Serving more than 6 billion customers a year at its 6,407 locations, Taco Bell is a leader in the fast food industry. Since its birth in 1962, the Bell has always differentiated itself from other chains. Whether it’s simply by serving tacos rather than cheeseburgers or launching an out-of-this-world publicity stunt (literally), it has always found a way to stand out.
Check out these 20 Taco Bell facts that you probably didn’t know.
It didnt start with tacos.
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Originally, all menu items were only $0.19.
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Taco Bells original menu offered chiliburgers.
Taco Bell Archives
Taco Bell didn’t always “think outside the bun.” Along with tacos, its original menu featured tacos, burritos and chiliburgers.
The chiliburgers were eventually taken off the menu.
The first location featured fire pits and mariachi bands.
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PepsiCo used to own Taco Bell.
Pepsico
Taco Bell was the first fast food chain to hire women as managers.
Bloomberg
Founder Glen Bell spent much of his childhood helping his aunt run her bakery in Washington. Bell valued working with women.
In its earlier days, former director of operations John Gorman recalled, “There weren’t enough [managers] to go around [and] they were all men.” Taco Bell was “the first chain to hire women managers to run the stores,” Gorman said.
The Taco Bell chihuahua Gidget also starred in the movie 'Legally Blonde 2.'
Legally Blonde 2
As the face of Taco Bell in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the chihuahua Gidget popularized the line “Yo quiero Taco Bell,” used in a number of commercials and ad campaigns.
Although the ads were a hit -- we all recognize that little face -- Taco Bell’s sales remained stagnant and the company pulled the plug on the campaign in 2000.
That didn’t stop Gidget’s career though. The 12-pound pooch went on to star in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde and a series of Geico commercials.
Gidget lived like a star.
Vern Evans Photo | Getty Images
A celebrity, diva and movie star, Gidget lived like a star. She flew first class, opened the New York Stock Exchange and appeared at Madison Square Garden.
She died in 2009 at 15 years old.
Taco Bell's beef contains 88 percent beef.
Taco Bell
Creedence Clearwater Revival ate there.
Creedence Clearwater Revival | Facebook
Since the beginning of its time, Taco Bell has always been a spot that attracts a variety of faces.
A 1968 photo reveals the band Creedence Clearwater Revival’s stop to Taco Bell. More recently, McCully Culken has been spotted lunching at the fast-food joint, even alone on Christmas Day.
Taco Bell once purchased the Liberty Bell.
The New York Times
April Fools! As a marketing ploy, Taco Bell launched a full-page print ad announcing it was purchasing the Liberty Bell. The ad was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News and USA Today on April 1, 1996.
By noon that day, Taco Bell announced that the ad was a joke and that the Liberty Bell was never “up for sale.” That didn’t stop angry protestors from swarming a number of Taco Bell locations. Ultimately, Taco Bell pledged to pay $50,000 to the upkeep of the monument at an attempt to calm angry Americans.
An angry college basketball star got stuck in a Taco Bell drive thru window.
Bloomberg | Getty Images
In 1999, University of Kansas basketball star Dion Rayford got so angry at Taco Bell food servers for forgetting a chalupa in his order that he tried to crawl through the drive-thru window.
The 6-foot-3-inch, 260-pound senior defensive end got stuck in the window. After police arrived to the scene and removed him from the window, Rayford faced charges for disorderly conduct, an open container of alcohol and damage to private property.
Free tacos were offered if a piece of a space station crashed on a target.
Getty Images
In 2001, when Russia’s Mir Space Station deorbited and headed to crash in the southern Pacific Ocean, Taco Bell set up a floating target. The target read: “Free taco here!” If even a fragment of the station landed on the target, Taco Bell promised every person in the U.S. one free taco.
Unfortunately for Americans, none of Mir landed on the target.
Taco Bell was sued by rapper 50 Cent.
Brian Ach | Getty Images
In 2008, rapper 50 Cent sued Taco Bell claiming the company used his name and image without his permission to promote its low-cost menu items.
As part of the “Why Pay More?” campaign, the company wrote a letter addressed to 50 Cent, asking him to change his name to “79 Cent,” “89 Cent” or “99 Cent.” Rather than sending the letter to the rapper, the letter was sent to a number of media and publicity firms.
Initially, 50 Cent sought $4 million in damages for the unauthorized endorsement, but the case was settled confidentially.
The company was almost represented by Billy Mays.
NBC
Taco Bell petitioned the government to bring back $2 bills.
Blank Archives | Getty Images
In 2010, Taco Bell wrote the Federal Reserve a request to start printing $2 bills again. In an effort to promote its $2 menu and “rally the nation around the new buying power of $2,” said former CMO David Ovens, Taco Bell created an online petition on Facebook and encouraged customers to sign.
To answer your question: no, the Federal Reserve didn’t end up taking the PR stunt seriously.
Taco Bell no longer has a kids menu.
www.ginomaccanti.com | Getty Images
It took food designers and engineers two years and 40 different recipes to create the Doritos Loco taco.
Shutterstock
The Doritos Locos tacos added 15,000 jobs.
Bloomberg
The success sparked from the wildly popular menu item allowed Taco Bell to employ more than 15,000 new workers in 2012, the company claimed.
It propelled Taco Bell’s popularity, outgrowing Pizza Hut, KFC and even McDonald’s.
Taco Bell attempted to open an upscale taco restaurant.
U.S. Taco Co | Facebook
In 2014, Taco Bell spin off U.S. Taco Co. was launched in Huntington Beach, Calif. But the “fast casual” restaurant -- with a goal to attract higher-income foodies offering gourmet tacos, french fries and milkshakes -- was short-lived.
With complaints about the quality of its food, pricing and its inability to obtain a liquor license, U.S. Taco Co. shut down in 2015 after just one year of operating.
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