Glen Bell Jr., a fast food pioneer and founder of Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., died Sunday at the age of 86, according to the Mexican food restaurant chain.
Bell, who opened the first Taco Bell in Downey in 1962, died at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Taco Bell said.
He went on to open eight more Taco Bells in the Long Beach, Paramount and Los Angeles areas. In 1964, Bell started franchising the chain.
Today, Taco Bell is a unit of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc. with an estimated at $2 billion in yearly sales.
Bell took Taco Bell public in 1969. He served as chairman until 1975.
In 1978, PepsiCo Inc. bought Taco Bell for $130 million. In 1997, PepsiCo spun off its restaurant unit as what’s now Yum Brands.
In 1961, Bell also helped start Wienerschnitzel, part of Newport Beach-based Galardi Group Inc.
Wienerschnitzel Chief Executive John Galardi started in the food business working for Bell.
Before starting Taco Bell, Bell opened a hot dog stand he later turned over to Galardi, who built it into Wienerschnitzel.
Bell got his start in hamburgers and hot dogs in his native San Bernardino.
He started offering tacos after coming up with ways to produce them in a fast food restaurant.
In 1954, he opened Taco-Tia, his first fast-food restaurant that served only Mexican food. Not long after, he opened another Mexican chain, El Taco.
