<P> Taco Bell is an American chain of fast - food restaurants based in Irvine, California . A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., they serve a variety of Tex - Mex foods, including tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "value menu" items . Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion customers each year at 7,000 restaurants, more than 80 percent of which are owned and operated by independent franchisees and licensees . </P> <P> Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell, who first opened a hot dog stand called Bell's Drive - In in San Bernardino, California in 1946 when he was 23 years old . In 1950, he opened Bell's Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in San Bernardino's West Side barrio . According to Gustavo Arellano, author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, Bell watched long lines of customers at a Mexican restaurant called the Mitla Cafe, located across the street, which attracted a dedicated customer base for its hard - shelled tacos . Bell began eating there regularly, attempting to reverse - engineer the recipe, and eventually won the confidence of the proprietors such that they allowed him to see how the tacos and other foods were prepared . In late 1951 or early 1952, he took what he had learned and opened a new stand, this time selling tacos under the name of Taco - Tia . </P> <P> Over the next few years, Bell owned and operated a number of restaurants in southern California including four called El Taco . Bell sold the El Tacos to his partner and built the first Taco Bell in Downey in 1962 . In 1962, he sold Taco - Tia . Kermit Becky, a former Los Angeles police officer, bought the first Taco Bell franchise from Glen Bell in 1964, and located it in Torrance . The company grew rapidly, and by 1967, the 100th restaurant opened at 400 South Brookhurst in Anaheim . In 1968, its first franchise location east of the Mississippi River opened in Springfield, Ohio . In 1970, Taco Bell went public with 325 restaurants . In 1978, PepsiCo purchased Taco Bell from Glen Bell . On the night of November 19, 2015, the original Taco Bell building in Downey was moved to the Taco Bell Corporate Headquarters in Irvine, CA . </P> <P> Several locations in the Midwestern United States were converted from Zantigo, a Minneapolis, Minnesota - based Mexican chain which PepsiCo acquired in 1986 . </P>

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