RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. — Glen W. Bell Jr., the innovator and entrepreneur who tapped an unsated hunger for Mexican fare as Americans discovered fast food, creating Taco Tia, El Taco and, in 1962, his signature Taco Bell, has died. He was 86.
Bell, who had Parkinson’s disease since 1985, died Sunday at his home north of San Diego, the company announced. No cause of death was given.
“We changed the eating habits of an entire nation,” Bell said in his 1999 biography, “Taco Titan: The Glen Bell Story.”
When post-World War II Americans began to realize they could no longer survive without cheaply purchased, quickly delivered hamburgers, Bell, who was born and raised in Southern California, looked for another simple staple of the masses.
He chose the taco, which he sold in 1951 for 19 cents at Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in San Bernardino.
Eventually, Bell coaxed multiethnic palates across the country into salivating for his tacos and, later, burritos, tostadas, frijoles and chili burgers.
PepsiCo purchased Taco Bell from Bell in 1978 for $125 million and eventually spun off its restaurants into Tricon Global Restaurants. The company was renamed Yum Brands in 2002.
“I’m an entrepreneur, not an administrator,” he said. “Taco Bell prospered because I recognized my limitations, hired professional managers to make up for them and knew when to let go.”
Enamored with Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland, Bell created Bell Gardens, a model produce farm near Valley Center, Calif., complete with sales of fresh pumpkins and items from 63 other crops to the public. It closed in 2003.
