow kitchen job into volume.

Tacos reached his own menu in 1951, and stands followed under the Taco-Tia and El Taco names. Bell sold each on in turn. He opened the first restaurant under his own name in Downey, California, in 1962, and that building still stands on the Irvine campus. Franchising started in 1964, when a retired Los Angeles police officer bought the first licence.

PepsiCo bought the chain in 1978 and spun its restaurant businesses off in 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants. Tricon became Yum! Brands in 2002. Sean Tresvant runs Taco Bell as chief executive from 1 Glen Bell Way in Irvine, California, and franchisees operate most of the US estate. Yum! counts the chain as its largest United States business.

Taco Bell Menus & Details

Five pages carry the detail behind the counter. Each pairs an item name with its price and its calorie figure on the same row.

The full board section by section, from tacos and burritos to bowls, sides and drinks, with a price and a calorie figure beside every item.

Off-menu builds regulars order by name, the wording to use at the counter, and the menu item each one is priced from.

The Happier Hour window, the freezes and fountain drinks the deal covers, and what each cup comes to inside it.

The Tajín lineup, the day it landed, and what each item costs with its calories.

Which items declare milk, wheat, soy or egg, read row by row across tacos, burritos, quesadillas and breakfast, with calories beside each one.