The History Of Taco Bell Starts With An Entirely Different Type Of Fast Food

It's pretty obvious what kind of food Taco Bell serves — after all, it's right there in the name. But before Taco Bell, its creator (and the chain's namesake) Glen Bell specialized in a whole other type of fast food: burgers and hot dogs. Upon returning home from deployment in World War II, Bell got into the fast food industry, opening a hot dog and hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California, in 1948. Bell's Hamburgers and Hot Dogs, as it was called, was a modest success. But, when it came to all-American fast food, Bell had a serious competitor right nearby in San Bernardino: McDonald's.

The burger chain's original restaurant was also in San Bernardino, and it's part of how California became the unofficial birthplace of fast food. In the hopes of differentiating his offerings from the future burger giant, Bell added hard-shelled tacos to the menu in 1951, with a filling of meat, lettuce, and cheese. This was such a success, Bell ended up founding two separate taco chains, El Taco and Taco Tia. This helped him figure out the market, and in 1962, he opened the first Taco Bell.

How exactly did Bell decide that tacos would be the item that would separate him from his competitors? This story goes back to Bell's original burger stand in San Bernardino, located in a heavily Latino neighborhood. He noticed that a Mexican restaurant across the street was always busy, so he replicated their idea, making his own tweaks to the sauce and fillings.

The birth of one of Taco Bell's signature products could be seen as controversial because the non-Mexican Bell effectively lifted the idea — or stole it, depending on who you ask — from that restaurant, called Mitla Café. Mitla was known for its "tacos dorados," or golden tacos, which featured fried, crispy tortillas filled with meat, cheese, and tomato. But, for the record, Mitla didn't invent this kind of hard-shelled tacos. Despite their reputation as an Americanized form of Mexican food, they have Mexican roots (although Taco Bell has twice failed to launch restaurants in Mexico). Mitla Café is still in business, but unlike Taco Bell, it obviously didn't become a huge international chain. Still, it's an often uncredited yet integral part of Taco Bell's history, just like the rise and fall of the Taco Bell Chihuahua.