FOUNDED: 1962 in Downey
KEY OC DATE: Taco Bell relocated to Irvine from Torrance in 1976.
LEGACY LEADERSHIP: Glen Bell’s restaurant career began with a burger drive-in, but after seeing the demand for hard-shell tacos, he shifted his focus. After launching the first Taco Bell in 1962, he franchised the company and established a licensing model to scale the business. By 1978, he had grown the chain to nearly 900 stores and sold it to PepsiCo in a stock deal valued around $125M.
OC SIGNIFICANCE: Taco Bell has grown into a worldwide brand and is one of the growth engines of its parent company, Yum Brands Inc. It is OC’s largest restaurant chain with 2025 systemwide sales exceeding $18B.
DEFINING MOMENT: Goes public with a total of 325 restaurants in 1970. Bought by PepsiCo in 1978.
BY THE NUMBERS: 9,000+ worldwide locations
QUOTABLE: “Customers are drawn to a store that is busy, growing, and changing for the better.” — Glen Bell
FUN FACTS: When Taco Bell launched the Doritos Locos Tacos, it became the most successful product launch in the brand’s history, selling more than 100M tacos in its first 10 weeks. In January 2018, Nacho Fries surpassed that milestone as Taco Bell’s biggest launch ever, selling more than 53M orders in its first five weeks.