Taco Bell is celebrating its 64th birthday this year. The Mexican-inspired fast food chain has a long history of popularizing hard-shell tacos since 1962. For decades, people have patronized the restaurant chain without thinking about where it all started. There is a little controversy and claims of cultural appropriation in Taco Bell’s origin story. However, the restaurant people who claim was ripped off hold firm in keeping their restaurant going and don’t feel like they were taken advantage of by Taco Bell’s founder, Glen Bell.

Taco Bell is 64 years old this month

Taco Bell has been serving up Americanized Mexican food for decades. It all started with one restaurant in Downey, California, that opened in 1962. The founder, Glen Bell, was a World War II veteran who was already a budding restaurateur. He owned a series of hamburger and taco stands in the 1950s. But he knew he had a good idea with Taco Bell and turned all of his focus into creating a new restaurant.

Originally, Taco Bell offered $0.19 tacos, which now range from $1.99 to $2.39 depending on where you live. According to the Taco Bell website, early customers to the restaurant called the food he was serving “Tay-Kohs.” Two years after the first location opened, Kermit Becky, a retired Los Angeles police officer, opened the first franchise in Torrance, California. This is the start of Taco Bell’s global growth.

By 1970, the fast food chain had grown to 325 locations. The rapid growth continued through the decade and started to catch the attention of large corporations looking to get into the fast food game. The first McDonald’s opened in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the fast food chain was wildly popular for innovating how people were eating burgers to go.

In 1978, PepsiCo Inc. bought 868 restaurants from Bell for $125 million dollars, according to Britannica. This is when Taco Bell expanded nationwide, with PepsiCo Inc. dollars speeding up the expansion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the franchise continued to expand, and PepsiCo Inc. started to introduce new menu items like the Grilled Stuft Burrito.

Today, Taco Bell has 7,000 locations around the world and continues to be a leading fast food chain. The fast food chain owes its creation to Mitla Cafe, a restaurant in San Bernardino, California.

The inspiration came from Mitla Cafe

Mitla Cafe was an established Mexican restaurant in San Bernardino. Opened in 1937 by Lucia Rodriguez, the restaurant was a staple in the community, serving an interpretation of Mexican food. Rodriguez had immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1928. When the Great Depression happened, she wanted to make sure she could feed her family and her community, so she opened Mitla Cafe. She served fried tortillas filled with ground beef, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and shredded lettuce.

According to Mike Montaño, Rodriguez’s grandson, his grandparents were running a successful restaurant for decades. In the 1950s, they met Bell, who owned a hamburger stand across the street. He was intrigued by their food after seeing the long lines to get in. According to Montaño, the original owners knew what Bell was doing.

“The legend, as I know it, across the street was a burger stand called Bell’s Burgers, and the owner, Glen Bell, saw that my grandparents had a line to purchase tacos. At the time, I think they were 25 cents each,” Montaño told CBS News. “And he wanted to understand this food item and why people liked it so much and why it was so popular. My grandparents kind of understood what he was doing, and they wanted to help him.”

So, as Taco Bell celebrates 64 years in business, don’t forget to give thanks to Mitla Cafe for inspiring the fast food chain.

Tags:

Share this Story