Wienerschnitzel And Taco Bell Have An Unexpected And Significant Connection

When people think of Wienerschnitzel and Taco Bell, very few similarities come to mind other than that they are both fast food chains. One is a regional chain located primarily in California and Texas with a focus on hot dogs, and the other is a national Mexican-inspired fast food chain known for its Beefy 5-Layer Burrito. However, these two chains actually share one thing in common: They were started by a man named Glen Bell.

Bell had a restaurant known as Taco Tia, which eventually went on to become Taco Bell. What most people don't know is that Bell also had a hot dog stand, which eventually expanded into Der Wienerschnitzel in 1961. (Bell also tried his hand at selling burgers, meaning Taco Bell started by selling an entirely different kind of fast food.) As the chains grew, Bell put his focus into Taco Bell and gave ownership of Wienerschnitzel to his assistant, John Galardi.

Despite the chains having little in common on their respective menus, in a weird way, Wienerschnitzel wouldn't exist without Taco Bell. It's a unique part of fast food history that adds to the list of secrets most people don't know about Taco Bell.

Taco Tia started in 1954 in San Bernardino, California. Founder Glen Bell grew Taco Tia into a successful local chain, which he eventually repurposed into a new restaurant known as Taco Bell. Throughout the years, Bell had a trusty employee at his side: John Galardi.

Galardi worked at Taco Tia for years, eventually becoming a manager and going so far as to own the Long Beach Taco Tia location himself. After a few years, Bell bought land, which he planned to use to open a fast-food restaurant with his father-in-law. However, when that ultimately failed to work out, Bell offered the land to Galardi instead. The land was used to build Der Wienerschnitzel in 1961, specifically in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles (The "Der" portion of the name was dropped in 1977.)

Galardi and Bell went on to be successful in both of their chains and maintained a working relationship. Galardi even lent Bell $6,000 as seed money to build Taco Bell around the same time that Wienerschnitzel got its start. In exchange, Galardi used Bell's chili sauce recipe to make chili dogs, adapting it with Bell's permission.