The founder’s first business was a burger joint.

 

The founder’s first business was a burger joint.

Glen Bell, the founder of the Taco Bell chain, started out serving burgers.

With very little money, he opened a burger stand called Bell’s Burgers (named after his sister) and competed with the McDonald’s brothers. Yes, those McDonalds.

But by the 1950s, he knew he needed to get out of the burger business, so he experimented with Americanized Mexican food.

Tacos were still not a popular food for most Americans at this time, and the idea of fast food tacos was unheard of.

He aimed to bring them to the masses, which meant making them easier to eat.

Essentially, he developed a crunchy fast food shell and adapted the tacos’ ingredients to suit the tastes of the customers he was trying to reach – busy Americans looking for fast food.