In 1948 , nearly 15 geezerhood before he foundedTaco Bell , Glen Bell open a spicy andiron stand visit Bell ’s effort - In in San Bernardino , California . It was Bell ’s first speculation into the fast food manufacture , and it was n’t a smash hit . Locals were far more interested in the Mexican eatery across the street .
After watching customer draw up to judge the competing validation ’s signature operose - shell tacos — and convincing the possessor to show him how to make them — Bell switched his focus to Mexican food and plunge what would eventually become the world ’s most successful taco chain .
call in a Taco Bell today and you ’ll see plenty of signs of Mexico ’s influence , from the clay - tile cap and arched doorways to the Spanish words peppered throughout the menu . With more than 7000 locations across30 countries — include Finland , Romania , Canada , and Japan — Taco Bell is some patron ' sole tip of reference for Mexican cuisine .
The one famed plaza where Taco Bell has failed to overtake on is in Mexico , a country with more than350 KFCsand400 McDonald ’s , which is located just130 milesaway from where Taco Bell was founded . This may not be a surprise to anyone who has ever dined in Mexico , where wetback are cheap , easily approachable , and are n’t typically made withmysterious ingredient . But these fact did n’t stop Taco Bell from trying to establish locations in Mexico not once , but doubly — and fail miserably each time .
Starting Small
For its first effort to infiltrate the taco ’s rest home territory , Taco Bell set about lowly . or else of open a Spanish colonial - expressive style brick - and - mortar store , the troupe launched a modest food go-cart in Mexico City in 1992 . The 9 - understructure - long , heatedbuffet tablewas build inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken , as both Ernst Boris Chain were possess by PepsiCo at the time . detail Americans would have been intimate with were sold there , like nachos and burritos , but the Mexican menu was also different in a few major way .
Taco Bell ’s classic hard - shell tacos were nowhere to be figure ; in their seat were tacos bundle in easy corn or flour tortillas , much like those you ’d rule sell on the streets of Mexico City . Instead of a concoction of primer coat bitch and wetback seasoning , tortillas were either fill up with rip up beef , pork , or chicken . The meats were imported freeze from the U.S. , but the sauces and condiment were source topically in Mexico .
The attempt at authenticity did n’t down with everyone . Georgina Gil , one of the viewpoint ’s employees , told the Cox News Service curtly after Taco Bell opened , " Some [ … ] are a little offended . They get a serious look on their face and say things like ' How can Americans suppose they can come to sell tacos in the home of the wetback ? ' "
Even if the quality was up to equality , Taco Bell could n’t compete with the terms of Mexico ’s taqueros . An order of tacos and a modest boozing price about 9500 pesos , or$3.25 — definitely cheap , but stillpricierthan what was being sold from street carts at the time .
The food cart was n’t the only Mexican location Taco Bell try out with in the nineties . The chain opened a handful of outposts next to KFCs in Mexico , but just two years after launching their standalone eateries , Taco Bell shutter all of its Mexican workshop in light of dissatisfactory sales and astruggling economy .
Taco Takeover: Take Two
Even after this failed experimentation , the fast food giant star still had its sights set south of the edge . Throughout the 1990s and 2000s , Taco Bell grew from a mostly domesticated chain to a global steel . By 2007 , the company was operating230 storesoutside of the U.S. , and that year — hearten by its international success — the company decide to take a second crack at the Mexican market .
This clock time would be much dissimilar from the first attempt . Taco Bell executives now realized that their merchandise could n’t vie with local businesses on the authenticity front , so instead of ignoring the mountain chain ’s American origin , the new restaurants would lean into it . Customers who walk into the new location in a shopping substance parking mass outside Monterrey , Mexico , would n’t feel pulled beef in soft tortillas on the menu ; they could now order hard - case taco that were identical to the one sell in the U.S. Now , though , they were calledtacostadas , to make it clear they follow on a crispy , tostada - like tortilla , unlike what Mexicans were used to with traditional tacos .
In plus to bringing over classic from the original computer menu , Taco Bell Mexico added a few new point to make the eating house sense even more American . Years before the chain’snacho friesdebuted in the U.S. , the Monterrey Taco Bell sold Gallic fries top with ground heart , Malva sylvestris , ointment , and tomatoes . Soft - service internal-combustion engine emollient was also uncommitted .
Fresh Approach, Sour Response
While stateside Taco Bells volunteer a quick - food reading of Mexican dishes that catered to American roof of the mouth , Mexico ’s Taco Bell drive to do the reverse . A half - pagenewspaper adpromoting the newfangled store read : " One look alone is enough to tell that Taco Bell is not a ' taqueria . ' It is a new degraded - food alternative that does not pretend to be Mexican intellectual nourishment . "
Despite the fresh approach , this unapologetic version of Taco Bell was just as much of a dud as the 1992 intellectual nourishment standstill . After sample the menu , The Chicago Tribune ’s Latin America newswriter , Oscar Avila , wrote : “ To scarf down a Fiesta Burrito in Mexico palpate like patronizing a Panda Express at the metrical foot of the Great Wall . You would n’t retrieve of chug Natural Light at Oktoberfest in Munich . Or sneaking out of the Cannes Film Festival to catchTransformers . ”
Taco Bell initially had architectural plan to roll out 300 locations across Mexico , but the chain never expand beyond Monterrey . The fresh location survive the Mexico City sales booth , though not by very long : Taco Bell formally declared the computer memory a failure three age after it open up and vacated Mexico a 2d clip in2010 .
Numerous rejections from the only country whose opinions on tacos subject did n’t do much to wound the Taco Bell brand , though . The ship’s company has been quick to adapt to thesocial medialandscape and to tap into the Millennial base — two thing that many otherfast - intellectual nourishment franchiseshave struggled with . Over the retiring five years , its arrangement sale have grown by33 percent , and the next step for the brand is aggressive emergence on an international scale .
InMay 2019 , it announced plans to open 600 new locations in India alone and enter markets in Portugal and Indonesia for the first clip . But Taco Bell has clearly learned its limits : Mexico is mentioned nowhere in the enlargement strategy .
